As Anne Arundel County continues to make changes to Brooklyn Heights Park, plans for a new community center are beginning to take shape.

In March, Brooklyn Heights Park, a 21-acre community park nestled in Brooklyn Park, closed to the public until spring 2025 to pave the way for updated amenities, including an adaptive field, a lighted multipurpose sports field and a new basketball court, as well as a dog park, community garden, meditation area and walking paths. Construction is already underway.

Now, the county is looking to add a community center.

The proposed 20,000-square-foot Brooklyn Heights Community Center is planned to be built on land owned by the county, adjacent to Park Elementary School and the Brooklyn Park library.

Plans for the community center include a gymnasium with a multi-use court with seating for up to 120 spectators. Also included in the plans are a media room, multiple computer stations, and numerous rooms that could be used for meetings, exercise or art classes, for example.

Most of the parking for the proposed community center already exists in a lot adjacent to the site. The county plans to include 59 standard parking spaces, six electric vehicle spaces with infrastructure for future chargers and three accessible spaces, as well as 48 spaces for bikes.

A portion of the new community center is set to hold a child care program with capacity for up to 35 children. A fenced outdoor play area is also planned.

Space in the child care program will not be limited to area residents — it will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, said Jacque Hurman, chief of recreation services for Anne Arundel County Recreation and Parks.

Shawn Ashworth, the director of Food 4 Thought Community Outreach Services, a nonprofit working in the Brooklyn Park area, hopes the project will operate as a multi-generational facility.

“The children down here hang out here at the library — there is nothing for them to do,” she said. “So this community center will not only bring programming that will support families, but it will also help children better socialize and give them something to do.”

Parents of students at the adjacent Park Elementary School have said they wanted exercise and wellness areas, Ashworth said, as well as cooking classes and places where tutoring can take place.

The county plans to bring in moveable ovens and other equipment for cooking classes, Hurman said.

“This community center would take Brooklyn Park to a whole other level if they build it and allow the community access it the way it needs to be accessed,” Ashworth said.

County officials anticipate construction starting in late 2025, with the community center tentatively opening in mid-2027. Efforts to revitalize the park and build the community center are estimated to cost $24.3 million, according to the county’s approved fiscal 2025 capital budget.

Comments on the proposed community center can be submitted at aacounty.org through Nov. 22.

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