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HCC Expansion Hits Snag: Planning Board Withholds OK for Plan to Acquire Belmont Mansion

Posted on: Friday, 24 February 2006, 09:00 CST

By The Baltimore Sun

Feb. 24--Plan to expand HCC hits snag

Howard Community College suffered a setback, though perhaps a temporary one, when a divided Planning Board refused to endorse its plans to acquire and expand the historic Belmont mansion and conference center in Elkridge.

Mary Ellen Duncan, the president of the college, said safeguards are adequate to protect the character of the sprawling estate and minimize the intrusion on neighborhood residents, but she acknowledged that the issue has become acrimonious and added, "This is not a battle that we'll fight to the death."

A principal critic of the college's plans, Dale N. Schumacher, said after the Planning Board meeting that opponents have requested a conference with HCC officials to determine whether a compromise is possible.

The board deadlocked, 2-2, on the college's request for millions of dollars in additional funding, giving the opponents at least a moral victory.

The five-member board has been working with a vacancy since December, when Jennifer R. Terrasa resigned to run for the County Council. Businessman Gary L. Rosenbaum has been nominated to the board but has not been confirmed.

The board heard testimony late last week on a host of capital budget projects proposed by county departments and agencies. It reconvened Wednesday to recommend to County Executive James N. Robey which projects to approve and which to reject.

Underscoring the contentiousness of the college's proposal, the board spent almost 90 minutes on that matter.

Schumacher said the board's stalemate is a step in the effort to demonstrate that there is a consensus against the college's plan. Robey and the County Council will be especially mindful of the public's concerns in an election year, he said.

The college is seeking $7 million over two years, including $3 million from the county in the next fiscal year. Most of the money would be used to acquire two adjoining properties totaling 82 acres, including the 68-acre, 268-year-old Belmont mansion and conference center.

The funding would also finance the renovation of the carriage house and barn on the secluded property as part of an expansion of the college's hospitality and culinary programs.

The college also hopes to renovate a barn into dining and meeting space, and to obtain private funding for a 40-room inn to expand its conference center business.

The property is surrounded by 10,000 acres of Patapsco Valley State Park forest. The estate was acquired in 2004 by the Howard Community College Educational Foundation, a private entity that operates outside the college, providing money for things such as scholarships and curriculum development.

"The foundation is not a major player in what happens to Belmont," Duncan said.

The college's intent, she said, is to acquire the property from the foundation. Duncan said the acquisition would serve more than the hospitality and culinary programs and, by extension, the conference center.

"The community college can't be involved in a project that is exclusive," Duncan said. "Our purpose is to reach out into the community and provide other kinds of services."

Board members H. Gregory Tornatore and David Grabowski supported the college's request.

They said protections for the property are adequate and endorsed the college's planned expansion of its hospitality and culinary programs.

The other two members expressed apprehension over development of the property in the long term.

"Great care has been taken to protect that property and the neighborhoods around it to minimize the intrusion and the use of that property," said board member Linda A. Dombrowski.

Tammy J. CitaraManis, chairwoman of the board, noted that the college would have the option of developing much of the estate. "That could affect the character of the neighborhood," she said.

She wondered whether the property is the right place for the college's expansion plans.

Dombrowski said the pressure to develop the land might be unavoidable as the college grows.

Duncan said the college's plan is sound but that she is not prepared to fight indefinitely.

"The county is an important partner to us," she said. "There's no way that we can bite the hand that feeds us. ... We're not going to die on the sword for this."

Schumacher said his organization, Save Belmont Coalition, has been "working hard over the past couple of months on an exit strategy. We think that the college has been doing the same. I believe the college has been looking at other options."

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Source: The Baltimore Sun, Maryland

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