The state has given the Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks about $950,500 to renovate an Ellicott City recreation center and to buy land for a proposed county park along the Middle Patuxent River.
The state Board of Public Works approved the funds Wednesday for the Roger Carter Neighborhood Center and the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area, a 1,100-acre parcel bounded by Harper's Choice village and Routes 108 and 32.
The money comes from Program Open Space, a program administered by the state Department of Natural Resources that helps local jurisdictions buy parkland and develop recreation areas.
The funds are allocated according to a formula based on county population, size and the amount of each county's residential property transfer tax.
Howard County parks officials will use about $745,000 of the money to help renovate the Roger Carter Neighborhood Center on Fels Lane. The renovation project, which will cost about $1 million, will include a new 25-meter pool, a two-story addition, locker rooms, picnic facility and more parking. The county will provide the rest of the funds. Construction is scheduled to start in the summer, said county parks director Jeffrey Bourne.
The county will use about $205,500 of the state money to buy an additional 31 acres of wooded land for the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area.
The state grant represents about 55 percent of the $373,629 purchase price of that land. The county is paying the rest.
The 31-acre parcel is owned by a Silver Spring couple and is between 66 county-owned acres and 950 acres that the Rouse Co. plans to give the county for the environmental area.
The parkland is home to migratory birds, mature hardwood trees and wetlands. By the year 2000, county officials hope to build an environmental education and nature center at the site.
Mr. Bourne said the state open space program was a "significant" factor in making the purchase possible. Since Program Open Space was established in 1969, it has helped Howard County acquire 1,675 acres of parkland.
Statewide, the program has helped buy more than 110,000 acres of open space for state parks and natural resource protection while enabling local subdivisions to protect more than 35,000 parkland acres.
Without the state program, many counties would be forced to either increase local taxes to buy parkland or stop acquiring land altogether, state officials said.
"It's the primary source of funds for all parks," said program director H. Grant Dehart.