Thanks to everybody for showing up and helping clean up the tower grounds on Sunday!

For those that may have missed it, here is a link to the presentation given by Unknown Studios on the Roland Water Tower Park design development:

https://tinyurl.com/RWTParkConcept

Let us know your thoughts on the preferred design for Roland Water Tower Park: Follow this link and you will see a survey, along with links to the community meeting presentation recording and powerpoint slides. The presentation has a summary of previous community survey results broken down by neighborhood.  We look forward to hearing your comments, and thank you for participating!
https://tinyurl.com/RWTParkConceptComments

We need your help to plan a season of celebrations in our neighborhood!
Finally after more than 10 years of community organizing and 9 months of restoration work, the Roland Water Tower is substantially restored. The scaffolding and fences will come down by the middle of June. This is a very exciting accomplishment for all of the surrounding communities. We plan to celebrate the completion of the restoration and the imminent return of our resident falcon neighbors with a community gathering planned for June 19th at the tower (flyer attached). This event will provide a chance for us to come together to plan a bright future for the tower as a gathering place for our neighborhoods.
Now seems like a perfect time to re-launch the Friends of the Roland Water Tower, a community group a number of us had formed more than a decade ago to raise awareness of the state of the tower by organizing events on the site. Would you be willing to be part of this renewed effort?
We are looking for dedicated individuals willing to work alongside their neighbors from Hoe’s Heights, Rolden, Roland Park, and other nearby communities to plan small events throughout the summer and early autumn. These could involve anything from community sidewalk chalking, to story telling, history teach-ins, nature talks or even small musical performances.   The FORWT group will plan the events, obtain the relevant city permitting, and advertise the events to our friends and neighbors. 
We hope to launch the new Friends of the Roland Water Tower very shortly, so please check your emails for more announcements.

Your neighbors,

Zoe Clarkwest, Michael Falk, Kirsten Johnson, Nick Lidow, Mary Page Michel, Julia Pierson, and Lydia Wilson

COMMUNITY MEETINGS

Join us to review the results of the community survey and give feedback on concept design options for your park!

PUBLIC MEETING #1 (ON ZOOM)

Weds, March 31, 2021, 6–7:30pm

https://tinyurl.com/3bpv96jf

Passcode: watertower

PUBLIC MEETING #2 (ON SITE)

Sat, April 3, 2021, 12-2pm

(Drop in any time)

On-site at the Roland Water Tower

All ages encouraged! Masks and

physical distancing required.

*Rain Date: Tues, April 6, 5-7pm*

Please email:

rolandwatertower@rolandpark.org

with any comments or questions.

Can’t attend either meeting? There is a comment box posted on the construction fence on-site for you to drop off your comments!

We are excited to introduce Unknown Studio as our Landscape Architect for design of the park surrounding the Roland Water Tower! To kick things off, we are organizing a series of community meetings to develop a plan for the park. We need your input, so please attend or comment in one of three ways:

1. Onsite Saturday, November 7 from 10-12pm for an in-person, open house forum
2. Online on Zoom, Thursday, November 5 from 6-7pm
3. Submit written comments in the comment box posted at the Tower

Unknown Studio is a a certified Small Business and a woman-owned firm based in Baltimore City. Check out their website, below:

https://www.unknownstudio.la/

In case you missed it, here is a link to the virtual town hall presentation from Tuesday September 22, 2020:

Dear Neighbors, 

We have some exciting news.  After more than ten years of planning by the community, the Roland Water Tower is being stabilized. The City completed the design and Roland Park Community Foundation (RPCF) hired Lewis Contractors to get started on construction in September.

The Tower has been a landmark on Roland Avenue since 1905 but it hasn’t been in use since the 1930’s. This project will stabilize the Tower so it will not deteriorate further. The exterior will be cleaned, missing pieces replaced, it will be closed to the elements, the roof repaired and the fence will be removed. 

The first thing that will happen is that the overgrown trees around the Tower will be pruned by the City. This is absolutely necessary to allow room for the scaffolding. One of the zelkovas will be removed by the City because it is dying.  When construction starts in September, the loop road around the Tower will be closed to traffic and the site will be fenced off for safety reasons. 

Keep Informed! We will be communicating with neighbors multiple ways:

• Email updates will go out regularly. Sign up at http://www.rolandwatertower.org.
• www.Rolandwatertower.org will have the most updated information about the project
• Updates on the Friends of the Roland Water Tower FaceBook page. Please like this page!
• Notifications through nearby neighborhood associations

We are sure you have lots of questions, so we will hold a virtual town hall to explain more about the construction and what to expect. The Town Hall is set for September 22nd at 8 pm.  Add your name to our group database at www.rolandwatertower.org for the Zoom invite.  Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke and Delegate Sandy Rosenberg will be joining us on the call. 

Join Team Tower!

• Hundreds of people donated to the Roland Water Tower stabilization, but we still need more! Donations of any size are needed and welcome. Please consider making a donation at www.rolandwatertower.org. 
• In the fall, we will be working with a landscape architect, hired by the RPCF, to create a new park space under the Tower. A committee with representatives from Hoes Heights, Rolden and Roland Park are selecting the landscape firm. Neighbors will be invited to help with planning the park.
• Interested in volunteering to help with planning, fundraising, flyering, social media? Let us know!

We want to hear from you with any questions or concerns or ideas you have. Email us at rolandwatertower@rolandpark.org.

 Warmly,

Suzanne Frasier, Mary Page Michel, Julia Pierson, and Lydia Wilson

Friends of the RWT Roland Park Rolden Hoes Heights

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is responsible for the construction project?

• The Roland Park Community Foundation is spearheading the project and is the fiscal sponsor. They have hired Lewis Contractors to complete the construction work. The City owns the property and managed the stabilization design process.
• How do I report a problem at the job site? Email rolandwatertower@rolandpark.org. We want to keep a log of issues, so please always email so we have documentation. 

What can we expect during construction?

• Scaffolding will be around the Tower to complete the exterior work and because existing steps are not usable.
• One of the zelkova trees will be removed because it has died.  The other trees will be trimmed so that the scaffolding can be put up.  
• For safety reasons, the entire worksite will be blocked off and the loop road will be closed

throughout the construction period.

• The construction will take approximately seven months, contingent upon the weather and supplies arriving on time.
• The construction day will be from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm. Occasionally they may need to work on the weekend.
• We know it is going to be a pain but it is going to be worth it!

What will happen to the falcons residing in the tower?

• Peregrine falcons have made the Tower their roosting site for several years. We have consulted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services about how best to accommodate the falcons so they will return after construction. They advised us to place a special box in the belvedere of the Tower for their nest. They may leave for a period of time, but they will likely return because the Tower is an ideal habitat for them. The construction will start before they roost this year, so the timing is perfect!

How can I have input into the park design?

• In the coming months, we will be asking for the neighborhood to help design the park and raise funds for its construction so it can be put in place after the Tower work is completed. If you go the website, scroll down to where it asks for your contact info under the heading group contact info.

How can I help?

• Please consider making a donation to the project at www.rolandwatertower.org. 
• Volunteer! We need volunteers to help with planning, fundraising, flyering and social media.
• Sign up at www.rolandwatertower.org for updates! 

The Friends of the Roland Water Tower invites qualified Landscape Architects to bid on the design for a new park surrounding the water tower. Why?

• Because the tower is slated for stabilization in the immediate future, and we would like a plan for how the park will look once its done
• Because the park is a landmark public green space, easily walkable to the surrounding communities, and has been largely fenced off for years

The RFP for Landscape Architecture Design of the park can be found here. : post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

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