The City of Gaithersburg is in the process of completing the 9.54-acre Pleasant View Park at 10901 Darnestown Rd. with parking, community gardens, a bicycle skills course (pump track), open space, pavilions, a playground, fitness pods, and a welcome plaza. We spoke with City officials who confirmed that the park is not yet open.
Multiple readers have sent photos of the park doors open and a few have sent in photos of the playground in use, but City of Gaithersburg officials tell us that the park is not yet open and they hope to have a ribbon cutting ceremony and grand opening celebration soon (no date available). The doors are currently locked and chained again, and we were told that they should not have been open unless there was work actively being completed at the park.
In April, the City announced that the park was in the final stage of construction. Most of the activities that were in progress at the time have been completed, including the construction of the vehicular entrance road (from Darnestown Road) and the asphalt paving of the parking lot.
The following park elements have already been constructed; Playground, Fitness Zone, Community Garden, Bike Skills Course, Walking Trails, Stormwater Structures, Visitors Plaza, Landscape elements, Utility installations, Park lighting, Pavilions, and partial construction of Parking lot.
Originally scheduled to be completed February 2023, there have been some delays. In October 2023, we spoke with City of Gaithersburg project engineer Sunil Prithviraj, who told us that substantial completion is tentatively expected by the third week of November. It appears that the final touches are now being completed so an opening by the end of the summer is possible.
Pleasant View Park is named after the nearby Pleasant View community, one of the first free black communities established after the Civil War. The park’s name honors the historic significance of that community and also reflects the beauty of the natural surroundings. The land was acquired through the Federal Land to Parks Program of the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service. From 1955 to 1975, this location served as a fire control radar site for the U.S. Army NIKE missile system. After 1975, the site was used by the Consumer Product Safety Commission as the National Laboratory Campus for testing consumer products.
Vehicular access to the park will be through the drive that extends from Darnestown Road. Pedestrians will be able to access the site from Darnestown Road via a path that will be located parallel to the access drive into the park. Pedestrians will also be able to access the park from Marsh Lane. A Ride-On bus stop is located on Darnestown Road at the park entrance.