Two state lawmakers decried County Executive Jim Smith?s plans to condemn an abandoned gas station in Towson to create a park, saying they?ve spent the past two years trying to convince Smith to do the same thing in Perry Hall.
Republican Dels. John Cluster and Joseph Boteler said they secured a promise from the state to sell a blighted 1-acre parcel on Belair Road and Minte Drive in Perry Hall for $30,000 ? well below its appraised value ? to create a park. But the county refused to buy the land because an underground fuel leak at a gas station across the street would force a costly environmental cleanup.
Cluster said he was outraged when he learned Smith, a Democrat, is prepared to spend around $500,000 on a park at the former Shell station in Towson.
“We have to wonder: Why does Towson deserve a park, and not the people of Perry Hall?” Cluster said.
County officials tried to buy the Perry Hall lot for its NeighborSpace program, said Robert Barrett, the county?s director of Recreation and Parks, a program that buys and maintains parcels too small for his staff. But their efforts were stymied by the state?s “unreasonable” and “overwhelming” requests for environmental study, he said.
The State Highway Administration demanded that the program, which has a small budget, conduct an environmental study before it transfers the title, Barrett said. That could cost as much as $100,000, he said.
“These delegates see the state as being cooperative with us, but they put a lot of restrictions on the property,” Barrett said. “We were ready, willing and able to work with them on this site.”
State transportation officials deny the claims, saying they worked to offer the county a lower price. Deputy Transportation Secretary Jim Ports said the state never requires land buyers to conduct environmental studies and said the county decided “out of the blue” it wasn?t interested in the land anymore.
The state is now trying to lease the property to the Perry Hall Improvement Association, so the park may still come to fruition, Ports said.
“I don?t understand where they?re coming up with this stuff,” Ports said. “We?re dumbfounded. I know economics, and this is a much better deal compared to Towson.”
