The College Park City Council unanimously approved a $7.3 million contract Tuesday to renovate Duvall Field, a seven-acre park and recreational facility in northern College Park.
In 2019, the project was estimated to cost about $5.6 million, according to city documents. Although all of the council members approved the new contract on Tuesday, some raised concerns about the project’s $1.7 million cost increase.
“It does give me heartburn at the cost,” District 4 council member Maria Mackie said during the meeting. “It went from $5 million, which I thought was a lot back then, to what it is today.”
Renovations for the park, which was created in the 1960s, have been an ongoing effort by the city council for nearly two decades, according to the project’s website. The project faced delays due to a lack of funding, the website said.
The first phase of Duvall Field’s renovations finished in 2018, which added a concessions building and recreation plaza to the property, according to the project’s website.
The next phase of renovations, which is expected to take about 1.5 years to complete, is set to add basketball and pickleball courts, an amphitheater for community events, a walking loop and outdoor fitness equipment, city documents state. Updated stormwater management and landscaping infrastructure is also slated to be part of the project, according to the documents.
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Rick Hoehn, a representative from the project management team, said inflation contributed to the project’s cost increase.
Continuing to delay and reexamine the construction plans would further delay the project and cost more money, said Miriam Bader, who is the city’s planning and community development director.
During Tuesday’s meeting, District 1 council member Jacob Hernandez asked project leaders if additional cost-mitigation measures, such as changing the project’s expected amenities list, could be considered.
In response to Hernandez’s concerns, Rakhmel Rafi, the city’s grant coordinator, said “value engineering” — the process of cutting construction costs — would delay the project by one year. Rafi advised the council against pursuing further cost reductions for the project as the process would ultimately incur additional costs.
District 4 council member and mayor pro tem Denise Mitchell said after the scheduled renovations, Duvall Field will be a “major amenity” for North College Park and urged the council to approve the contract.
“The longer we wait, it is going to cost that much more money,” Mitchell said at Tuesday’s meeting. “What I would hate to see is for us to vote against this, and then it not happen.”
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Despite the cost increase, Mackie said the new field will ultimately be a worthy investment to increase opportunities for outdoor play and fight against childhood obesity.
The city previously designated about $5.6 million in state and federal funding for the project through Capital Improvement Program bonds in 2021, according to city documents.
At Tuesday’s meeting, council members approved a $1.5 million grant application for Program Open Space to go toward the costs. Program Open Space, which is run by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, provides financial assistance to jurisdictions for planning and developing recreational areas.
The rest of the funding needed for the contract — about $600,000 — will be budgeted for the 2026 fiscal year, city documents reported.
District 2 council member Susan Whitney reminded the council that they had similar concerns over the cost of College Park City Hall when the building was proposed on Route 1. Like City Hall, the revamped Duvall Field will bring the community together, Whitney added.
“[The renovation] has the real potential to really bring the city together as one entity that meets and socializes all over the city and not just downtown,” Whitney said.
