Commentary: At what feels like the 10 millionth discussion I’ve been to about the turf/Civic Center site, at least something new was thrown into the mix on Saturday’s meeting at the Round House Theater. We’ve all seen the renderings of the ice rink and civic building all over the place, and I’ll assume someone has pushed you to frolic on the turf while it lasts, but we’ve never seen what a high quality turf would look like.
So here it is as the image above shows; a high quality turf sample was flown out next day to Evan Glass, President of the South Silver Spring Neighborhood Association, arriving hours before the meeting, NFL grade I would assume? I’m not sure what the black pellets are for but the supplier says that Montgomery County got the cheapest stuff on earth and didn’t go for the cleaning products because the current turf was only temporary. Needless to say it’s past its half-life. The high-quality turf is easier to clean with a vacuum at least. According to the supplier; it would also last 6-8 years.
Silver Springers show their dedication.
People of all ages and colors listen to what the panel has to say .
It’s miraculous to see how far the “Turf Wars†has escalated, nobody saw it coming. But we still don’t seem to be getting to the ever so important nitty gritty details, in other words I suppose this could all be settled at least partially with the answers to these two questions; How much does it cost to create and maintain the turf? And how much does it cost to create and maintain the ice skating rink? And I should emphasis all costs. How much does it cost to cool the rink and clean the turf for example, what are the environmental impacts of both?
Commentary from the architects Machado & Silvetti Associates Inc of Boston also revealed the difficulty of trying to work with those in charge. The response was a “my way or the highway†sort of answer. The moderator asked the panel if there was viable substitute in place of the hardscape pavilion that would be comfortable on our bums or “anatomy†as the moderator put it. The architect reiterated benches would suffice (benches for 20,000 people at the Jazz festivals?) and went on about how dirty the turf is and how grass doesn’t last.
The Penguin has an outline of the ice skating rinks footprint. My observation was that it’s still small but still takes a huge chunk out he turf space and to the dismay of those who wanted a compromise leaves very little green. And it may come down to either turf or rink and certainly cutting into the hardscape pavilion space but certainly not all in that configuration. While I’m not saying yah or nah to turf or rink, I will say that I think the hardscape pavilion needs to be completely eliminated as it will it will act as a dysfunctional barrier, it’s environmentally unfriendly and we’re not in the 1960’s anymore even the though the architects seem to be infatuated by that area as evidenced in the design the Civic Center.
Finally I ask once more, if there will be no green space here do we really think there is a centralized location large enough with the properly shaped foot print to act as the turf did in downtown Silver Spring? Better get used to walking to the 14 acre Jessup Blair Park!
Silver Springer wrote:
I spoke with Gary Stith after the meeting, and the chalk outline represents the pavilion’s footprint. The rink itself would sit beneath the pavilion.
Also according to Stith, the pavilion covers about 7,000 square feet. The rink measures 105 feet by 56 feet, or 5,880 square feet.
Glean from that what you will.
Shameless self-promotion: View an outline of the rink on The Silver Spring Penguin.
That’s plenty large enough for a small neighborhood outdoor rink. People will just make reservations for when they want to come skate so it won’t be too crowded.
Sorry to say, but “hardscape” is still the way to go if you want a venue for things such as a jazz festival. Most people would/should be standing anyway so that there’s more room for more people, just like what happens in front of the fountain and Macaroni/Austin Grills minus the outdoor dining furniture.
Let’s see if they can just get rid of that hill which is the only place on the civic center plans with grass on it right now, and try to level the whole site by creating a wall next to the sidewalk to hold in the earth. That would create more usable grass space.
Pennster, how many concert pavilions do you know with hardscape seating areas? The most successful places show shots of people sitting on grass not hard surfaces that are very uncomfortable and inflexible. I don’t think CW will be hosting movie night here any more which was phenomenal publicity for the downtown.
If the center of the nations capital AKA the Mall even has real grass and after all these years hasn’t paved the entire thing over like somewhere in China, I don’t see why Silver Spring can’t do the same. It has not detracted the atmosphere in Washington and will detract from Silver Spring.
Why don’t they just scrap the Ellsworth Condos? That would give them more room to work with.
“Comment by Sligo
Made Tuesday, 8 of May , 2007 at 1:40 pm
Why don’t they just scrap the Ellsworth Condos? That would give them more room to work with.
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That’s what I said a while ago, markets dead, give it up Foulger/Peterson/Argo. Or they could shrink the foot print and build it taller so that there’s more civic center space.
They call all go live at the Mica Condos instead. I know there’s room.
What’s important is that they keep (and upgrade) the astroturf. Cut the civic center and incorporated it into the new library building. Silver Spring does not have the demographics to support an ice rink like Reston’s, even if it did, Bethesda’s rink eventually failed too. That would allow the entire site to be “astroturfed.” We could even build a football field there. How about that, playing football in Downtown Silver Spring. Astroturf is a beautiful material to sit on if it is cared for properly. A small performance stage could be constructed. I am thinking a modernistic version of the concert pavillion at Old Towne Gaithersburg.
The turf works, but it says cheap. Put some nice turf in there, or some grass, or something. But maybe turf is easier to clean/vacuum?
No need for a ice rink, though…go to Wheaton and skate all you want, or go to Pentagon Row, the NGA, or any other rink in this rink-obsessed place…the turf is simple and it works and people like it, why put a big hunk of ice there?