Baltimore County has acquired more than a dozen acres of land in Lutherville-Timonium for $2.2 million, leaving the green space open for recreation and sinking a developer’s plans to build residential housing there, according to a news release.
The county has applied to the state for Program Open Space funds to reimburse the cost of the site on Dulaney Valley Road, according to a release.
Acquiring the 24.5 acres also preserves green space near the Loch Raven Reservoir watershed, including 1,100 feet of the Kelly Branch and its shoreline.
The land and its baseball diamonds are primarily used for programs by the Lutherville-Timonium Recreation Council under a license agreement with the current property owner, Villa Maria Inc., which operates the Catholic Villa Maria School across the street at 2300 Dulaney Valley Road and is affiliated with the Catholic Charities of Baltimore.
Catholic Charities sought to build homes dubbed Lanahan Meadows on the property but met fierce opposition from neighbors. The Baltimore County Council approved the acquisition of the land in May.
Creating more recreational space is “a critical component” of County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr.’s aim to create “vibrant communities,” he said in a statement.
The Democrat is exploring the construction of the county’s first public park plan in six years in Sparrows Point and plans to spend $7 million to build a park on an 8-acre plot of land near on Greens Lane near the Randallstown Community Center near neighborhoods that currently lack recreation space.
”Constituents living in this area have long been concerned about encroaching development that threatened to eliminate these fields, including the last zoning cycle,” Republican County Councilman Wade Kach said in a statement. “I am pleased that these fields will now be preserved in perpetuity for recreation.