The Planning, Housing and Parks (PHP) Committee met on Monday, April 6, 2026, from 2:15 p.m. to 3:04 p.m. to review the FY27-32 Capital Improvements Program (CIP) for the Department of Recreation. The committee recommended approval of most projects as submitted by the County Executive, deferred one project pending a cost estimate, and discussed the need for a new recreation center in Bethesda.
No separate consent calendar was identified; all approvals were made after discussion.
Good afternoon. We are back, the other half of the joint committee with the planning housing and parks uh committee, and we are here for the recreation capital improvements program. There are 11 rec department projects, and uh we are uh here to hear about all of them. Uh so with that, um we turn it over to our friend and director uh sitting in his new seats uh here away from the dais uh in the in the hot seat, so to speak. Although I think in this case it's more like a warm seat, but we'll turn it over to you and then turn it over to Director Dice uh and the rest of the team is needed. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and hello, distinguished members of the PHP committee. It is a privilege and honor to be with all of you this afternoon. So I'll just keep this brief to keep you guys moving and just say at a high level that I'm thrilled to be back at the recreation department. I've seen many of you at our facilities, visiting programs, services, meeting with constituents. So you've seen with your own two eyes the heavy use that all of our facilities receive and how important they are to their respective communities as a gathering place, as a place to improve their overall health and wellness, and frankly, to just have fun. And these days we all need a heck of a lot more of that. So I will say that our facilities we've got a supply and demand issue. Uh we have many more interest in programs and services than we often have supplies of facilities available. So uh one of the line items that we will be discussing this afternoon that I'm especially excited about is that we will be updating the Department of Recreation's long-range facility plan, which was last established almost 20 years ago, uh, and it was called Vision 2030, and it was established just as I was becoming director of the department. And so this is an opportunity for us to do a comprehensive evaluation of our current facilities and whether or not they're meeting needs, but also whether there are future needs of additional facilities. Um that process is important to us uh and will provide a roadmap uh both for this and future county executives and this and future county councils as CIP decisions are made. So I'll stop there uh before we get into the nitty-gritty. Great. Director Dice. I uh will echo my colleague uh recreation director's comments and add that like the county's libraries, the county's recreation centers are very much beloved and show it. Um the uh I'm excited among the projects that you will discuss this afternoon are the various refurbishment uh level of effort projects coming up, as we did with libraries for the last decade or so, very successful effort to refresh and refurbish existing county facilities. Um we certainly look at new facilities where facilities are needed. We were just discussing the Western Area Rec Center earlier. Uh we do we don't want to do this at the expense of existing facilities. And we owe the neighborhoods in which they exist uh the courtesy and the duty we have to make sure that they're up to date, safe, modern, and effective. So that's gonna be a very exciting project as uh over the coming years to see that happen. We're gonna approach this in the same way that we do other uh refurbishments. We'll go in and do analysis of the facilities and then come back with a better idea of what needs to be done so that the costs that we present to you are more realistic and less educated guesses. Uh so but that's an exciting thing that we're doing, both in the the rec centers, the indoor outdoor pools, uh equipment, all around. So the residents of Montgomery County can anticipate uh modern, fresh, clean rec centers for decades to come. Well, I can speak on the libraries piece of this. My current local library and my childhood local library at different points uh have both been refreshed and look quite different than they did when I grew up. Indeed. Uh my rec center uh that was across the street from where I grew up from, and I basically spent almost my entire childhood from Little League Baseball, my first dance, uh Club Friday, uh, after hours, you name it. Uh you name a rec program, and I participated uh in it. It looks exactly the same, which is pretty cool for nostalgia purposes, but uh for functionality for younger and older residents who are relying on it, probably not the functionality that I think all of us understand is is needed. So I think it speaks to the dynamic and what can be done with a fairly modest in the scheme of the overall capital budget investment uh in terms of the benefit and the use uh for these types of facilities. So with that, great. Why don't we uh dig into the items? Sounds great. So um in the staff report, it's broken into five sections. We have um the new projects, standalone renovation projects, level of effort projects, asset replacement projects, and projects with more minor technical changes. Um to get started with the new project that is on page. Five. Four, thank you. Um there is a uh proposal in the county executives CIP recommendation for a natural grass field. Um this project would provide for the installation of a new natural grass field at North Potomac Community Center to replace the existing artificial turf field. That is approaching the end of its useful life. Um the current field is made out of artificial turf.