Exciting news from Woodlawn as the NeighborSpace property at 1905 Gwynn Oak Avenue is getting a makeover. This may seem like run-of-the-mill news to many of you. NeighborSpace fixing up another property? Is that not what they do? But dig a little deeper and you will realize it is not that simple.

As many of you can imagine, managing 100 acres of land across (soon to be) 22 properties is hard work. Being able to afford staff is critical to the success of a small non-profit and the management of this growing portfolio of land. We are grateful to so many of you whose contributions have allowed us to hire Program Manager, Patrick Filbert, and Office Administrator, Shannon McDonald. They have added capacity to focus on properties with management plan needs like Graystone.

While NeighborSpace had done many things to make the Graystone Site accessible for movie nights and flea markets, including building a ramp, its historic use as a field for livestock meant that the ground was uneven. This hampered the Graystone Community Association's ability to fully utilize the property and to maintain it.

Other challenges existed, including plantings that had overgrown signage. NeighborSpace met with Graystone Community Association President, Tayoka Hall, to discuss strategies for addressing them and a partnership for doing so emerged.  NeighborSpace would use open space fees it receives from the County to even out the rough patches and the Community Association would remove the overgrown plantings. Together, NeighborSpace and the Community Association would create a new planting plan and work on small grant's to purchase the plants.

Two Photos from 2018 portraying a usable but unattractive community open space

The project began with the community removing the overgrown hedge surrounding the neighborhood sign (shown above left). At this point, NeighborSpace hired Live Green Landscape Associates LLC to topdress the land and reseed the lawn. The work was completed in October and the property is looking markedly improved (shown below).

A view of the park from the back corner showing a regraded lawn with new grass seed

The neighborhood sign with bushes removed surrounded by a regraded & reseeded lawn

Further efforts will continue into the spring as we apply for grants to (a) get a new community lawn mower from Home Depot & (b) plant shrubs, perennials (for color) and add pollinator habitat. Stay tuned for further information!