Tribute to a Friend in Conservation: Charlie Conklin
With his warm smile, a twinkle in his eye and his enthusiasm for life, he has a genius for creating instant friendships.
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Making Baltimore County an Age-Friendly Community: Much Work to Do
The fact that Baltimore County’s population has been steadily increasing for years is not breaking news. The fact that the County’s senior population has been increasing at a much quicker pace might be. Baltimore County already ranks first in the percentage of seniors in its population among Maryland’s ten largest counties and estimates are that […]
3 Reasons Why We Think Bill 37-19 Should Pass without Amendments
A. Executive Summary We respectfully ask the Council to Pass Bill 37-19 without amendments for 3 reasons: 1. Our Unique History of Development Set the Stage for an Enormous Open Space Deficit Beginning with the Great Depression and the severe housing shortage that ensued, history and policy created our inner suburbs with […]
Why Our History Requires Restrictions on What Counts as Open Space: A Podcast
Our County has a unique land-use history, shaped by federal zoning law and housing policy, the Great Depression, World War II, the GI Bill, the 1st Eisenhower Beltway, the Plan for the Valleys, and the Urban Rural Demarcation Line. The upshot of this is that we are NOT like Harford County, Carroll County, Howard County […]
What Tuesday’s Hearing Revealed about the “Gutting” of County Open Space Requirements
“I am deeply saddened by the actions of lower level [County] staffers who cooperated with and illegally endorsed the developer’s efforts to totally gut the County’s open space requirements.” (Attorney Robert Smith, testifying in favor of Bill 37-19 on Tuesday, August 27, 2019) At the end of 49 minutes of testimony on Bill 37-19 on […]
Removing loopholes in open space law
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 7, 2019 Contact: Barbara Hopkins 443-377-3760 barbara@neighborspacebaltimorecounty.org Baltimore County Council Bill 37-19 Would Remove Loopholes in Adequate Public Facilities Law Governing Open Space NeighborSpace estimates well over $1 million “left on the table” since July 2016 Towson, MD – Today, NeighborSpace of Baltimore County applauded Councilmen Tom Quirk and […]
Health and Wealth not just for New Years cheers
When 6.75 wooded acres was purchased in 1967, the idea was simple: protect greenspace from yet another townhouse development. In the years since, Dunmore Land Holdings, Inc. (DLH) has ensured to meet the goal; but with nominal dues and fewer buy-in from new home purchases this old growth forest needs a bit of a revamp. […]
Site of Proposed Pocket Park Calls Forth Overlea’s Rich History
One-fifth of America lives in “first-tier” or “inner suburbs” like those inside the URDL in Baltimore County, home to roughly 90 percent of the County’s population. More often than not, you find NeigborSpace railing against their challenges – a pressing lack of open space, uncontrolled stormwater runoff, low walkability, etc. Fortunately, there is always “a […]
Trail Design Work (Finally) Begins in Dundalk!
On July 13th, NeighborSpace, in cooperation with leaders from Dundalk and staff from the Neighborhood Design Center (NDC), hosted a design workshop on a proposed trail along Bear Creek, which has been variously called the “Bear Creek Trail” and the “Md. Line Trail.” (Coming up with a proper name is something that will be tackled […]
Let’s Work Together
What motivates each of us is different, it is very clear to see what drives the titans of the Gunpowder Valley Conservancy, Tiiu Mayer and Charlie Conklin who were elbow deep in the removal of invasive and suffocating vines at NeighborSpace property “Norman Creek” early morning this past April. These two worked side by side […]