The Rationale for Creating the Donald C. Outen Urban Tree Society When New York’s Parks Department assessed the value of the City’s urban tree canopy, the benefits totaled $120 million annually, 5.5 times the department’s annual budget. The breakdown included energy savings of $28 million, air quality improvements of $5 million, and storm water mitigation of $36 […]
This is what Bentley Park, a half-acre site in Historic East Towson looked like when NeighborSpace originally purchased the property for $80,000, using local open space waiver fees, several years ago: What looks “lush” and “green” is anything but. Like much of the vacant land inside the URDL, the property was so full of invasives […]
What do you do when you have a big problem to solve and limited resources at your disposal to do so? You need a plan and a really good one, especially if the money you’re spending is coming from the hard work of local taxpayers and the generosity of local donors. We have a big […]
A quarter acre and two apple trees. It’s a blank slate for the Graystone Community Association, which represents neighborhoods on either side of its borders, including Broadacres and Carlynn Heights. NeighborSpace purchased the land in 2009 and the Graystone Community Association formed to unite the above-named neighborhoods through activities on the site. The group has […]
What a story we have had to tell with this parcel. Purchased in 2007, it was a thicket. Some neighbors liked it that way. As a land trust committed to expanding the amount of open space in Towson, far and away one of the most densely populated areas in our County, however, we would not […]
… Are you sure you took the right exit off the Parkway? We’re sure. And, in addition to bees, there were chickens, loose and running all over the place at 9 AM in the morning. We actually took Amtrak and the longest 1.5 mile cab ride in the history of time. But board member Marsha […]
Councilmembers Almond and Marks have introduced legislation that is unprecedented in terms of the extent to which it will bring sweeping change to the requirements that developers must meet in providing open space in the county if enacted. Bill 73-16, entitled, “An Act concerning Open Space,” would repeal the entirety of Section 32-6-108 of the […]
Local architects Jane Willeboordse and Eric Lund bought their Catonsville home on Newburg Avenue, including a vacant 0.4 acre buildable lot, in 1995. As is true in so many neighborhoods inside the URDL, public open space that is within a short walking distance from home is in short supply. It is not surprising, then, that […]
Certified public accountant and investment manager with a strong track record of volunteerism in support of public parks – these are among the strengths that Mike Weber brings to NeighborSpace as a newly elected member of the board. Mike has been with the White Marsh-based firm that bears his name, WeberMessick, for over 30 years. […]
We often talk about “Retrofitting SubURDLia.” It’s a play on the title of a book called Retroffiting Suburbia, written by 2 architects in 2009, who noticed, as we have, that the suburbs are, by and large, less than livable places for people. (Their ideas must have resonated with someone because there is now an updated […]