$6.3M Property To Become Future Harford County Public Schools Building Site

BEL AIR, MD — An abandoned development project in Bel Air will have a new purpose once Harford County officials purchase the land for $6.3 million.

The 45-acre site along North Fountain Green Road near MD 543 is privately owned by Presbyterian Home of Maryland and was to become Carsins Run at Eva Mar, a continuing care retirement community. Presbyterian Home put the brakes on the project two years ago, leaving a shell of a multistory apartment building that will be torn down to make way for a new school. Harford County plans to pay the land’s appraised value of $6.3 million. First, the purchase must be approved by the Board of Estimates, according to the county.

The proposed school will be built as a combination elementary school and the new home of Harford Academy, which serves students with severe disabilities. County-owned property on Schucks Road originally was planned for the combination school, but the site doesn't sit on public water and sewer, and would not qualify for the state to share in the cost of school construction, meaning that the entire cost of the project would have been carried by Harford County taxpayers alone. The Eva Mar site, however, is in the county’s priority funding area and served by public water and sewer. It does qualify to receive state funding, which has been estimated at $50 million, according to the county.

“We are thrilled that this project will be moving forward,” Dr. Aaron Poynton, president of the Harford County Board of Education, said. “The property is centrally located to help relieve crowding in nearby schools, it’s on public utilities and it’s closer to the hospital for our students with critical needs.”

“This is a win-win for our school families and Harford taxpayers,” added Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly. “We’re repurposing developable land for the public’s benefit and capturing state funding that was unavailable for the Schucks Road site, saving our taxpayers as much as $50 million."