After more than three years of planning and community advocacy, Baltimore County officials held a ceremonial groundbreaking Tuesday morning for the Radebaugh Park in Towson’s Aigburth Manor neighborhood.
The 3.76-acre park is named for the fourth-generation of the Radebaugh Florist and Greenhouses family, which sold the land to the county. On Tuesday, a skeleton of the florist’s greenhouses still stood on the property behind a yellow bulldozer.
As more than 50 people gathered on a sweltering morning upward of 90 degrees at the new park’s entrance on Maryland Avenue, speakers called the project a success story, an example of collaboration between government, business and community.
“I think this project is a really good example of what all of us need to do, in government and in the communities, in terms of working together,” County Executive Don Mohler told the crowd. “When you get an idea or concept, if somewhere along the way you have to work through some road blocks, it’s OK to do that. But when you get smart, dedicated, committed people in a room and you roll your sleeves up, literally, and you say ‘let’s solve these problems,’ then good things will happen.”
County Councilman David Marks, who represents Towson, said that when he initially heard in 2015 that there were plans to sell the land to a developer to build townhouses, he “immediately said ‘uh-oh.’”
Instead, the idea for the park was born in early 2015, when the county was surveying Towson for park space at the same time as the Radebaughs were considering selling the land, Marks said. The Radebaugh family sold the land to the county for $1.1 million in 2016, according to a county press release. Marks said to applause Tuesday that the community will get a “permanent green space.”
Read full article: County breaks ground on Radebaugh Park in Towson – Baltimore Sun
