'Green Ravine' To Be Left Alone

UPDATED (9/17)—Baltimore County's design review panel helped broker a compromise Wednesday night between Towson Swim Club supporters and concerned Southland Hills neighbors over the area that's come to be known as the "green ravine."

To overcome a deadlock on the panel, the swim club removed the contested area from consideration as part of their plan. Chris Parts, the architect on the project, said that outcome had crossed his mind.

"We would have liked to go ahead with the full project, but we were delighted to proceed with the majority of the project and build a community pool," he said.

Bob Barrett, director of the county's Department of Recreation and Parks, which leases the land to the swim club, was relieved by the compromise.

"It allows them to now move forward and now get all this behind them," he said. "It's a long time coming."

This was after an at times heated three-hour meeting in the panel's packed chambers, where pool officials presented a revised plan and community members on both sides debated the pool site's parking, noise issues, and stormwater management.

The pool, built on land leased from the county's Department of Recreation and Parks, is scheduled to open in May 2011, but has not yet broken ground.

The top issue, however, was the wooded area that the swim club wanted to use as green space for activities such as frisbee and picnics. Community members alleged that developing the area would be destructive to the ecosystem and their quality of life, while pool officials and supporters said the pool needs the amenities to compete with other area pools.

The ravine was always part of the property leased to the swim club, but officials were unsure if it was developable earlier in the project, and Barrett said it was not part of the plans presented to him until very recently.

Both sides traded barbs throughout the lengthy meeting. Pool supporters asserted the ravine was filled with trash and poison ivy, while residents fighting the ravine plans claimed the swim club intended to ultimately turn the area into a parking lot. Those allegations were refuted.

In his opening presentation, Parts and swim club vice president Chuck McMahon highlighted the changes made to the design as a result of community input, including fixes to lighting, sound and pedestrian plans.

"We've offered, I think, exceptional measures to protect [the residents'] privacy, and I think that should be appreciated," McMahon said, noting that 75 to 80 percent of the swim club's current membership lives in Southland Hills or neighboring West Towson.

Many residents had signed up to speak. Bosley Road resident Carroll Cook, who lives directly adjacent to the pool site and was featured in an earlier Towson Patch article, read for six minutes from prepared remarks, referencing "To Kill a Mockingbird" and the Pixar film "Up" in claiming the swim club was using what he called "scare tactics."

Therese McAllister, the vice president of Southland Hills Improvement Association, spoke on the community group's behalf in favor of the swim club's ravine plan.

"After very careful consideration and debate... we do feel very strongly that this will be a wonderful addition to our community," she said.

After two hours of presentations, the board was deadlocked, with the sticking point on the ravine plans.

In a response, a contemplative William P. Monk, the panel's chairman, said he was troubled by how passionate the debate had become.

"I hate to see a community torn apart by an issue," he said when voicing his concerns.

To settle the debate, the board moved to separate the issue of the pool from the issue of the ravine. The board was unanimous in favor of the rest of the swim club's plan, but deadlocked 2-2 on the ravine. Swim club officials then requested a five-minute recess, after which they offered to remove the ravine site from consideration.

It will remain untouched, but a new sidewalk will be built along Towsontown Boulevard in public right of way to accommodate pedestrian traffic, Parts said.

Swim club board member Chuck McMahon addressed the panel, calling the debate over the ravine "unprecedented."

"It's unfair and unfortunate," he said.

Cook said he felt "guarded" about the compromise and worried that the situation might change with the new county executive's administration next year. County Executive James T. Smith Jr. filed a letter in support of the ravine's preservation, which was read to the panel.

"Bottom line is they still have signed a lease for the property, so it's still theirs," Cook said.

From here, the project goes through county planning approval procedures, though the design review panel decision is binding on the zoning commission. The panel also told club officials to make sure proper stormwater management procedures are in place. Then work can begin on the pool, which officials say is still on target to open next May.

Molly McConnell, a Bosley Road resident, was against the pool's original plan and spoke during the meeting.

"I'm very happy that they compromised," she said afterwards, but wondered if the pool would instead consider building a nature trail in the area instead. "They want the playground. They want the green space. They leased the green space. Would that be an opportunity they would consider?"