Pleasant View Park, a nearly 10-acre park with amenities including a bicycle pump track, community garden and large grassy lawn, is expected to open in Gaithersburg this fall, according to city officials.
The opening of the park at 10901 Darnestown Road comes nearly three years after construction began in November 2021. As of Aug. 21, the park was in the final phase of completion, according to the project webpage. A specific opening date has not been set.
In addition to the bicycle skills course – a circular loop with berms and rollers that cycylists can ride without pedaling – garden and large green space, the park will also have an outdoor fitness zone, walking trails, visitor plaza and pavilions with picnic tables
The land where the park sits originally was used from 1955 to 1975 as a fire control radar site of the U.S. Army NIKE Missile system, according to the city. After 1975 the site was home of the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Laboratory Campus, where consumer products were tested.
Named after the Pleasant View community, one of the first free Black communities established in the county after the Civil War, the “park’s name honors the historic significance of that community and the beauty of its natural surroundings,” Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman said Monday in an email statement to MoCo360.
“Pleasant View Park will add to the city’s diverse landscape of parks [and increase] access to outdoor amenities for residents and visitors. We are excited to welcome residents to Pleasant View Park soon,” Ashman said.
The community garden at Pleasant View Park will also be the city’s first, according to Ashman.
Plots are allotted to gardeners on a lottery-based system, according to the community garden webpage. Those interested in renting a plot must submit an application to enter the lottery, although this year the plot allotment has already been finalized.
Eighteen raised-bed plots are available, six of which measure 48 square feet and cost $30 per year and 12 that are 32 square feet and cost $25 per year. Individuals and families are limited to one plot per household/family, according to the community garden website.
The park will have a parking lot and a Ride-On bus stop is located at the park entrance on Darnestown Road.
Here are photos of the park in August:
