Feedback

Balto. County hopes to build new park for youth recreation

Park to be located on surplus state land at Spring Grove Hospital in Catonsville.

February 14, 2013 at 5:07 pm 0

Baltimore County today announced tentative plans to use some of the 8.8 acres of land declared surplus state property at Spring Grove Hospital in Catonsville to open a youth-oriented regional park.

The county is seeking authorization from the Department of Natural Resources to use state “Open Space” funding to demolish the Hamilton Building, located on the surplus land, to create the park.

This follows the recent recommendation by the Maryland Department of Planning that the hospital acreage – together with the Hamilton Building – be used jointly by Baltimore County and the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC).

County Recreation and Parks Director Barry Williams said the park should include recreation facilities for kids, saying the demand for recreation in the southwest part of the county “far exceeds current availability.”

Other county politicians, including First District Councilman Tom Quirk and 10th District Delegate Adrienne Jones, are lining up in favor of the project.

“The addition of a regional park in the area will be great for the thousands of boys and girls participating in recreation programs,” Jones said today.

County Executive Kevin Kamenetz cautioned that it is too early to talk about the specific scope of the park.

In a written statement, he said, “There are significant funding issues to address, and we have not had any discussions with UMBC officials yet regarding shared use of the property. However, I did not want this opportunity to pass, and I look forward to working with the state and community members to move this project forward.”

Baltimore Brew is a moderated site that encourages the free and open exchange of ideas in a climate of mutual respect. We reserve the right - but do not assume any obligation - to delete or withhold the publication of comments that violate our standards. Comments that are obscene, libelous or defamatory, or include vicious personal attacks will not be published. Racist remarks, sexist remarks, disgusting stuff, blatant commercial self-promotion – you get the idea – if it crosses our line, we’re not going to run it.

The Daily Drip

  • May 22, 2013

    • As city firefighters face the possibility of 24-hour-long shifts to save money, Fire Chief James Clack today announced the filling of two newly-created administrative positions, each carrying annual salaries of about $100,000. In addition, Clack named Ian T. Brennan, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s assistant press secretary, as the department’s public information officer, replacing the retiring Kevin [...]

  • May 21, 2013

    • The Board of Estimates will be asked tomorrow to make Associated Catholic Charities the new operator of the city’s homeless shelter, replacing longtime provider JHR (Jobs, Housing and Recovery), Inc. The Mayor’s Office of Human Services is asking the board to approve a one-year $2.7 million contract for ACC to run the 250-plus-bed shelter, beginning [...]

  • May 17, 2013

    • UPDATED – At his stop at a South Baltimore factory this afternoon, President Obama announced a plan to boost the economy by reducing the red tape required on large federal projects. “Sometimes it takes too long to get projects off the ground,” Obama said at Ellicott Dredges, citing permits and planning delays related to infrastructure [...]

  • May 16, 2013

More of the Daily Drip »

Below the Fold

  • December 10, 2012

    • We Brew-ers have been gradually getting our act together to finally give our Kickstarter contributors their Thank You mugs, bumper stickers and other rewards. On Saturday we knocked out one more of those formal thank yous in a borrowed conference room downtown. It was a “Baltimore Brew Staff Meeting.” We mostly have lower-case “staff meetings,” [...]

Twitter

Facebook