Perry Hall | EASTBALTCO.COM

New Middle School Projects Next on Agenda

Baltimore County broke ground on a new northeast elementary school in Rossville last week. Now it is time to focus on the new middle school projects in the area.

Baltimore County announced that it was going to build a new northeast middle school at Nottingham Park and expand student seating at Pine Grove Middle School to decrease enrollment at Perry Hall Middle for the 2021-22 school year.

Those middle school improvements were announced back in 2017 but have seen delays over the last few years.

Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski, Jr. announced a budget shortfall in early 2019 which delayed the projects.

Next, a construction bill that funded the school projects was introduced in the 2019 General Assembly. That bill passed in the House of Delegates but never received a vote in a Senate committee.

The budget bill finally passed through the House and Senate in 2020, but Gov. Larry Hogan vetoed all budget bills as a result of COVID-19. The bill was passed into law in 2021 when the General Assembly overrode the Governor.

The good news is that the new northeast middle school on King Avenue and Pine Grove Middle renovation projects are fully funded.

The bad news is there is no timetable for construction to begin for the projects. There was hope to have the projects begin soon enough for completion by the start of the 2022-23 school year, but the earliest the school could open is now 2023-24.

Councilman David Marks explained that construction contracts are being prepared for those middle school projects and there are a lot of variables, such as materials and other factors. Marks added he is hopeful the projects will be finalized by the end of this year.

“Had the State Senate passed the Built to Learn Act in 2019, we might have had the project under construction last year. That delayed the project. The county’s part has been fully funded since 2019,” Marks said.

Bloch and Earle Honored as Eagle Scouts

-photo courtesy of Councilman David Marks-
Quint Bloch and Ethan Earle, are the newest Eagle Scouts from Troop 732.

Bloch led a team that made improvements to the outdoor seating area at Seven Oaks Elementary School for his Eagle Scout project.

Earle’s project included organizing the construction of a walkway from Perry Hall High School to Ratna Court.

Councilman David Marks went to the event and was joined by Renee Smith, representing Senator Kathy Klausmeier, as well as Delegates Joe Boteler, Harry Bhandari and Carl Jackson.

“We are so proud of these new Eagle Scouts and thank their family and supporters,” Marks said about the scouts.

Projects Approved for Gunpowder ES & Perry Hall HS

Baltimore County Board of Education Vice Chair and 5th District member Julie Henn announced that two schools will be receiving capital projects on their sites.

“[Tuesday] night, the Board approved privately funded capital projects for Gunpowder Elementary and Perry Hall High,” Henn said.

Gunpowder Elementary Outdoor Stage
The Gunpowder Elementary PTA is donating the cost of installation, materials, labor, fees, and the overhead associated with building the stage area of the newly revitalized playground at Gunpowder Elementary.

The new stage area will be dedicated as part of the Officer Caprio Playground project. Parents of the PTA at Gunpowder Elementary School began The Officer Caprio Playground Project in November 2019.

Perry Hall High Field Netting
The Perry Hall H.S. Athletic Boosters is donating the cost to cover the installation of ball-stop netting on the stadium field. Perry Hall High School Official opened in 1967. The sport stadium is located directly behind the school. The ball-stop netting will allow several teams to practice in the stadium facility at the same time. In addition, this safety netting will also protect against potential injuries.

“Thank you very much to the Gunpowder Elementary PTA and the Perry Hall High Athletic Boosters for their extremely generous support of these projects,” Henn said.

Marks to Hold Meeting for Citizens on Patrol Set Up

Baltimore County Councilman David Marks and Eastern Perry Hall Citizens on Patrol will hold an online meeting to discuss how neighborhoods can implement effective Citizens on Patrol programs. The meeting will be held Monday, Aug. 9 at 7 p.m.

This meeting is a follow-up to the initial meeting in December 2019 in which neighborhoods in eastern Perry Hall discussed the need for more Citizens on Patrol programs.

“I will be hosting an informational meeting tonight for residents who want to create their own Citizens on Patrol programs. While the primary focus is eastern Perry Hall, anyone may join who is interested in starting one of these units, Mark said about the meeting. For more information, go to the event’s Facebook page.

To attend the meeting go to the Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8352699248

Meeting ID: 835 2699 2481
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,83526992481# US (Washington DC)

Zachary Lang Honored as Eagle Scout

– Councilman David Marks with Zachary Lang and his parent’s Tami Lang and Neal Houk-

Perry Hall resident Zachary Lang was honored on Saturday, Aug. 7 Troop 247’s newest Eagle Scout at the Perry Hall Worship Center.

Lang’s Eagle Scout project involved the soundproofing of the band room at Eastern Technical High School, which was his high school.

He joins his older brother Bradley Lang, who was also honored as an Eagle Scout a few years ago. Bradley was also the Masters of Ceremonies at the event.

Congressman Andy Harris, Councilman David Marks and Delegates Carl Jackson Harry Bhandari & Ric Metzgar came to the event to honor Lang.

“This afternoon, I had the pleasure of honoring Zachary Lang as Troop 247’s newest Eagle Scout,” Mark said. “Congratulations to Zachary and his parents, Neal Houk and Tami Lang, for all their hard work!”

County Explains Delay for Joppa RD Bridge

Bridge Now Set to Open October

The Joppa Road Bridge near Honeygo Elementary School in Perry Hall has been closed since January.

Baltimore County Councilman David Marks shared an email from the Deputy Director of the Department of Public Works and Transportation about the Joppa Road bridge, and why it is taking so long.

According to the email, the Joppa Road Bridge is now scheduled to reopen in October

“Councilman Marks,

I’ve had a lot of internal conversations with DPWT on the bridge that is currently closed on Joppa Road by Honeygo Elementary School. The bridge was closed in January 2021 because the center portion of the bridge had delaminated (the concrete outer cover was coming loose from the structure) and it was determined the structure in the center could no longer carry the minimum moving load of typical cars/truck traffic.

“The center portion of the bridge was built around 1920, the ends around 1940. The County had no existing plans on the structural design. Once the bridge was closed, the County was able to deconstruct the outer concrete in order to see the structure and re-engineer from there. This also required surveys and testing. That re-engineering has been going on behind the scenes and is not easily viewable by the public.

“When the bridge was closed the best case scenario on timeline was released publicly. In hindsight the DPWT team should have put float in the schedule to allow for unforeseen conditions.

“Attached are two images that help highlight the technical design complications with this bridge that were not evident until the testing, which couldn’t be done until the bridge was closed.

“Typical Bridge 210727” – note the 2 straight tension rods that are marked on the plan. These create even/equal sections of structure between them for the whole length of the bridge. This makes for a copy and paste for the design engineer once they design 1 section.

“Joppa Road Bridge B0545- 210727” – note the quantity of ‘dashed lines’ these are the tension rods needed for the geometry of the Joppa Road bridge due to the ‘kink’ circled on the plans. This means each of these rods needed a design and each section between rods needs a design, there is very little copy
/paste. This took longer to engineer before the plans can be given to a pre-caster to form the bridge sections.

“In order to expedite, this the design was done in house, instead of adding time for proposals from design firms, procurement of contracts, this saved at least 3 months. The plans are finishing up today and being released to the on-call precast contractor. The contractor needs to have the materials made, delivered and installed.

“Given the significant design effort that was unknown at the time of bridge closure the new timeline is reopening of the bridge in October 2021. The Countys website is being updated to reflect this information.

“Thanks for your patience and concern for the safety of our roads!”

Mark said he is frustrated with the ongoing process of this bridge and the delays to reopen.

“I recognize this is a major inconvenience for motorists. My parents live a half-mile from this bridge,” Marks said.

“While there are special circumstances that make this a difficult bridge to reconstruct, it’s unacceptable that the county did not recognize these structural issues earlier.”

New Rossville School Creates Boundary Study

The boundary process for the new Northeast Area Elementary School in Rossville and Red House Run Elementary School in Rosedale will begin in September 2021 and a recommendation will be made to the Board for consideration in March 2022.

Schools participating in this study include:
Elmwood Elementary School
Fullerton Elementary School
Joppa View Elementary School
McCormick Elementary School
Perry Hall Elementary School
Red House Run Elementary School
Shady Spring Elementary School
Vincent Farm Elementary School

This is similar to the boundary study that was created in the northeast in 2017 for the opening of Honeygo Elementary.

Perry Hall and Joppaview elementary schools were also part the Honeygo study as some of their students were later sent to Honeygo in 2018.

The first meeting of the Northeast Area Elementary Boundary Study Committee is scheduled to be held on Thursday, September 16 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Middle River Middle School in the cafeteria. The general public is welcome to attend to observe the work of the committee.

For more information: http://bcpsbusinessservices.ss3.sharpschool.com/departments/facilities_management/strategic_planning/boundary_studies/northeast_area_elementary_boundary_study

Henn Files for Re-Election on School Board

BCPS School Board of Education Vice Chair Julie Henn has filed for re-election. She serves in the 5th District that covers Perry Hall, Parkville, Towson and Kingsville. She is a resident of Perry Hall.

Henn made the official announcement on her social media page.

“Today I filed my candidacy to seek re-election to continue to represent the Fifth Council District on the Board of Education of Baltimore County,” Henn said. “I have cherished working with, and for, the students, families, educators, and staff of Baltimore County Public Schools. It has been the ultimate honor to serve the community that has been home to my family for four generations.”

Henn was appointed to the BCPS Board by Gov. Larry Hogan in 2016 and was one of the first elected members in the inaugural school board election in 2018. Henn and all school board candidates must run as a non-partisan candidates.

“The greatest gift we can offer our children is ourselves – our time and talents. I am thankful for all who serve the students of BCPS. Every adult on every child’s path to success matters. The past year has taught me how badly we need one another to lead students to meeting their college or career goals – as one team,” Henn added.

“I am excited to continue the work we’ve started. I will do my best to listen, learn and lead from the perspective of those who make a difference in our students’ lives.”

County to Turn Perry Hall Farm Into Park

-photo courtesy of County Councilman David Marks-

Baltimore County Councilman David Marks announced that the county is purchasing the Bierman farm property in Perry Hall and will turn it into a park.

The 22-acre property is located east of Gerst Road. Members of the White Marsh Rec. Council cleaned out the old barns last month and the old farming equipment is heading to public auction.

“Earlier this year, Baltimore County purchased the 22-acre Bierman farm for a new park. Preparations are underway for settlement,” Marks said.

“The property is closed to the public – I had permission to view the land with the White Marsh Recreation Council, which is helping to remove fencing.”

Marks Gives Update on Closed Joppa Road Bridge

Councilman David Marks released a statement that he received from Baltimore County on the replacement of the Joppa Road Bridge near Honeygo Elementary School.

The bridge has been closed since January and drivers have been rerouted to Ebenezer Road to drive from Belair Road to Honeygo Boulevard.

Here is the statement from Baltimore County:

“Wereconstruction of Bridge No. B-0545 on Joppa Road, however the actual re-opening may not take place until August. The extended duration is due to workload constraints, labor and material availability and a more complicated design than originally anticipated.

Our bridge maintenance contractor will be remobilizing at the site this week to begin constructing the new cast-in-place concrete abutment caps (top portions of the abutments). This operation should take between 2 to 3 weeks to complete.
Concurrently we are finalizing the engineering plans for the replacement superstructure (top portions of the bridge that spans between the abutment supports). The superstructure will be made of precast concrete slabs which are the most efficient and economic choice for this bridge. Due to the asymmetric orientation of the existing abutments several different size precast concrete slabs need to be design and detailed. Typically on these types of superstructures only one interior and one exterior slab design/details are needed.

We have placed a high priority on completing this project. Should you have any further questions please advise us.”