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Plans
unveiled at a public 'workshop' session on May 6 involve what is
being called an 'adaptive reuse' of the 1914 structure, which
would be the centerpiece of a 20-acre cultural amenity anchoring
the 'passive recreation' component of the park on the west side
of Concord Pike.
The
two-story barn itself is to be restored as a facility for
meetings and other gatherings, both public and private, and a
place for exhibits and the like. There will be a new wing built
behind the barn and attached to it in an L-shape configuration
to house an entranceway, restrooms and support functions. There
also will be a courtyard, garden and 50-vehicle parking lot..
Access
would be from the planned park drive which initially will serve
as a full-size highway detour around construction of a partial
interchange at the Concord Pike-Foulk Road intersection and
eventually become a two-lane secondary road linking Augustine
Cut-Off and Rockland Road.
No
specific timetable nor cost estimates for the development were
available at the 'workshop'.
Astra
Zeneca is well along with construction of the buildings in the
first phase of corporate expansion. Site work preliminary to
construction of an extensive road network through the area has
begun.
The
planned wing to the barn was the feature which drew the most
attention at the 'workshop'. Of a modern design, in sharp
contrast to the barn, it seemed destined to raise at least some
controversy. One woman described it critically as resembling an
airport terminal.
Philip Yocum, senior associate with
John Milner Associates, a West Chester, Pa.-based architectural
firm, said the contrast was
intentional. "We designed an addition that would be clearly
different [and] complement the barn rather than interact with
it," he said.
Mark
Chura, a Division of Parks & Recreation manager leading that
agency's participation in the Blue Ball Project, said the
concept was favorably received by state and New Castle County
historic and preservation agencies and, although there may be
"some modifications," particularly involving the design of the
roof, "we're going to stand by this [concept] because it is the
right way to go."
While
discussing other aspects of the plans, Chura indicated that the
project is evolving within his division, a unit of the
Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control, and the
Delaware Department of Transportation rather than a continuation
of the participatory process initiated two years ago by the Blue
Ball Taskforce. The taskforce was charged with establishing a
master plan, which remains the basis for guiding the evolution,
he explained.
The
public will be kept informed at a series of 'workshops', he
said. The one on May 6 was attended by about 125 people.
Everyone was given the opportunity to discuss elements of the
presentations with agency representatives and to submit written
comments. Although that method does not involve any open
testimony, Chura said all views are received, reviewed and
considered.
In
another context, he said selection of the park name "came from
within our organization," he said. "We don't name parks by
committees."
Alapocas
Run is a small creek which flows through the tract en route to
the Brandywine. Alapocas Woods, an existing parkland, is
adjacent and will be incorporated into the new park. It will be
managed as part of the Wilmington State Parks complex which also
includes the former Rockford and Brandywine city parks.
What
roles New Castle County and the city administration will be play
in what previously was talked about as a tripartite arrangement
for the recreational and conservation elements of the Blue Ball
Project have yet to be determined or publicly announced.
The name
Blue Ball derives from the practice at taverns -- like the one
which once stood on the site of the dairy barn -- of setting a
blue ball on a poll to signal stagecoach drivers that passengers
were waiting within the establishment.
In
connection with the 'active recreation' area east of Concord
Pike, Chura said revised plans will permit placement of three
full-size fields for soccer and other sports and a smaller
practice filed there while preserving the ruins of 19th Century
farm buildings on what is identified as the Weldin Plantation.
A display
at the 'workshop' showed two possible alignments for the park
road through that area. One presented publicly last year would
skirt the ruins south of the sports fields and between them and
an expanded city-owned Rock Manor golf course. The other -- not
previously delineated -- would follow the path of the existing
Carouthers Lane and meet Weldin Road at a traffic circle, which
would go by the European name 'roundabout'. Only the new
alignment was shown in a diagram in a newsletter distributed at
the 'workshop'.
Under either arrangement, Weldin Road
would be relocated to meet Foulk Road opposite the entrance to
Brandywine Plaza.
The area road network, both during
construction and afterwards, now calls for a connection between
Foulk Road and Concord Pike running between Brandywine Plaza and
Independence Mall. DelDOT project manager Mark Tudor said that
will involve acquiring and removing one existing building but
will not encroach on the cemetery adjacent to Brandywine Plaza.
It was revealed at the 'workshop'
that the underpass by which the park road and Northern Delaware
Greenway will cross Concord Pike and link the two sections of
Alapocas Run State Park will be designed using a 'public art'
process. That means it is to have an artistic as well as
functional design.
"We don't want a tunnel," said Kent
Sundberg, of Wallace, Robinson & Todd, a consulting firm. He
added that the underpass will be lit -- "bright enough for
everybody to feel safe" -- around the clock.
Another display at the session
disclosed that a previous proposal to have Delaware Transit
Corp. establish bus service into Pennsylvania, to primarily
serve Astra Zeneca employees transferred to the expanded
corporate complex but desiring not to move their residences to
Delaware, has been scaled back. The display indicated the
service, at least initially, will be exclusively for company
employees and not public transit. Presenters at the display,
however, were unable to explain the arrangement between the
company and the public agency.
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