Court of Appeals Denies Petition

Over the weekend we learned that the Maryland Court of Appeals has denied the Blandair Foundation's Petition for a Writ of Certiorari in its suit to preserve Blandair Farm (the Smith farm). While this ends our legal battle, it does not end our effort to preserve the farm.

By the end of the year we shall present a proposal to Howard County for the Blandair Foundation to manage the farm for the County. Other groups manage County property, saving the taxpayers considerable money. For example, Historic Ellicott City, Inc. manages the B&O train station and the Thomas Isaac Log Cabin, and the Friends of the Patapsco Female Institute manage that site for the County, as well.

We have ideas for the farm, related to its use as a research and demonstration area for managing open space in an urbanized area, which will appeal to many citizens of Howard County. Already, we are in the process of gaining support for our ideas. For more than a year, Dr. Aelred Geis, Director of the Blandair Foundation's Division of Open Space Management, has been conducting research, with the help of volunteers, at small sites in Maryland and Pennsylvania which partly exemplifies what we have in mind, but the full impact of our ideas cannot be demonstrated without access to a much larger site, namely Blandair Farm. In the future, ideas developed and tested by the Foundation at Blandair Farm and other sites can be applied to locations far beyond Howard County.

Byron C. Hall, Jr., Chairman
The Blandair Foundation

Home About News Archive Shop Join Now!

Please call (888) 845-8974 for more information.
You may also e-mail Byron Hall, Chairman of the Foundation.