Preservation Maryland’s Director of Government Relations Elly Cowan joined Senator Katie Fry Hester and Isaac Meyer from Compass Government Relations Partners in Annapolis May 16, 2022 as the Historic Revitalization Tax Credit – Funding and Extension (SB289/HB27) was signed into law by Governor Hogan, Senate President Ferguson, and Speaker of the House Adrienne Jones.
Much of Smart Growth Maryland’s work involves advocacy at the local level. In Maryland, where and how a jurisdiction grows – and does not grow – is decided locally through a comprehensive planning process. Public involvement is a critical part of that process, with plans reflecting the vision and goals for the community’s future expressed by residents. Local elected officials adopt these plans and implement them through a variety of means including zoning, so local elections can play a large role in the future of smart growth issues in a county.
The 2022 Legislative Session of the Maryland General Assembly will come to a close on Monday, April 11, 2022. After 90 days of championing key bills and testifying on many other pieces of important legislation, it is safe to say that Preservation Maryland had one of its busiest legislative sessions in the organization’s history. With Session adjourned until January 2023, we are proud to report that we were able to make significant policy advances for preservation and smart growth in Maryland, while also securing an unprecedented amount of funding for preservation across the state.
For many years the historic Glenn Dale Hospital complex was de facto protected from incongruous development by a long-standing deed restriction. Now that there is a committed interest from a team of public agencies, preservation organizations, and private firms, in the redevelopment of the site, the deed restriction was deemed unnecessarily strict.
Preservation Maryland has been actively advocating for the preservation and adaptive reuse of Glenn Dale Hospital for over 10 years. Previously listed as threatened and included on our Endangered Maryland list, the organization renewed our commitment and named the project a Six-to-Fix site in 2016. With Six-to-Fix designation, Preservation Maryland commits significant staff time for advocacy and outreach for the project.
Alexander Company, known for its successful approaches to difficult preservation projects, completed a feasibility study from a market perspective that detailed the unsurmountable challenges of reusing the site as a Continuing Care Retirement Center (CCRC) as prescribed by the deed restriction.
During the 2019 legislative session, the Prince George’s Delegation of the Maryland General Assembly introduced legislation to assist in moving the redevelopment of Glenn Dale Hospital forward. The intention of bill HB622 is to lift the deed restriction that only allowed for the reuse of the property as a Continuing Care Retirement Center (CCRC).
It is incredibly important to note that while the CCRC restriction has been lifted, the legislation specifically states that the historic campus shall be adaptively reused. The bill was passed and had the support of Preservation Maryland, the Glenn Dale Citizen’s Association, and others.
Additionally, as a result of Preservation Maryland advocacy, Glenn Dale Hospital was part of a larger study on the redevelopment of historic government complexes. Preservation Maryland served on the steering committee for that study, and a report on the findings will be released shortly.