Schuh eyes landfill for schools, regional park

$28 million plan for 100-year-old property in Brooklyn Park is ‘a once in a 100-year opportunity,’ county executive says

Earth is moved at the Belle Grove Corp.’s landfill in north county, where County Executive Steve Schuh announced last week that the county is negotiating to buy the 160-acre property for a school complex and a regional park. The cost would be $28 million. (Joshua McKerrow/Baltimore Sun Media Group photos)

Schuh, who represented the north county for two terms as a state delegate, looks over the site. “For far too long, past county administrations have not invested here,” he said. ( )

Anne Arundel County would get a new regional park and school complex under a $28 million plan to purchase a 100-year-old landfill at the county’s northern edge.

County Executive Steve Schuh announced the proposal last week, saying his administration is in negotiations to buy the 160-acre property in Brooklyn Park from Belle Grove Corp.

The property would be redeveloped with multiple athletic fields, a middle and elementary school and a parking facility. Schuh, a Republican seeking a second term in November’s general election, said the park would be on par with Quiet Waters near Annapolis, Kinder Farm in Millersville and Downs Park in Pasadena.

“This is a once in a 100-year opportunity,” he said.

The county would redevelop the site as Baltimore works to redevelop Port Covington, which is less than five miles away and is expected to generate thousands of new jobs.

Funding for the project was made possible through a shift in financing for county construction projects, extending the life of bonds to 30 years from the 25 years that was normal before Schuh took office, administration officials said.

Brooklyn Park has long been the subject of revitalization efforts. Sandwiched between the Baltimore Beltway and the Baltimore city line, it is home to modestly priced homes, a stretch of commercial sprawl on Ritchie Highway and the Chesapeake Arts Center.

Previous efforts at revitalization have included ambitious housing developments that stalled after the 2008 recession, and an unsuccessful effort to create an arts district that would have attracted new investment similar to those that have led to new development on West Street in Annapolis.

Enterprise Homes is now developing the Greens at Hammond Lane, a 230-unit apartment complex. It is the first major new home construction in Brooklyn Park in decades.

Schuh said the park project would revitalize Brooklyn Park, raise property value and elevate the community so that it is similar to Severna Park, Pasadena and Annapolis. Schuh was joined at an announcement about the proposal by House Speaker Michael E. Busch, a Democrat, County Councilman John Grasso, a Glen Burnie Republican, and the director of special projects for the county Department of Parks and Recreation.

“For far too long, past county administrations have not invested here in north county,” said Schuh, who represented the area for two terms while a state delegate. “Our administration has entered into these negotiations to ensure residents of north county have access to the same amenities that the rest of our citizens do.”

There has been no new school built in the north county in 46 years and no new parks for 30 years, administration officials said.

Belle Grove Landfill officials said the site has been used as a gravel mine, asphalt milling and construction rubble dump for more than 100 years. It is bordered by Linthicum to the west, Brooklyn Park to the east, and the historically African-American neighborhood of Pumphrey on the north.

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