Why Even a Consensus Plan Shouldn’t Circumvent the Law

By Klaus Philipsen, FAIA, Board President and Barbara L. Hopkins, Esq., ASLA, Executive Director It is a good thing when community members, a developer and a councilman come together to find consensus on development, especially when the agreement includes hard-core, anti-development neighbors. It is also good to replace additional strip commercial development with much needed […]

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A Fitting Time for Reflecting on Our Fate as First Suburbs

One fifth of America.  That’s the population of the 29 metro regions around the country with “first” or “inner” suburbs, a category that includes what I have dubbed “suburdlia,” the area that lies between the Urban Rural Demarcation Line (URDL) and the City line, where 90 percent of County residents live. The first suburbs are […]

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Watershed Moment for a Woodland Garden

  There is so much to say about this bucolic pocket park in Overlea, this feels like the 10th article I’ve written on Cherry Heights Woodland Garden. While the may not be true, we cannot talk enough about this project. From the dedicated community members to the pocket park’s important history, to the incredible biodiversity, […]

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New Grants Will Strengthen Partners, Build Fundraising Capacity

There can be no doubt that perpetuity is a long time. That’s why NeighborSpace has to make building the capacity of its stewardship partners, who help the organization care for over 100 acres across 20 different sites, a high priority. Last year, NeighborSpace received a grant from the Quality of Life Giving Circle to develop […]

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Dunmore Community Turns Out Big

On Saturday, March 13th, NeighborSpace started off its Spring clean-up season with a bang. Levickas Woods at Dunmore, played host to what was by far the organization’s largest volunteering turnout, boasting fifty people individuals of all ages. This habitat restoration effort was the first event hosted at the 7.2-acre park in Catonsville, and, thanks to […]

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Local Nonprofits Join the Cause in The Open Space Guidebook Spring 2021 Edition

Your guide to managing open space inside Baltimore County’s Urban-Rural Demarcation Line just got even better. Introducing The Open Space Guidebook Spring 2021 Edition. Our tool, originally released for the Fall of 2020 to help residents and organizations improve land in their communities, has now been through its first semi-annual touchup. Along with the small […]

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So, You Want to Volunteer?

If you want to volunteer, please check out our Volunteer Page. When it comes to our volunteering program, we are looking take things to the next level with a dedicated, county-wide conservation corps that will learn the nuanced work of maintaining and restoring the ecosystems at our parks. Ideally these individuals would be retired from […]

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WHY YOU NEED A CAR TO TAKE A WALK (& a plea for your help)

Recent surveys, including one by NeighborSpace last fall, have put safe places to walk at the top of the list of recreational amenities important to County residents. This is not surprising, given the pervasively low walk scores that exist in the County. And the pandemic has done nothing but exacerbate this demand: 650,000 people used […]

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Chesapeake Bay Trust Awards $35,000 for Construction of Flannery Lane Park

NeighborSpace has received a grant of $35,000 from the Chesapeake Bay Trust’s Outreach and Restoration Grant Program to begin construction of Flannery Lane Park in Gwynn Oak.  The grant follows a community charrette and subsequent survey of surrounding residents, who expressed almost unanimous support for a park that was both beautiful and functional in terms […]

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Survey Results Signal New Programming, Retiree Conservation Corps

  By Patrick Filbert, Program Manager The Green Neighborhood Challenge represented a conscious, concerted effort to DO MORE NEIGHBORHOOD GREENING. Efforts like this are key to moving forward as a joint, environmentally conscious community. NeighborSpace called and you answered with 164 responses to our Green Neighborhood Challenge Survey. The survey was aimed at collecting more […]

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