400 Acres Could Be Preserved As Open Space In Baltimore County

PERRY HALL, MD — Four hundred acres of green space were recommended to be preserved recently in Eastern Baltimore County.

In the past week, Baltimore County Council Member David Marks (R-Upper Falls) has recommended protecting the following District 5 open spaces:

• 225 acres near Pulaski Highway and the Bird River
• 100 acres of land in the Bird River Road corridor
• 75 acres in southeastern Perry Hall between Honeygo Boulevard, Silver Spring Road, Interstate-95 and White Marsh Boulevard

The Pulaski Highway recommendation was for environmental reasons.

"We are working hard to prioritize development in the right places and reduce sediment pollution," Marks said Monday on Facebook.

The Bird River Road corridor proposal is to prioritize development in areas primed for growth,

"I have consistently said that I want to prioritize development along the White Marsh Boulevard corridor, where there is infrastructure in place to accommodate growth," Marks said Aug. 5 on Facebook. "That means shifting development away from places like Ebenezer and Bird River Roads and Eastern Avenue that cannot handle growth."

The Perry Hall suggestion is to create open neighborhood commons areas in the Featherhill, Lawrence Hill and Tartan Hill communities. This would prohibit any development in these open spaces.

"This is likely the last large region in Perry Hall that lacked the Neighborhood Commons zoning," Marks said Wednesday on Facebook.

These recommendations are all part of Baltimore County's Comprehensive Zoning Map Process, which happens every four years. The County Council is scheduled to vote on the final draft of the zoning proposal on Aug. 27 at 6 p.m.

More information on the process is posted here.