Anticipating that the state may declare the Spring Grove Hospital Center in Catonsville surplus property, members of a Baltimore County task force on Thursday night endorsed for future use a regional park, space for county and police court offices, and a permanent year-round homeless shelter.
Residents have met since March to brainstorm ideas for the 200-acre site under the assumption that the state may consolidate the hospital onto a 41-acre parcel. Suggestions ranging from a hotel to a minigolf course to an outdoor theater were narrowed to the three long-term goals.
“This was really to get their hopes and dreams out there,” said Robbi Farschman of the county?s Office of Community Conservation. “But some of these are absolutely things that can be done today.”
For now, committee members recommend that the county ask the state to create walking and biking trails on the hospital?s campus, host an annex for the overcrowded Wilkens police precinct, and give Catonsville developer Steve Whalen 15 to 17 acres for his residential, retail and hotel project off Wilkens Avenue.
A 2001 state plan recommended opening most of the property to development or reuse. To be declared surplus, the state?s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene must first determine the property exceeds its need.
Department spokesman John Hammond said his agency has no plans to do so in the near future.
Task force chair Scott Graham reiterated the fact to Catonsville and Arbutus residents who gathered Thursday night to review the final report, which was due to County Executive Jim Smith that day.
“The campus is still state property,” Whalen said. “It?s entirely possible the center could go on functioning for years and decades.”
