Some people call it Columbia's version of New York's Central Park.

That might be a stretch, but the 40-acre Symphony Woods in Town Center has for years been known as one of the planned community's largest unspoiled expanses of nature -- unspoiled, and some say, largely unused.

"Symphony Woods is a beautiful space, and it's not used as much as we would like for it to be," said Columbia Association President Deborah O. McCarty. Tonight, a landscape design company will present Columbia Council members with a plan to make the association-owned property accessible to more residents.

The proposal, prepared by Columbia-based LDR International, is expected to draw from a master plan the company devised for Symphony Woods five years ago.

The idea "is to make it just very, very usable and more enjoyable than it is today," said Cy Paumier, a partner at LDR and project leader, who will make the presentation.

Symphony Woods, which is bordered by Little Patuxent and Broken Land parkways and South Entrance Road, is best known as the site of the Symphony of Lights and the Wine in the Woods festivals, which attract thousands.

But because it lacks a main entrance, many residents don't know it's there.

LDR's earlier plan, which would have cost nearly $380,000, included the creation of a formal entrance on Little Patuxent Parkway, a promenade circling the grounds, boardwalks and connection of the internal pathways to the surrounding open space.

It also called for a formal garden -- an amenity Columbia lacks -- and a "sound garden," where music would be played through hidden speakers. The plan never went forward, in part because of its cost.

At a brief meeting Tuesday, Paumier told McCarty and Chick Rhodehamel, the association's director of open space management, that his company wanted to donate its planning services to the nonprofit homeowners association in honor of the company's 30th anniversary.

Rhodehamel, who oversees Columbia's 3,100 acres of open space, said he is receptive to the idea of making Symphony Woods more accessible.

"I've always had great interest in Symphony Woods, since I came here," he said. "It was a neat park setting, knowing that the downtown was going to be growing and building" around it.

If, after public hearings and debate by the council, the association decides to act on the proposal, McCarty said it likely would be completed in phases, possibly over a three- to five-year period.

Paumier said he hoped much of the cost could be covered by private donations and in-kind contributions.

Nick Mangraviti, an architect and former chairman of the Town Center Village Board, was skeptical of the previous plan. He said Symphony Woods needs more people living around it rather than improved signs or paved pathways.

"The point is that if you surround a park with a whole bunch of people, they're going to use a park," said Mangraviti, using the example of Central Park. "You don't need a sign."

Town Center is the smallest of Columbia's 10 villages, with about 1,100 dwellings, averaging three people per household.

"If you look at where our park is, you find that nobody lives around it," said Mangraviti. "It's kind of like a suburban relationship to a park. You almost have to drive to get there."

That could change after the Rouse Co. develops more than 500 planned apartment units nearby. For now, Symphony Woods regulars will have to endure the status quo.

"I wouldn't go down there. There's just no path or anything," said Paumier. "The people that are there now have to walk in the mud."

Pub Date: 3/25/99