The Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium would be transformed from a concrete slab surrounded by parking lots into a parklike area with hundreds of trees and a walking trail, under a landscaping plan released yesterday by Naval Academy, Annapolis and state officials.
"It's going to take an area that's probably not as attractive as it should be and make it attractive," said Vice Adm. Richard Naughton, superintendent of the Naval Academy.
The improvements mark the latest stage in a continuing $40 million overhaul of the 43-year-old stadium, which is about a mile from downtown Annapolis and is the home field for Navy's football games.
Officials said the stadium grounds will be encircled by 500 trees, retention ponds to ease storm-water runoff problems, 25,000 square feet of shrubbery and a 10-foot-wide walking path.
Mayor Ellen O. Moyer said the stadium will become a gateway to the city.
The price tag: nearly $1.2 million.
The state approved federal funds to cover 50 percent of the cost. The Naval Academy will pay 30 percent and the city will pay 20 percent.
Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. will provide $30,000 and 500 trees.
The landscaping should be completed before next football season, officials said. It would line the roads that surround the grounds of the 35,000-seat stadium: Cedar Park Road, Farragut Road, Taylor Avenue and Rowe Boulevard.
There was talk yesterday that within the perimeter landscaping, the gravel parking lot on the stadium's west side could become a grassy area big enough for six soccer fields to be used when the stadium is not.
"That would be an opportunity to open up some green space," said Chet Gladchuk, athletic director of the Naval Academy Athletic Association.
At yesterday's news conference, the word of the day was "partnership." Each group praised the other and talked about their ability to work together.
"We haven't worked this closely together for a long time - if ever," Moyer said of the city and academy.
The only people not invited to the celebratory news conference were residents who live around the stadium. They have an improving, but still not completely harmonious, relationship with the academy over the stadium.
They met last night with project officials.