A Baltimore County Councilman dropped his opposition to a contract that authorizes the purchase of land for a new library in his district after officials reassured him the transaction does not guarantee a school bus depot proposed for an adjacent site.
Councilman Vince Gardina, D-District 5, and the six other council members Monday night approved a contract to buy almost 7 acres from the Catholic Church to house a new library in Perry Hall off Honeygo Boulevard. Gardina said he consented after questioning officials on language that established restrictions should the county move forward with the bus depot.
“This contract is strictly for the library site,” he said.
Under the contract, the county will pay the Catholic Church $1,107,000 for the land and will likely convey almost 2 adjoining acres of county-owned land to the church. Gardina read a memo from county administrator Tony Marchione that said the county is exploring additional sites for the depot.
But the library contract does place certain restrictions on the county?s use of the property should the county locate the bus depot on land bordering the church?s remaining land, such as limiting buses to 50 and storing fuel above-ground.
Activists in Jacksonville are fighting a similar depot proposal on Jacksonville Pike as residents in Lansdowne?s Oak Park community battle one planned near the Beltway?s Washington Boulevard exit.
County officials have said they will hold community meetings before finalizing those plans. They say the lots will make bus routes more efficient and conserve fuel.
But residents say they worry about the environmental impacts of fuel storage, in addition to fumes andnoise.
“For all the buses to be coming in and out of there without a [traffic] light concerns me,” said Dennis Eckard, outgoing president of the Perry Hall Improvement Association. “I don?t think enough time has been put into looking at open spaces, somewhere outside heavily populated places.”
