For 150 years, the 40,000-square-foot property at Bosley Avenue and Towsontown Boulevard housed criminal offenders as part of the Baltimore County corrections system. With former inmates now at the new county detention center on Kenilworth Avenue, it appears the site will become a swimming pool for nearby families ? at a price.
Though far from a done deal, the land ? owned by the county and required by law to be designated for community use ? could instead be used to build a private swim club. Residents of the adjacent West Towson and Southland Hills neighborhoods have formed a nonprofit, the Towson Swim Club LLC, to explore the possibility of digging a pool on the site. They?ve spent $10,000 on a feasibility study and have 270 signatures showing support for the project, said Mike Ertel, a Towson Swim Club organizer.
“Towson has really been growing the last few years,” Ertel said. “We?re in a new cycle filled with kids and young families. There are community pools in Stoneleigh, Hampton and Wiltondale, built with community land ? intentionally left over by builders ? but there has never been anything on the west side.”
Under the swim club?s proposal, construction costs would be raised through an initial $2,000-plus membership drive and outside financing. Yearly dues are estimated between $500 and $700, Ertel said. The county would lease the land under an agreement that would include open swim dates and lessons for non-members, discounts for seniors and a cooperative effort with the Ruxton Ridge School, an institution for mentally and physically challenged children.
Council Member Vincent Gardina said a number of proposals, including a park or community center, are also under consideration and no decision has been made.
He stressed more public hearings will be held. But he also said the public has been in favor of the project, “20-1.”
Corinne Becker, president of the Riderwood Hill Community Association ? not in the site?s immediate vicinity ? is opposed to public recreational property being used by a private fee-based club.
County parks and recreation director Bob Barrett said he originally had some of the same concerns as Becker but believed those were being addressed by the swim club?s outreach efforts.
“In my heart of hearts, I believe this is not an appropriate use of public land,” Becker said. “If this was a public pool for public use, that would be a whole other story.”
rcassie@baltimoreexaminer.com
