2014 will be a year of numerous milestones in the Fifth District.
In Perry Hall, Baltimore County will complete three important park projects. The Perry Paw Dog Park will be finished by the spring, providing dog owners and their pets with a designated space at Honeygo Run Regional Park. The next milestone, likely around June, will be the completion of the Indian Rock Park Trail, which will connect Ebenezer Road with neighborhoods near Silver Spring Road. Finally, Baltimore County will finish Gough Park at the intersection of Honeygo Boulevard and Joppa Road, probably in the fall. The 17-acre property will include ballfields, a pavilion, and walking trails, providing new facilities for our recreation council and green space for all Perry Hall residents.
In the central part of the Fifth District, a new park will be completed by the late spring along Yakona Road, providing green space for the densely-populated Ridgely Manor community. This will be the first new park along the Loch Raven Boulevard corridor in a half-century. The land, presently owned by the Hess Corporation, will be turned over to NeighborSpace of Baltimore County.
I am extraordinarily proud of these projects. One of my priorities has been to preserve more open space and lighten the impact of development.
Another important milestone will be the start of a comprehensive enrollment study in northeastern Baltimore County. I was able to get this commitment from Superintendent Dance, and I thank him for his support. It is time for the school system to address this issue of overcrowding that has persisted for far too long in Perry Hall and White Marsh.
By the end of 2014, Baltimore County will have resurfaced more than 16 miles of roads in the Fifth District. In Towson, the county will improve large parts of Rodgers Forge, West Towson, and Towson Manor Village. Bike lanes will be added to numerous routes throughout Greater Towson. Some neighborhood streets in Loch Raven Village are scheduled for improvement, and in Perry Hall, the county will resurface the section of Chapel Road between Cross and Belair Roads.
Throughout the Fifth District, there will be important economic development milestones, from Towson to Perry Hall: the opening of a renovated Towson Commons and the new Towson Square project, for example, and in Perry Hall, the Brightview senior housing center.
These are exciting times. As always, I thank my colleagues of both political parties, including County Executive Kamenetz, for their support of those projects that required governmental support. It is an honor to represent northeastern Baltimore County on the County Council.