Symphony Woods

After living here in Columbia for 34 years, I thought I had become inured to the oddities and missteps of amateur government. Well, a decorative fountain meant for children to play in the middle of Symphony Woods ("Reviews mixed for planned fountain," Feb. 2) certainly ranks up there with bad software decisions and water flumes that break down. Has anyone ever sat near that same kind of fountain now operating in Fairfax, Va.? What you see there is a constant parade of parents and children and noisy adolescents.

When the first Wine in the Woods festival was being planned in 1992, Ellicott City restaurateur Fernand Tersiguel suggested organizers add enlightenment to their goals for the event. This weekend, as the wine festival marks its 20th anniversary in Symphony Woods, the education seminars still attract a loyal following. But these are not the formal or snobby classes one might imagine. Instead, they are casual interactions among wine lovers. "You start tasting wine almost right away," said Larry Elletson, an Ellicott City resident and one of three co-directors of the Maryland chapter of Tasters Guild International.

Symphony Woods.The name itself speaks of a quiet serenity. For many Howard County residents, this park-like setting that sits adjacent to the Columbia Mall has come to mean just that. Its stately forest of trees with high branches and broad trunks are a picturesque reminder of what the area was like before so much development took place.The Columbia Association, which manages Symphony Woods, has taken to calling it an urban park. The association is spending $22,000 to hire a consultant to determine what can be done to Symphony Woods as more and more development encircles the mall.

Onstage, outdoors The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company presents "Romeo and Juliet" and "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen, June 8-July 29 at Patapsco Female Institute Historic Park, 3691 Sarah's Lane in Ellicott City. Shows at 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 6 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $15-$36, free for children younger than 18. For tickets and more information, call 410-313-8661 or go to chesapeakeshakespeare.com. Wine fest volunteers The Department of Recreation and Parks is accepting applications from individuals 21 and older who are interested in volunteering at the annual "Wine in the Woods Festival" being held Saturday-Sunday, May 19-20, at Symphony Woods in Columbia.

A land planning consultant recommended to the Columbia Council last night ways to improve and draw more residents to Symphony Woods, Columbia's equivalent of Manhattan's Central Park.Charles Bailey, a senior associate with Columbia-based LDR International Inc., recommended ringing the 38-acre urban park in Town Center with a path connecting its diverse areas, establishing a more formal entrance, creating a "sound garden" with speakers or fountains, planting wildflowers, upgrading a pond and building boardwalks over environmentally sensitive areas.

A land planning consultant is to give the Columbia Council recommendations tonight on how to preserve Symphony Woods while increasing use of the 40-acre park.An LDR International representative also will outline constraints to development of the site at Town Center's southern edge and the results of an survey of Columbia households."We've done analysis on the basics they need to take care of, regardless of what they want to do as far as other activities," said Charlie Bailey, a senior associate with Columbia-based LDR. "If they want to do other activities, we can tell them where they logically should occur, based on whether they're passive or active."

Spurred by an effort to develop Symphony Woods into a "more inviting" urban park, a downtown citizens group is trying to influence the forthcoming plan.The Columbia Association awarded a $15,000 contract this week to Land Design Research Inc. to study ways of increasing use of the 40-acre Town Center woods while preserving the park's natural qualities.Symphony Woods, which includes the 12-acre Merriweather Post Pavilion, is bordered by Little Patuxent Parkway, Broken Land Parkway and South Entrance Road, an area slated for high-density residential, office and commercial development.

Transforming Symphony Woods from a little-used downtown Columbia park into an attraction for naturalists, walkers and picnickers would cost the Columbia Association $600,000, according to a landscape design firm's preliminary estimate.The Columbia Council plans to include about $367,000 for the first phase of the project in next year's capital budget for the nonprofit Columbia Association, which manages the community's parklands and recreational facilities.Council members say they like Columbia-based LDR International's plan to build a path looping the 38-acre park and linking its diverse areas, dredge and spruce up a pond, construct a more formal entrance and "pedestrian plaza," and place a boardwalk over environmentally sensitive areas.

A local landscape design firm with a plan to preserve and upgrade Symphony Woods made its case before the Columbia Council last night, reviving interest in what some local officials have called an underused -- and underappreciated -- resource.Cyril B. Paumier Jr. and Charles Bailey, partners in the Columbia-based LDR International, told the 10-member council that they would like to see a "moderate" number of improvements to the 40-acre Town Center park, which would make it more accessible and user-friendly.

Symphony Woods Office Center, Rouse & Associates' landmark at the entrance to Columbia's Town Center, was sold at auction last week but will continue to operate under the developer's management.Balcor Pension Investors IV, the Chicago-based lender who financed the centerwith an $11.9 million loan and then foreclosed on it, bought the property for $9 million.It was the only bid at the auction, which took place Wednesday near the entrance to the county Circuit Courthouse in Ellicott City.Court documents indicate two Rouse & Associates partnerships owed a total of $15 million in principal and interest on the building's loanas of March 31.Linda G. Tresslar, the Balcor agent who made the bid, said she could not comment on the sale or foreclosure.

I look forward to a time when Columbia's Symphony Woods is home to both active and passive recreation: picnics, walks, splashing, laughter, relaxation, and maybe even a little music. I commend CA for going forward with a plan to enhance the livability of our downtown area. Saturday I attended the opening of Blandair Park. This event was particularly significant to me, as an immediate neighbor in Oakland Mills. As I watched my daughter run off to explore the play equipment, I felt grateful to everyone who made this possible.

After living here in Columbia for 34 years, I thought I had become inured to the oddities and missteps of amateur government. Well, a decorative fountain meant for children to play in the middle of Symphony Woods ("Reviews mixed for planned fountain," Feb. 2) certainly ranks up there with bad software decisions and water flumes that break down. Has anyone ever sat near that same kind of fountain now operating in Fairfax, Va.? What you see there is a constant parade of parents and children and noisy adolescents.

Symphony Woods Park is one of the Columbia Association's greatest open space system assets, and I, the Registered Landscape Architect at CA, and others are doing our best to ensure that it becomes a great park for the community. In last week's Flier , Joyce Potemkin advocated that residents unite to save 53 trees in Symphony Woods slated for removal. While it is unfortunate that 53 trees could be removed for phase one of the park, the space will retain its wooded character: Hundreds and hundreds of trees will remain.

In what's become a Howard County holiday tradition, tonight the Symphony of Lights display is letting dogs in. For tonight only, people can walk through the festive show with their dogs from 4:30 to 5:45 p.m. -- the last dogs can start the trail at 5:15 p.m. What dog wouldn't enjoy a change of scenery for the afternoon walk, a mile and a half stroll through 70 holiday vignettes, all lit up?  The cost is $10 per two-legged walker -- dogs get in free. The proceeds benefit Howard County General Hospital.

An open letter to John DeWolf, senior vice president in charge of downtown Columbia development, Howard Hughes Corp: I knew Jim Rouse, and you are not Jim Rouse. But you could be. You have an opportunity to take a fresh look at planning for the revitalization of downtown Columbia and make it a resounding success. I hope you will do that. I hope you will start by looking at Jim Rouse's "original plan" for the downtown area, some elements of which have already been accomplished.

The 19th annual Wine in the Woods festival was held May 21-22 at Symphony Woods at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Beautiful weather helped attract crowds that averaged 20,000 each day, according to organizers from the Howard County Department of Parks and Recreation. Twenty-nine wineries from Maryland took part. Visitors who purchased a $30 wristband could sip as many half-ounce samples as they wished.

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."

For 36 years, Symphony Woods in Columbia's downtown has remained a bunch of trees with no clear identity. While the 40-acre site that surrounds the Merriweather Post Pavilion is a park, it has no obvious pedestrian entrance. Only a few events are held there each year, and few residents regularly visit the woods. But that could all change. Now that the Rouse Co. wants to develop the area, Howard County Councilman Ken Ulman and Columbia Councilman Joshua Feldmark want to turn Symphony Woods into a destination park.

Concert The Columbia Jewish Congregation Cultural Arts Committee presents Girls in Trouble, a folk-indie band featuring singer-songwriter Alicia Jo Rabins, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 4, at the Oakland Mills Interfaith Center, 5885 Robert Oliver Place. The program will highlight songs written by Rabins and based on the lives of women in the Bible. Admission is $10-$18. Information: 410-730-0687. Meeting The Howard County Citizens Association will hold its annual meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, May 9, at the Hawthorne Center, 6175 Sunny Spring.