Towson already has a secret garden. Now Towson has a secret park.

The administration of County Executive Jim Smith is keeping the design for the $211,000 Olympic Park project on the Towson roundabout under wraps.

Smith spokeswoman Ellen Kobler said the county executive is enthusiastic about the park "partially because it will be such a centerpiece for the downtown Towson corridor."

Kobler said construction of the park is expected to begin next spring and be finished by next summer, but she said the park is still in the design phase.

"The idea is a passive park that should highlight the Olympic spirit and the successes of our local Olympic athletes, and we would hope that it would include some tables and seating that would be a nice amenity for special events.

"But we're not going to talk about (the design)," she said. "We are very interested in seeing what the creative process produces."

The site is the former Shell Station property on the corner of York Road and Allegheny Avenue that the county acquired in 2007.

Currently it boasts a tree or two, a well-maintained expanse of grass and a black wrought iron fence.

The Smith administration dubbed the .38-acre lot Olympic Park in 2008, saying it would honor the county's Olympic athletes, including Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff.

But the list of athletes to be honored is also in the works, so to speak. Kobler said the county is working on the criteria and final list of who will be included.

The county's Department of Recreation and Parks usually spearheads the development of park projects, but director Bob Barrett said this one is being guided by the county executive's office.

His department will take charge of maintaining the facility once it is built, Barrett said.

Human & Rohde of Towson is the landscape architect for the project, but officials there said they have been told not to talk about the potential design and referred questions to Dan Shumaker, a project manager in the county's Office of Budget and Finance.

Shumaker, in turn, said he's not to talk about the project either, and said he refers all calls about it to Kobler.

But some in the community have received a sneak peek at potential plans for the park. Nancy Hafford, executive director of the Towson Chamber of Commerce, is one of the few who have been privy to the design process.

Hafford reported at last month's meeting of the Greater Towson Council of Community Associations that a representative of Human & Rohde had shown her a tentative design and sought her suggestions.

She said her strongest impression of the plan was that it seemed to lack space for the 28-foot high Christmas tree that has traditionally been erected in November and lit to signify the start of the holiday shopping season. That ceremony is attended by as many as 1,500 adults and children, she said.

Not to worry, said Kobler -- the tree was always part of the park vision, she said.

In addition, Hafford said she also suggested the need for tables and seating that people could use during the Towson Farmers Market and Feet on the Street block parties, and to see the fence preserved as a means of protecting young children from the traffic on York Road and the roundabout.

Combining all that with a design that honors the county's Olympic athletes is a tall order for just .38 acres of land.

But between now and next spring, that's the Olympian task assigned to the architects.

Said Kobler: "We are eager to see what they come up with."

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