In 2019, Preservation Maryland achieved several important victories across our major programs, including advocacy, grantmaking, smart growth, historic trades, and all of our research and education efforts. At any one-time, our staff is working on many active and on-going projects and what follows is just a sample of our donor-supported work of which we are most proud.
Preservation Maryland’s work takes us to some of Maryland’s most stunning historic places but also to important places that time has forgotten and to communities that need our help. We work every day to make preservation a priority in approaching the challenges and opportunities of every historic community across Maryland, from Baltimore to Brunswick. In this stunning video, Preservation Maryland is pleased to highlight some of our most important donor-supported work this year.
Smart Growth Maryland is proud to have partnered with the Howard County Sierra Club and The People’s Voice, LLC to create the Smarter Growth Alliance for Howard County, which brings together organizations focused on sustainable development, healthy communities, and protection of natural resources for information sharing, strategizing, and coordinating advocacy efforts.
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.