A historic farmhouse in Bel Air may be spared from a developer?s bulldozer after residents spoke out for its preservation Wednesday.
The manor house at Paca?s Meadow, built sometime around 1791 and owned by veterans of the Revolutionary War and War of 1812, may be incorporated into the senior housing development planned for the 61-acre property off Moore?s Mill Road near Bel Air.
DeveloperNottingham Properties Inc. said it would reconsider its plan to raze the house when putting in 91 townhomes for senior citizens, said Harford County Chief of Development Review Moe Davenport.
“It?s been done before in other communities. ? It?s just a way of preserving history while still allowing development to happen,” Davenport said.
Instead of demolishing it, the developer might incorporate the house into the project as a community center, Davenport said. The company also offered to donate the house to a historical society and contribute $50,000 to its relocation, though preservationists generally felt relocation should be a last resort.
“The building is important where it stands,” said Maryanna Skowronski, administrator of the Historical Society of Harford County. “The idea of taking the house away from its situation dilutes the historical nature.”
The Development Advisory Committee met Wednesday morning to discuss the project. Dozens of citizens, including members of the Historical Society and the Daughters of the American Revolution, turned out to voice their concerns about the historic value of the house.
The Historical Society has offered to sit down with the developer and put the company in touch with preservation architects and experts in historical preservation tax credits, she said.
The property was awarded to John Paca by Lord Baltimore in 1747, then passed down to William Paca ? one of Maryland?s signers of the Declaration of Independence, Skowronski said.
Since then, the two-story brick house had been owned by successful county businessmen, politicians and two men instrumental in founding the town of Bel Air, she said.
Preserving the farmhouse and building around it would have precedent, even within the town, Skowronski said: Two miles away, a historic barn became a community center for the Vale Meadows development.
