Perry Hall Slated for 49 Acres of Protected Open Space

At least 49 acres in Perry Hall neighborhoods could be designated as open space by the end of the summer, announced on Tuesday. The classification would prohibit nearly all future development in those areas.

Marks was the principal sponsor of a bill, passed by the County Council in March, that created a new zoning classification known as .

He first plans to apply it to two areas in Perry Hall:

• 37 acres within the Tremper Farms and Northgate Hall communities and bordering the along Honeygo Boulevard (Issue 5-056).
• 12 acres west of Honeygo Boulevard at the (Issue 5-038).

A map showing the designated areas is attached in PDF.

“This will be the first time the open space zoning overlay will be used in Baltimore County, and we will use it to protect nearly 50 acres of land in eastern Perry Hall along Honeygo Boulevard,” Marks stated in a press release. “This is also the first zoning decision I have made in Perry Hall, but there will be others to come that will lower the level of future development.”

The classification has garnered support from Perry Hall Improvement Association President Dennis Robinson, Tremper Farms Homeowners Association President Joyce Shinsky, Northgate Hall Community Association President Jerome Lee, and Maryland State Fish and Game Protective Association President David Van Sant, according to Marks.

“The Perry Hall Improvement Association supports the application of the Neighborhood Commons zoning designation to these properties because it is consistent with the organization's goal of promoting sustainable growth in Perry Hall,” Robinson stated in the release.

The designation will go before the County Council for approval in August.

Marks has been a proponent of downzoning in the Perry Hall area since taking office in 2010. He first announced plans to in Perry Hall in December 2011. The Baltimore County Office of Planning, however, has to nearly all of the downzoning proposals, claiming that they would needlessly devalue the land.

Marks' proposals and the Office of Planning's stance, as well as and community feedback, will be factored into the county's 2012 Comprehensive Zoning Map Process, which reexamines zoning designations every four years. The County Council is scheduled to vote on the final zoning map by Sept. 16.

Do you think Perry Hall is in need of more open space? Tell us in the comments which areas you believe should be protected from development.