Protecting Land to Improve Communities
Our vision is that Baltimore County’s established neighborhoods will preserve their green open space, creating more attractive and sustainable communities. Our role is to acquire land to serve as small parks, gardens and natural areas in these neighborhoods, which are located within the County’s Urban Rural Demarcation Line (URDL), outlined in green in the map, above left, and home to 90% of the Counties 816,000 residents.
BOARD MEMBERS:
(1) TO ACCESS PROPERTY MONITORING INFO. & FORMS, CLICK HERE.
(2) TO SIGN-IN & ACCESS ALL OTHER DOCS, CLICK HERE.
Marks & Quirk to Introduce Legislation to Further Protect Open Space within the URDL
Councilmen David Marks and Tom Quirk are set to introduce legislation that would create a zoning overlay district for land protected by NeighborSpace and other areas already designated as open space, like land owned by homeowners associations. A major advantage for NeighborSpace would be being able to easily see all of the open space parcels within the URDL, a result that would allow us to be more strategic in acquiring land that might complement them. Click here to access the web page where the bill will be available after it’s introduced. For a recent Sun article on the proposed bill, click here.
As part of his 2012 fequest to the Maryland General Assembly, County Executive Kamenetz has requested $150,000 in bond funding, to be matched by $150,000 in County funding for NeighborSpace. If the bill passes, funds would be used for land acquisition, improvement of existing parcels and the completion of a strategic conservation plan. In briefing the County Delegation on his request, the County Exec. noted that “in recognition of the financial difficulties that confront our state right now, [we] will only ask for what is absolutely necessary for our communities.” Click here for our fact sheet in support of this bond bill request.
County Executive Kamenetz Includes NeighborSpace in His 2012 Request to the Md. General Assembly