By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Feb. 1, 2018) The discussion to revitalize Sturgis Park in Snow Hill continued last week, as the Mayor and Council met publicly with architects from Campion Hruby.

The Annapolis-based landscape architects in December presented several ambitious renovation concepts to the public during a well-attended meeting at the old train station.

During a follow-up session, last Wednesday in the same venue, only a handful of people attended, including Lower Shore Land Trust Executive Director Kate Patton and Land Programs Manager Jared Parks. The nonprofit headquarters is adjacent to the park.

Leading the discussion was Jack Sullivan, a landscape architect and planner, while associate Steve Makrinos showed on a projection screen more than a dozen slides taken from a 3D model of what an overhauled Sturgis could look like.

Those in attendance, however, favored a simpler approach, namely installing an enclosed butterfly garden next to the Lower Shore Land Trust and moving the existing bathrooms.

Mayor Charlie Dorman said there were also plans to take down the structure currently functioning as a bus stop and moving the stop to the Willow Street side of the district courthouse.

Patton said the butterfly garden could be an anchor for Sturgis Park, something it sorely needs and she didn’t believe existed within the Campion Hruby designs.

“The idea would be a partnership with the town, where the Land Trust could work and coordinate with our staff and volunteers to manage the garden … which would be available for people year-round,” she said. “That was something that we were looking at in terms of the conservation and outdoor enthusiasm that has been promoted throughout the town. If that’s an interest, we would love to see how we could work something out.”

Parks envisioned a removable cover that would be taken off during the winter and a structure wide enough for visitors to walk through “without feeling like they’re in a cave.” He built a similar edifice in college and said it could be done for about $15,000.

“Ideally, it would be native plants and native butterflies. It’s more interactive than being in a garden … it’s a different experience,” he said.

“[It would] have an educational facility with some benches and places to see native plants and pollinators,” Parks added. “In the offseason … it will all be open and it would have similar plantings on the outside as well.”

During the winter the space would be “just a garden with some bones overtop of it.” When the butterflies migrate away, they leave behind larvae and eggs that hatch back into the garden during the following spring.

“You’re not replacing the butterflies every year. That’s the whole point of the scheme of the house,” Parks said.

Also during the meeting, Councilwoman Alison Cook said she wanted to see more park amenities for families with children.

“I’m looking at [the mock up] through a kid’s eyes and I’m not seeing anything and going, ‘wow!’ It needs just something there,” she said.

Councilwoman Jenny Call called the designs “a beautiful, ambitious effort.”

Mayor Dorman, reached for comment last Thursday, was more restrained.

“I thought they put a lot of work into what they got from the community output, but they didn’t put it on paper the way we thought. They were thinking of a design, but it doesn’t look like Snow Hill,” Dorman said.

Part of the divide, Dorman said, was a long, covered “runway” envisioned to receive visitors from an excursion train.

“That would be where people would be let off, and that’s not happening in the near future,” Dorman said. “I think that needs to be more open and [there needs to be] more concept for the butterfly garden, which would attract people.”

Dorman also noticed the lack of features for children, and thought some of the proposals might have been a little too extravagant for Snow Hill.

“I don’t see any of that – I think that needs to be put in there,” he said. “But an ice skating rink in an open field is never going to happen. Would I like it to happen? Yeah, but I don’t think so.”

Instead, Dorman wants to see the butterfly garden installed and the existing bathrooms improved.

“Our bathroom down there now is terrible,” he said. “We’re putting in money to fix that bathroom … and moving it closer to the pavilion is ideal. Open that area up. That can be done.

“I would like the concept for the first phase to move that bathroom [near the pavilion], figure out how to configure that butterfly garden in there and do a drawing without that covered walkway,” Dorman added.

All of that, he said, could be accomplished this year and at minimal cost.

“I think [Campion Hruby] will take back what we want and design it that way,” Dorman said. “The design, from the pavilion down [away from downtown] I think is great. I think just where they’re talking about ice rinks is not going to happen, and you need to put something there if people and their children come to the butterfly garden.

“They’re going to have to have another meeting – we’re not going to approve what they’ve given us,” he added.

The ultimate fate of Sturgis Park and which amenities may or may not belong there will depend on how much funding the town can get. Dorman said the town is working off an annual budget of about $4 million.

“We depend very heavily on grants and on people coming in and helping us,” he said. “We’re filling the buildings [downtown] in and we’re getting businesses, so we hope that attracts people.”