Two New Greenways in Perry Hall

One of my priorities over the past two years has been to preserve open space in our communities.  During the 2012 rezoning process, at my request, the Baltimore County Council applied open space zoning to 54 acres in Towson, 47 acres in Parkville, and 72 acres in Perry Hall.  As a result, the Fifth District now has more land zoned for open space than any other County Council district.
 

I am very happy to announce that Baltimore County will protect more than 38 acres of forested land at two locations in Perry Hall, the largest dedication of open space in more than a decade in this part of northeastern Baltimore County.

The Seven Oaks Environmental Conservation Area.

The county will reclassify about eight acres of publicly-owned land in western Perry Hall as the Seven Oaks Environmental Conservation Area.  This is the wooded property in the 9200 block of Seven Courts Drive, north of the Seven Oaks Senior Center and southwest of Pinedale Drive.

Baltimore County will also preserve about 30 acres of publicly-owned land to the north and south of the existing Indian Rock Park, creating an almost-uninterrupted greenway from East Joppa Road to White Marsh Boulevard. This will become the Indian Rock Environmental Conservation Area.

Not only is this announcement important for the environment, but it is great for taxpayers.   The land was already owned by Baltimore County; the Indian Rock area, in fact, was the never-used alignment for Perry Hall Boulevard.   I did not want the property ever surplused for development, which is why this new status is so important.

Today's announcement is a very important milestone as we work to preserve green space in a fast-growing area of Baltimore County. 

Remembering Chris Jackovitz

I was very saddened to learn of the death on December 1st of Chris Jackovitz, a longtime Perry Hall community activist.  Chris passed away at Oak Crest Village after a long struggle with dementia.

Chris was a former educator, homemaker, and a devoted wife, mother and grandmother.   But she was also an extraordinarily involved community activist, helping to establish the Woman's Club of Perry Hall.  

I got to know her in the late 1990s when the Perry Hall Improvement Association wanted to celebrate our community's 225th anniversary in 2000.   The PHIA worked with the Woman's Club and the Perry Hall Business and Professional Association to create a Millennium Committee.  In 2000, with Chris Jackovitz's support, we implemented a series of projects, including a concert featuring the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, new community signs at Perry Hall's borders, tree planting along Belair Road, and a Perry Hall Halloween Parade.

But perhaps Chris Jackovitz's most enduring contribution was her work to preserve the Perry Hall Mansion.   Meeting at her house on Richlyn Drive, several of us plotted strategy to save this historic landmark, which was purchased by Baltimore County in 2001.

Chris Jackovitz was an extraordinary woman.  You can read her obituary here.  Many new Perry Hall residents have probably never heard her name, but her work over five decades left an enduring imprint on our community.