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Your Letters About the ProposedDevelopment of Baltimore Country Club LandSent to Local Newspapers and Copied to RolandPark.org |
On this page you will find e-mail letters written to the "letters to the editor" sections of local newspapers for or against the proposed sale of 17 acres of currently green, open land owned by the Baltimore Country Club to Keswick Multi-Care Center for development as a continuing-care center. Scroll down for newer correspondence. On this page, letters copied to RolandPark.org are reproduced, whether published by the newspaper in question or not. If actually published, the letters may also be found in the "media hits" section of the main BCC/Keswick page. All views expressed are those of the letters' respective authors and may not reflect the positions of the Roland Park civic organizations. RolandPark.org does not vouch for the veracity of any statements contained within the letters, and accepts no responsibility for such statements. To return to main letters page, click here. |
Letters Written to Local Newspapers and Copied to RolandPark.org _____
To The Sun: The following letters are in response to the Sun's July 6 editorial in favor of compromise between the preservationists and the development advocates (which is here).
To the Editor: The editorial (“Just keep talking ”) in the Sun (July 6) trivializes the loss of irreplaceable green space into a silly conflict between a neighborhood and the Baltimore Country Club and Keswick Multi-Care. The proposed expansion of Keswick into Roland Park — America’s first planned community — will eliminate one of the last large pieces of unspoiled ground left on the north side of the city. This project is grotesquely out of proportion to the space involved and will create massive traffic problems and infrastructure burdens. The Sun urges that the parties involved “confer.” But this deal was secretly concocted between BCC and Keswick with no community involvement. The plans have still not been made public. Confer? Your editorial fails to note that the community has made repeated offers to purchase the land at fair market value over more than a decade. The destruction of this land will change the fabric of the neighborhood forever. The Sun argues that Baltimore needs more senior housing but Roland Park already has ample and elaborate facilities for the elderly. This is not about old folks. This is about a commercial venture and the loss of green space. Why doesn’t Keswick explore options elsewhere in the city where there is demonstrated need and where such development might help revitalize a community? Small wonder that Councilwoman Sharon Green Middleton, State Senator Lisa Gladden and Delegates Sandy Rosenberg and Jill Carter have opposed this project. This development is inconsistent with this historic planned neighborhood and the Sun’s own stated values — a greener Baltimore, strong neighborhoods and thoughtful planning. Christopher Corbett July 7, 2008
To the Editor: This is not about each side failing to find an “effective way of talking to the other”; it’s about one side refusing to listen. We’ve been trying to talk to the Baltimore Country Club’s board of directors about this land since at least 1999, when we submitted our first proposal to buy it. The board ignored that proposal, and the two that followed it, and apparently never told their members about these offers. Perhaps they never told Keswick either. In my opinion, the BCC board is the architect of this “confrontation.” For most of us, this issue is not about Roland Park. It’s about our city and beyond. It’s about the precious, shrinking resource that is green space that, once lost, is gone forever. It’s about choosing to preserve rather than exploit this irreplaceable treasure, and valuing the environment and our future over the almighty dollar. Perhaps the writer, and readers of the Sun, will heed this advice: “Just keep listening.” Only by doing so will you understand that we in Roland Park are fighting for us all. July 7, 2008
To the Editor: I was most disappointed by the Sun’s editorial in favor of “compromise” re: the impending sale of Baltimore Country Club green space for development by the Keswick Multi-Care Center (“Just keep talking,” 6-7-08). The Sun’s view notwithstanding, this is about far more than preserving a sledding hill for privileged Roland Park children. There is very little green space left in Baltimore and what there is must be preserved. Roland Park — the nation’s first planned “garden suburb” — is one of Maryland’s gems. Though its edges have over the past few decades been eroded by commercial and high-density development, much of it now openly conceded to have been poorly done, the BCC/Keswick deal would be in a league of its own. The BCC land, the rump of its former golf course, is not perimeter land; it juts right into the heart of Roland Park. Whatever its eventual size, the Keswick development would not be out of sight and it could never be out of mind. Simply having a smaller development on the land would be about as acceptable as having a small mall built over Colonial Williamsburg instead of a big mall. Roland Park has offered to buy and preserve this land three times and has been ignored. The time is right again now. Douglas Munro July 7, 2008
To the Editor: What a disappointment to read “Just keeping talking” (Sun, July 7). I would like to think that most communities would be “distressed by the prospect” of losing open space to any type of development. In general, this sentiment is not unique to Roland Park, the City of Baltimore or the nation as a whole. It is a challenge for urban planners and green space proponents alike. July 8, 2008
To the Editor: Your editorial about the pending sale of Roland Park land by the Baltimore Country Club to Keswick Multi-Care Center, Inc. misses the fundamental point. The Roland Park Civic League made three successive offers to the BCC over the past ten years to buy the land at fair market value. Other offers were made by private schools in the neighborhood. All would have preserved this pristine 17-acre tract as green space, just as the Olmsteds intended when they designed Roland Park some 104 years ago. The BCC board of directors chose not to convey the RPCL offers to the BCC members. Instead, they champion the current plan with Keswick. At no point, until two weeks ago, were the citizens of Roland Park appraised of this plan, which will obliterate most of the last remaining significant green space in Baltimore City. Green space, not the elderly, is the real issue. There is no shortage of assisted-living facilities in Roland Park. Indeed, three assisted-living facilities here offer 800 beds, many of which are currently vacant. Nor are Roland Parkers against another such facility: We simply want it located on redeveloped, as opposed to green-space, land. Michael McQuestion July 8, 2008
To the Editor: The Sun’s equivocation on the issue of the impending development of the Baltimore Country Club land is Roland Park is a shame (“Just keep talking,” 6-7-08). Roland Park, in addition to being simply a very attractive place, is architecturally important as America’s first and most emulated planned “streetcar suburb.” The city should not contemplate permitting the BCC/Keswick rezoning request, when it comes, altering the zoning from its present low-density R-1 to high-density R-5. Baltimore’s tree canopy is small enough as matters already stand. To allow the further felling of trees to make way for a grossly inappropriate modern development in the midst of a historic landmark such a Roland Park would be a travesty of our elected officials’ claim to be environmentally conscious. Cyd Lacanienta July 10, 2008
To The Gazette: The following letter was sent to the Gazette newspapers in response to Barry Rascovar's poke-Roland-Park-in-the-eye opinion of July 7 (here). I have been unable to find out if the Gazette published this response — Ed.
To the Editor: Preserving open space in Baltimore City is a legitimate public policy objective. Supporting our constituents’ efforts to achieve that goal is an important part of our job as state legislators.
Delegates Jill Carter, Nathaniel Oaks and Sandy Rosenberg July 9, 2008 To The Sun: The following letter is in response to the Sun's July 9 "letter to the editor" by Keswick's board president, Dorothy Boyce, which is here (last of the four letters on the page).
To the Editor: Let's take a broader view of the issue the Sun presents as "Open space fight roils Roland Park" (here). Keswick Multi-care Center desires to build a high-end senior living multi-care facility including 225 independent-living units, 58 While it doesn't address the Baltimore Country Club's desire for funds that selling off its Falls Road property would generate, a move by Keswick to pursue development close to its current operations would be both logical and a good marketing strategy. The Rotunda would offer seniors potential to have more walk-to options, to be neighbors with residents at Roland Park Place and the apartment towers nearby (many of them probably old friends, given the Smalltimore syndrome) and to be closer to urban amenities. This idea offers economies of scale, wonderful views out over the city, the opportunity to add greenery where currently paved surface reigns supreme, and, for Hekemian, a built-in market with energy, disposable income, and cultural and intellectual capital to help attract commercial tenants. It seems like a no-brainer — and for those considering a move to a continuing-care community a much more attractive site than being isolated on a west-facing hillside overlooking traffic and athletic fields. The Baltimore Country Club wants to sell its surplus land and hopes to do so for $12.5 million, predicated upon the rezoning of historically green space. Is this rezoning a realistic expectation, considering the opposition of the surrounding community and the clear policy on the part of the city to preserve open space, channel development to underutilized, already-developed land, and increase the urban tree canopy? If BCC will consider a price more in line with the fair market value under existing zoning, I feel certain that more appropriate and Janet Felsten July 9, 2008
To The Sun: The following letter is in response to the Sun's July 15 "letter to the editor" by Jessica Fehr, who said that wealthy Parkies should let BCC do what it likes with the land and should instead concentrate on charity (here).
To the Editor: I take exception to Ms. Fehr's letter to the editor characterizing Roland Park residents as misguided. Her analogy of a new homeowner not permitting kids to play in the yard clearly misses the point. This is not a new homeowner banning kids from playing; it is proposing to build a used car dealership in the middle of the neighborhood. Keswick is proposing something that requires a zoning change for the land. Roland Park residents, as taxpayers of the city, have every right to vigorously fight such a zoning change. Exercising our civic right to preserve the fabric of this historic neighborhood should be embraced by all city residents. Maintaining the neighborhoods character ensures property value and taxes paid to the city.
July 15, 2008 _____
To the Editor:
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To the Editor: Kudos to Jonathan Pitts for updating us on the State of Maryland's Trails Strategic Implementation Plan ("Weaving a Web of Biking Trails," 4 September). Here in leafy Roland Park we are locked in a battle to save our remaining green space. A rezoning decision by the city would clear the way for the sale of 17 acres of Baltimore Country Club to the Keswick Multi-Care Center. Many of us believe that such a precedent would be a dangerous precedent for our historic community. We are quickly learning that we are not alone. Other Baltimore neighborhoods face similar struggles against unchecked development. To save our green spaces we need to tie them together. What better way than multi-use bike trails? Back in the 1860s Frederick Law Olmsted demonstrated that cities like Baltimore benefit economically by carving out and linking their green spaces. Proximity to a bike path, park or open space raises property values. A green infrastructure attracts "active lifestyle" people back to the city, pushing up the tax base. This vision has already been captured in the City of Baltimore's 2006 Comprehensive Master Plan, which includes a Bicycle Master Plan for the City. Plans abound. It's time to implement them! We in north Baltimore are doing our part. The Roland Park Civic League and the Friends of Stony Run are working with the city to connect our green space to the nearby Jones Falls bike trail, one of the "missing links" identified in the Maryland Trails Strategic Implementation Plan. Other local green space initiatives are in the making. Together we and other neighborhood associations are doing our part to make Baltimore a more livable place. Mike McQuestion September 13, 2008 _____
To The Sun: The following letters are in response to the Sun's December 15, 2008 "Tie-breaker?" editorial, itself a response to the Baltimore Country Club's December 9 demolition of its historic tennis clubhouse (story here). The Sun editorial is here.
To the Editor: Like many Roland Park residents, my household has carefully followed the Sun’s coverage of the controversial Baltimore Country Club (BCC) land sale to the Keswick Group for a continuing-care retirement community. The community’s position has been explained repeatedly — we oppose the plan because it threatens the historical integrity of the neighborhood, would have a negative environmental impact, would increase traffic, would strain an antiquated and currently insufficient sewer system, and would set a dangerous precedent for further rezoning or PUD efforts. And still the community’s position seems undervalued.
Amy Lutzky December 16, 2008 _____
To the Editor: The destruction of the Baltimore Country Club tennis clubhouse by the BCC reveals what the club thinks of the Roland Park community. How to understand the club's intransigence? Why wouldn't it prefer to keep the green area that it views from its windows, rather than the massive, top-heavy roofs shown in Keswick's drawings? Orest Ranum & Patricia M. Ranum December 16, 2008 _____
To the Editor: As a Baltimore Country Club member who lives in Roland Park, I have had a court-side seat to the ongoing conflict involving the proposed sale of BCC’s so-called “surplus” land to Keswick Multi-Care ("Tie-breaker?" December 15).
December 16, 2008
_____ To The Sun: The following letter is in response to various articles that appeared in the Sun in February 2009 about a conflict — eventually resolved — between development planners at Towson University and local neighborhood activists.
To the Editor: On the behalf of neighborhoods, many thanks to Towson University for its cooperation with and respect of Rodgers Forge in setting a new location for its $45 million athletic center. By doing so, not only will the neighborhood remain intact, but there will be good will with the university.
Michelle Pasternack February 13, 2009 |