Residents Put Elkridge on the Map

Through battle, community made headway.

County Executive to Reveal Belmont's Future

The historic 18th-century estate in Elkridge has been out of business since January 2011.

  County Executive Ken Ulman said he will be making an announcement about the future of the Belmont property in Elkridge on Wednesday. The Belmont estate, built in the 1700s by iron industry magnate Caleb Dorsey, was owned by Howard Community College, which said it could no longer afford to run the operation and declared the estate out of business as of Jan. 1, 2011. The property consists of a mansion, carriage house and barn on more than 80 acres of rolling fields west of Interstate 95, adjacent to Patapsco Valley State Park. The college used it for its hospitality program. Previously, the estate was used as a conference center when it was owned by the Smithsonian and the American Chemical Society. Howard County has been conducting due …

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Race Road Developer Says Intermodal Not Off Table

A partner in a development company says the state could condemn land to build an intermodal facility in Elkridge.

When a gravel company announced it was moving forward with plans to build an asphalt plant on Race Road, some Elkridge residents thought CSX may have turned its attentions away from their neighborhood. The railroad company, in partnership with the state, has had its eye on a 75-acre parcel at Hanover and Race roads for several years. The site in Hanover is one of four that CSX and its partner, the Maryland Department of Transportation, are considering for building a train-truck depot called an “intermodal facility," where cargo can be double-stacked on trains and transferred between trucks, but CSX has only purchased land in Hanover. During a public meeting last month, a spokesman for the Race Road asphalt plant project told Elkridge …

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New Colony Daycare Center Could Snarl Traffic, Say Residents

Community's entrance would be jammed with traffic if a daycare's plans go through, according to those who live in the gated development of New Colony Village.

Project managers presented plans this week for a daycare center near the entrance to New Colony Village in Elkridge, but residents said the parking provided is inadequate and they anticipated a rush-hour traffic jam. The daycare center would be diagonally opposite the guard gate at the entrance to New Colony Village, in a building that planning/engineering firm Mildenberg, Boender & Associates owns.  Maya Mildenberg, vice president of the company, said the daycare center at 7000 New Colony Blvd. would serve residents of the surrounding communities—including Howard Square and New Colony Village, among others. She was one of three project representatives, in addition to eight New Colony Village homeowners, who attended a meeting about the …

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Developer Plans to Build Townhouses in Dorsey

The Streamside community would be adjacent to the Dorsey Business Center.

The diplapidated building on Dorsey Road next to the Best Western has had its problems in recent years, according to nearby residents who met with a possible developer of the property on Monday. And the developer said his plans would represent an improvement. Referring to the old house, Debi Neal, who lives on Dorsey Road, said, "It should've come down a long time ago." Neal and a Dorsey Road neighbor, Donna Gregor, met with Joseph Link, of development company H&H Rock, at the Elkridge Library as part of the process developers go through before submitting site development plans to the Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning. Link said that his company planned to build a townhouse development at the property called Streamside—39 …

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Norbel School Buyer Revealed

The Maryland International School has bought the Old Washington Road building.

The Elkridge school building at 6135 Old Washington Rd. has been purchased. The Maryland International School bought the property previously home to the Norbel School, according to the property deed dated March 29. The building sold for $2.5 million.  The Maryland International School is not recognized by the Maryland State Department of Education in Howard County. On the deed, the buyer’s address was listed as 4465 Montgomery Rd. in Ellicott City, which is where the Children’s Manor Montessori School is located. A representative from Children’s Manor Montessori School who was aware of the property transfer said on April 30 that the transaction was “still in the process.”  The Norbel School, which educated children with learning …

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Is Freight Facility Headed for Baltimore City?

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake asks CSX to consider putting its train-truck operation within city lines.

When residents near Montevideo Road protested that their neighborhood wasn't appropriate for the train-truck depot that CSX was proposing, one CSX representative told them: "Nobody says they want this facility in their backyard." On Thursday, that changed. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake asked the CEO of the major rail company to put its "intermodal facility," or train-truck railyard, in Baltimore. In a letter to CSX's CEO Michael Ward, she wrote: "I’m deeply troubled by the slow pace of this project and the ongoing resistance to the idea of strengthening our critical port infrastructure" through the facility, which she said is "critical to keeping this economic engine humming." The $150 million intermodal facility is on track to…

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Asphalt Plant Plans to Build on Race Road

Laurel Sand and Gravel said it's moving forward with plans for construction on property CSX optioned.

Two companies are preparing to build on Race Road, raising concerns from neighbors. Officials from Laurel Sand and Gravel met with Elkridge citizens last week as part of the permitting process so they could build an asphalt plant at 6330 Race Rd. The 10-acre site near Mayer Brothers is currently under option with CSX, which was interested in land for its intermodal facility, a freight transfer station that greater Elkridge residents have mobilized to oppose.  “They can’t be there if we’re there,” said Tim Schmidt, director of land resources for Laurel Sand and Gravel. It’s either one project or the other, he explained. CSX and partner Maryland Department of Transportation publicly announced in March 2011 that they were evaluating four …

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Elkridge Home to Latest Housing Lottery Winner

After winning Howard County's housing lottery, mother and daughter will move to Howard Square.

Elkridge's newest resident won big Saturday. Kyla Sullivan was the winner of a reduced-price home in Elkridge at the "Come Home to Howard County" housing fair on April 14. The county offered two homes at below-market price to entrants who met moderate-income requirements. Sullivan, 29, is a business operations analyst who had been living in Columbia with her parents and daughter with special needs, according to the Howard County Times. Market price for the three bedroom, three bath home she'll be moving into in Howard Square is $249,000, said Kelly Cimino, coordinator of the moderate income housing unit (MIHU) program for Howard County. Through the lottery, Sullivan was able to purchase the home for $209,813. MIHU enables people of …

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County Executive Says Elkridge Center Will Stay Open

Ken Ulman responded to woman's sign that said: "Don't close our center."

County Executive Ken Ulman assured the public this week that the Elkridge Senior Center was in no danger of closing. Ulman raised the issue during an art installation in Elkridge on April 10, the day that Maryland's "doomsday budget" passed in Annapolis. More than $500 million in budget cuts are set to go into effect as of July 1. Speaking before a crowd gathered in front of the Elkridge library about a countywide art initiative he said would enhance citizens' quality of life, Ulman paused to address one contingent's concern. "To my friends with the sign here, we're not closing any senior centers," said Ulman, looking to a cluster of older adults holding a handmade sign saying: "Don't close our center." According to Ulman, a closure wasn'…

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