Nothing ventured, nothing gained! I was at the Pool meeting last week and still can not believe that there are not enough families in Towson to make the Towson Swim Club a reality. 100 more members! With 100 more members, there is plenty of money for construction of this community asset we can enjoy for years to come. Pools bring neighborhoods together, give our children a wonderful safe place to gather and play all summer, and improve our community and home values. $2500 invested in TSC now gives you a membership that transfers with your house, returning your investment many times over if and when you decide to sell. If the pool does not go forward, your money is returned. It is truly now or never. C'mon Towson, JUMP IN!

I think $2500 to join a pool is an outrageous amount. I live less than a mile from the proposed location and was really looking forward to becoming a member when I first heard of this project. There are other local pools that cost a lot less that I will look into for my family. BK

I hope you can all get enough members to get this project off the ground. It would be good for the families of Southland Hills.
It is disturbing, however when I remember that the public land for this was given to the community for $1. Other communities were incensed with the deal, and suspected a dirty plot, to the excusion of the public from what should have been public land. It just seems like somebody didn't do their homework at the time.
If you can't get 100 people to fork over $2500 in the next 29 days, I guess the land might just go green, instead of concrete and chlorine.
A new county park might just be a better idea.

Bart, the pool land is being leased for more than $6,500 a year, not $1. Actually, the swim club operated by community members who are all volunteers didn't' get much of a better deal in terms of rent and had many more requirements and restrictions built into their lease, than does the lease between the County and the commercial company that operates the remaining jail building converted into offices.
And there were no dirty plots or inside tricks. There were many months of public commentary and hearings, many plans submitted, etc. about it. Everything was considered and yes, there was opposition. But why shouldn't the communities have a chance to put something nice on land that used to house a women's jail for decades?
Also, there's a requirement that the pool serve a public benefit, including giving Seniors at BYKOTA access, providing rec council swim lesson opportunities, providing a handicap access area (which I'm pretty sure no other area pools have) for the county's physically challenged students to enjoy the water, and the like.
But the overwhelming community support was for this pool. The space will not remain green if the pool isn't built. I believe that everyone from Towson U to various commercial enterprises have already expressed interest in that site, and I doubt that the county would choose to keep it 'green' and maintain it, over cash.
(fyi, $2500 isn't due in 29 days. $250 is.)

As I said, I hope you make it. I have my wishes for the space, but I think you're right. the land will be snatched up by other commercial interests.

Thanks! I hope so, too. We really do think it'll make a great area all the better.

Developer talk is the likely candidate will be a 24hr gas station/ convenience mart. The nearest fuel is at Bosley and York while the market's potential foot traffic from TU's dorms across the street makes site prime. Plus oil companies can self finance new construction.

Talk about completely "uglifying" a corner. I have no idea whether what you say is likely or true, but just that possibility alone should be motivation enough for at least 135 people to pay $250 to join this month, shouldn't it? How awful would it be for that entire area if something that ugly is on that corner, and what would it potentially do to the surrounding area & community? As opposed to a top-notch swim club facility that has memberships that get passed onto successive homeowners?

There are a lot of private clubs struggling to - no pun intended - to keep their heads above water. At Sparrows Point CC, we have one of the largest in-ground pools in the county, along with 27 beautiful holes of golf and a marina, a piece of heaven if you will, and we to are facing some serious issues in membership vs liabilities.

Let's hope we all we survive these tough economic times.

I cannot imagine a gas station to be built in that location. No way would it be allowed.

JD, you're talking apples and oranges. The county fuel depot is small, and landscaped with shrubs and trees, not outwardly visible to the passing traffic. A gas station and convenience store is a totally different thing. I'm not from that area of Towson, but I'd be the first in line to protest any such plans.

JD, plans for a CVS or a gas station?

Ugh - imagine a Sheetz there. It'll be pure lunacy if 135 people don't sign up, particularly from neighborhoods that have so much to lose if the pool isn't there.

I grew up in a neighborhood that had a community pool. I still have friends from those days. Many of us went to different schools, but we all met there and became life long friends. This is the kind of creative idea Towson needs!
I hope this opportunity doesn't get squandered.

Isn't the $2,500 some kind of bond that you get back eventually? If you get it back in 20 years, I'd say it is a damn good investment in your community and long term property value. Especially considering Towson University is gobbling up everything around there. This Beth Krahl seems like a typical Towson whiner, I want everything but I shouldn't have to pay for what it costs to build it.

Yes, or at least $1,975 of it is. That's the portion of the $2,500 that buys the actual certificate. You hold onto the certificate for as long as you want and you can:
1. Sell it back to the club after it opens;
2. Hold onto it and transfer it with your house (a good option, as most pools in the area that are this expensive and much more, have many year waiting lists, and so selling a house with an automatic membership will probably be a good advantage for the seller). Also, you don't have to pay summer dues on your membership.

You can place your certificate into "dormancy" and hold onto it to transfer with your house. Then the new owner takes it out of dormancy so they & family can immediately join their new pool, ahead of anyone on the waiting list at the time.

I know that the club is currently offering the dormancy & transferability option (and other perks like free babysitting passes, etc..) only to those who join and pay $250 before Feb. 29.

To Beth: Unfortunately, building a new community pool costs real money, and in today's economy, most of it has to come from the members. This is a privately financed project, paying market rate for a land lease, that will greatly enhance our community. $2500 to "join a pool" includes the bond that will capitalize the construction of a brand new pool. As stated above, you will receive almost $2000 back when and if you decide to leave the pool club.
When Stoneleigh built their pool decades ago, forward thinking Stoneleigh residents pitched in and put up the money. Look at the return on their money over the years! Stoneleigh is a beautiful neighborhood with a central focus every summer--the pool. Their home values are consistently higher than other Towson neighborhoods without pools.
This is something today's Towson residents can do to attract families and improve our community for years to come. But you have to have vision and be willing to invest in that common future.

Just wondering why a new pool at the Y would not make more sense?
Towson does need a good dog park.

Ha! Towson also needs schools!

I'd like to see the local pol who blows money on a dog park in this heated economic and political climate. "When taxpayers insisted the Councilman address the serious overcrowding in neighborhood school he responded by spending his efforts on... a dog park."

Schools take money, the county needs revenue, they need a ROI on that property.

The Y is a private entity currently fundraising for a new complex including an aquatic center. They'll get there eventually.

The Y and the county should be better partners. I imagine the Y is a bit apprehensive working with the Administration after it failed to perform on its contract to purchase the land for playing fields contributing to the Y's funding scramble over the past several months. Our society's amenities race to insolvency is not sustainable. Combining the Y's resources and community demand and desire makes all the sense in the world. Unfortunately, County politics will continue to and has ruined another chance of the right thing happening. The apathetic citizenry that we are, must stop condoning this type of governance.

Councilman Marks seems to have picked the short straw for that assignment. He is doing a great job and deserves our help and support. In fact, I recently heard someone say "he is doing too good of a job." Amazing that there is truth in that statement. The Administration can continue to crop him out of photos and announce "Significant Development Deals" in Towson that are 10 years old, but as long as they continue to do nothing, the likelihood of their survival is quickly eroding. I hope we start supporting people over party, doers over looters and sweat equity over the "easy button."

Why is it that the County Council takes a break from fund raising and soliciting donations during the rezoning period but the County Executive does not?

Thank you all for your comments. Just to clarify, I know of no other development proposed for any part of the jail site; the jail itself is historic and cannot be torn down, and I have raised as part of the Comprehensive Zoning Map Process some of the land so it may be downzoned to prevent intense development. I have done my best over the past several months to see what could be done to give the Swim Club more time to secure funding. I have thought this was a fair and reasonable request and believe the swim club could be a community asset.

Bart, that is ridiculous. Part of West Towson is actually closer to then jail than Riderwood HIlls and overlooks it. And, Southland Hills had a jail in it for more than 100-years, decades before Riderwood Hills was even on a developer's radar.
Our neighborhoods were also the forefront of the fight against the jail,and we also joined against the plan to build high-rise buildings in place of The Colony, which would have impacted your neighborhood more than West Towson. And, we have a lot of very dedicated residents who spend countless hours working to improve the entire Towson area. We want Riderwood Hills to grow and prosper just like every other neighborhood.
Finally, we did not "get a pool" - we were told we have to pay for it. And it costs a lot of money to build a pool. We've done our best to try to make it a reality but to post an "anonymous" blog trashing two communities and saying that they're getting preferential treatment, or suggesting that we've priced the pool with the intent to shut a group of people or a neighborhood out, is insulting.

So, why don't you post blogs using your true identities so we can have a real conversation? As I see it, a comment has no real value if it's posted anonymously. If you truly believe it, put your name on it.