Politics & Government

County Anticipates Next Step Toward Purchasing Belmont Estate

The director of Howard County Recreation and Parks traded ideas with greater Elkridge residents.

The future is becoming clearer for the “.”

Howard County is leaning toward taking over ownership of the , said John Byrd, director of the county government's department of recreation and parks. Dating back to the 18th century, the Elkridge estate consists of a historic home, barn, carriage house, rolling fields and ancillary properties. 

Byrd reported on the status of the project last week at a meeting of the Greater Elkridge Community Association.

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The historic Belmont estate has been in  since Dec. 31, when its present owner, Howard Community College, was no longer able to fund the property and declared it out of business.

When the college bought the property in 2004, it received a $2.6 million loan from Howard County; as a result, the county has the right of first refusal. 

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“We frankly think it would be good to have it under county ownership,” said Byrd. “I think it shows a strong commitment to county history. That’s sort of the general direction we’re moving.”

Owned in the 20th century by the American Chemical Society and the Smithsonian, the estate was used for events like weddings and conferences. In 2004, Howard Community College said that it bought the property for its hospitality program. But HCC did not prove to be prepared for the financial commitment involved in maintaining it.

Maintenance costs could be as high as $300,000 annually, said Byrd. “We think some of the utility costs we got from the college were pretty high because it’s not being as efficiently managed as it could be,” he said.

Since the beginning of 2011, the property has been dormant.

“We need to make a decision pretty soon—I would say within a month,” said Byrd, who explained that an individual made a $2.7 million offer to Howard Community College for the property. Therefore, he said the county would have to come up with $100,000 to match that.

Many Elkridge residents at the GECA meeting expressed their enthusiasm about public access to the estate.

“I’ve lived in Elkridge 12 years and heard people talk about how the jewel of Elkridge is Belmont,” said one woman, who explained that she went on a retreat held at Belmont so she could see it for herself. “What kind of access will the public have?” she asked.

Educational programs and community activities would be available, explained Byrd. The idea would be that the county would own the property but a third-party organization would be selected to manage its operations.

To that end, Howard County Conservancy board member Audrey Suhr said her organization has had success facilitating programs for historic properties. The conservancy is a nonprofit educational center and land trust that offers programs like nature walks and outdoor programming for schools. Managing Belmont would be a “beautiful opportunity for Howard county, particularly as it brings new opportunities to Elkridge,” said Suhr, who lives in Elkridge.

“We need something in the east, on this side of the county,” said Nesly Craig, who lives on Belmont Woods Road, which leads to the estate. He said the conservancy’s educational programming has focused mainly on western Howard County. “I think there’s a market for their services that could be handled in this part of the county … It’s a long way to drive your kids … out west.” 

Still, “it’s not a done deal with the conservancy,” said Cathy Hudson, Howard County Conservancy member and Elkridge resident. Byrd explained that if the county took on Belmont, it would send out a request for proposals; then it would select the third-party manager through a specific process.  

“I’d love to see a winery there,” said GECA member Brian Maroney, suggesting another avenue for Belmont.

“If you saw the wine festival this past weekend, you might want to think about that,” said Byrd.

As far as public access, Byrd said: “I don’t think we can say if the county buys it that [Belmont] becomes a sunrise-to-sunset park. At the moment, we’re going into this with a fairly controlled idea that it will be managed for scheduled use.” County officials have thought about having summer camps there Monday through Friday, he said, as well as leasing out the pastures, and hosting lectures and tours.

Several people asked when the county would take over ownership and make its offer.

“We don’t have a deadline, but we’re probably past it,” Byrd said.

The county’s budget—which passed on May 25—did not include anything related to Belmont. “We have funds in the capital budget for general spending,” said Byrd. “We would hope … we would be able to absorb the cost.”


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