Virtual Community Meeting on New Lyttonsville Park Will Take Place on October 25

Join Montgomery Parks for a virtual community meeting about a new future park that is being developed in the Lyttonsville area. Parks staff will present preliminary concepts based on feedback from the first community meeting. The meeting will take place on Zoom on Tuesday, October 25, 2022, from 7 – 8:30 p.m. To join the meeting, visit MoCoParks.org/LyttonsvilleTownHall or join by phone at 301-715-8592, webinar ID: 869 4809 5561

This project develops a facility plan for a new neighborhood park in Lyttonsville at 2205 Kansas Avenue in Silver Spring, Maryland. The intent of the project is to create a neighborhood green and a rest stop with amenities along the Capital Crescent Trail while providing environmental benefits, accessibility, and social connections. The 0.84-acre parcel is adjacent to the existing Georgetown Branch and the CSX/WMATA right-of-way at the end of Talbot Avenue between Kansas Avenue and Michigan Avenue. The parcel fronts the future Capital Crescent Trail and Purple Line light rail on the north side and is approximately ¼ mile from the future Purple Line Lyttonsville Station. The land is to be transferred to The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) upon completion of the Purple Line as part of the Capital Crescent Trail greenway corridor. The site which was formerly forested has been cleared and is currently used as a construction staging area.

Lyttonsville was an all-Black enclave in Silver Spring founded in the 1850s by a free Black laborer, Samuel Lytton. The Talbot Avenue bridge is a historic, one-lane wood and steel bridge that crossed the CSX railroad tracks between Hanover Street and Lanier Drive. The bridge provided Black residents access to employment, shopping, and recreational opportunities unavailable in Lyttonsville. The bridge represents a historic connection between the segregated communities. The deteriorating 100-year-old bridge was demolished in the spring of 2019 and will be replaced with a new bridge in conjunction with the construction of the Purple Line. The project intends to incorporate remnants of the historic bridge into the park to commemorate the unique history and culture of Greater Lyttonsville.

The facility planning process began in the winter of 2019 but was put on hold due to the delay of the Purple Line construction. The project restarted in the spring of 2022.  A virtual community meeting was held on Wednesday, June 29, 2022, and an Open Town Hall survey was available for community members to share ideas for the project.