Fort Smallwood

The chief of planning and construction for the county Department of Parks and Recreation will be the guest speaker Thursday at the Greater Pasadena Council meeting.Jack Keene will discuss the status of Fort Smallwood Park and the availability of boat ramps in Pasadena. The meeting will be held at 7: 30 p.m. at the Eastern District Police Station.For more information, call 437-2661.Pub Date: 4/23/96

A woman was killed after she was struck by a vehicle in Anne Arundel County, a fire spokesman said. The incident was reported at 6:24 a.m. at Fort Smallwood Road and Kembo Road, said Battalion Chief Steve Thompson. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, he said. No further information was available about the incident. Text BUSINESS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Business text alerts

Top Anne Arundel County and Baltimore City officials met last week to discuss the future of Fort Smallwood Park, a 100-acre, city-owned property within the county that for years has been the subject of complaints by neighbors. County Executive Janet S. Owens, who has long sought to acquire the park for the county, met several times with Mayor Martin O'Malley, aides to both confirmed. Details of the talks were not revealed, but any agreement that might be reached is expected to address maintenance and security issues at the 77-year-old park.

County's Fort Smallwood Park rejects couple's Golden Age Pass This morning, my wife and I thought it would be a good idea to visit Fort Smallwood Park and take a few pictures of ourselves for our children and grandchildren, in a quiet picturesque setting, as we have no recent photos. Since we are on a fixed income, it wouldn't be cost-prohibitive to drive from Brooklyn Park, gas prices being as they are today. Also, we thought that since we were senior citizens, we could use our Golden Age Pass (courtesy of the Maryland Park Service)

AT LAST, there's some hope that Anne Arundel County residents may get another public boat ramp.The county Department of Recreation and Parks is seeking a $92,000 allocation in the coming fiscal year's budget for the purpose. While that money would not be tied to any specific site, Fort Smallwood Park, just over the county line from Baltimore City, is the front runner. Having repeatedly urged the county to communicate with the city about using Fort Smallwood Park, we are pleased about this development.

Hoping to breathe new life into a long-discussed proposal, some politicians have asked the county executive to put a multimillion-dollar connection between Route 100 and Fort Smallwood Road on the county's priority list of transportation projects. Pasadena's District 31 legislative delegation - state Sen. Philip C. Jimeno and Dels. Joan Cadden, Mary Rosso and John R. Leopold, the lone Republican - said such an action by County Executive Janet S. Owens would allow the State Highway Administration to conduct a feasibility study on the project.

The fishermen were quiet, but jubilant. After all, it's prime fishing season, and for the first time since Tropical Storm Isabel in 2003 ravaged a favorite fishing pier at Fort Smallwood Park in Pasadena, they got to drop their earthworm-laden hooks into the rocky brackish waters of the Patapsco River. The rebuilt $490,000 pier opened unofficially Tuesday, the latest in a multimillion-dollar cleanup project orchestrated by Anne Arundel County after the park was left in disarray for decades by Baltimore City.

The politically charged questions surrounding whether to renovate or replace the county's most crowded elementary school will be aired tomorrow in a hastily arranged meeting among politicians, school officials and residents.The meeting over the future of Fort Smallwood Elementary School has been scheduled at 7 p.m. in the Eastern District police station, 3700 Mountain Road.Given the tenor of the debate, which has generated more heat than light, "I'm glad it's at the police station," joked Carol Kemp, president of the Fort Smallwood Elementary School PTA, who arranged the meeting.

Anne Arundel County may be on the verge of reaching a 99-year lease agreement with Baltimore to take control of city-owned Fort Smallwood Park. Most details of the lease agreement are unclear, but according to County Council President Ronald C. Dillon, a Pasadena Republican, the lease would give the county control of the 100-acre park in northern Anne Arundel at the price of $1 a year. "I'm hundreds of times more optimistic than I was five months ago," Dillon said Wednesday night after being briefed by County Executive Janet S. Owens' office, which is involved in the negotiations.

Anne Arundel County stands to lose $1.1 million in school construction funds, the state's share of expanding and renovating Fort Smallwood Elementary School, if the school board decides to build a new school instead, based on school documents.Yale Stenzler, head of the state Interagency Committee on School Construction, warned in a July 25 letter to school board President Joseph H. Foster that the state "could determine that the proposal [for a new school] can not be supported and that no state funds would be provided for the project."

The fishermen were quiet, but jubilant. After all, it's prime fishing season, and for the first time since Tropical Storm Isabel in 2003 ravaged a favorite fishing pier at Fort Smallwood Park in Pasadena, they got to drop their earthworm-laden hooks into the rocky brackish waters of the Patapsco River. The rebuilt $490,000 pier opened unofficially Tuesday, the latest in a multimillion-dollar cleanup project orchestrated by Anne Arundel County after the park was left in disarray for decades by Baltimore City.

Geography isn't all that separates the students at Fort Smallwood Elementary School from their peers in the tiny, impoverished village of Wamunyu, Kenya. The 24 students at Nyaani Primary School - at least 15 of whom were orphaned by the AIDS epidemic sweeping Africa - can't study after dark because they have no electricity. Their school has no plumbing, so adults had to tote water there, until 2005. That was the year when, because of a partnership between the schools, Nyaani Primary was able to buy a water tank.

In the black-and-white photo, a 4-year-old Henry A. Schmidt squints in the summer sunlight, surrounded by men in straw hats and women in floor-length linen dresses. His uncle's Model T is parked just out of the picture, along the banks of the Patapsco River where it winds by Fort Smallwood Park. Yesterday, Schmidt returned to Fort Smallwood carrying the photo, 72 years after the church picnic that first brought him there, to celebrate the reopening of the 100-acre park in northeastern Anne Arundel County, which languished for decades in the hands of Baltimore officials.

The teardrop-shaped median at the entrance has been wiped away, as have the concession building's yellowed flakes of lead paint, the littered drug paraphernalia and the rusted remnants of a playground set left to rot in the Patapsco River. Fort Smallwood Park, the 100-acre point in northeastern Anne Arundel County that Baltimore long ago forgot, is no longer a gloomy sight, even under gray, blustery skies. The 1890s fort has undergone a two-month cleanup since Anne Arundel County effectively took control of the 78-year-old park from the city in January.

The Baltimore Board of Estimates unanimously approved a licensing agreement yesterday that will allow Anne Arundel County to take over daily control of a city-owned park on the shores of the Patapsco River. Also yesterday, the city signed the 45-year licensing agreement on Fort Smallwood Park, clearing the way for the county to assume control of the 100-acre parcel in 90 days. The two sides announced the agreement last week, ending nearly 40 years of county overtures to take over a park that is known not only for its views of the Chesapeake Bay but also for its environmental contamination and decay, and for the rowdiness of its visitors.

Anne Arundel County may be on the verge of reaching a 99-year lease agreement with Baltimore to take control of city-owned Fort Smallwood Park. Most details of the lease agreement are unclear, but according to County Council President Ronald C. Dillon, a Pasadena Republican, the lease would give the county control of the 100-acre park in northern Anne Arundel at the price of $1 a year. "I'm hundreds of times more optimistic than I was five months ago," Dillon said Wednesday night after being briefed by County Executive Janet S. Owens' office, which is involved in the negotiations.

SUMMER HAS OPENED on a rather soggy note this year. So far we've sought air-conditioned hibernation from the humidity for a few days, but you'd never know from the size of the electric bill.If you're looking to nip that summer-hibernation cycle in the bud, check out these events.Traditional fireworksPyrotechnics have returned to the Pasadena area this year.The county Department of Recreation and Parks will sponsor traditional fireworks at Fort Smallwood Park tonight, starting about 9: 20.The park will waive the admission charge after 6 p.m.Evening concertsPack a picnic for dinner by the bay on Sunday evenings at Downs Park this month, as the Bayside Concert Series offers four concerts.

The chain-link fences were meant to be a temporary remedy, to keep people out until the buildings and areas contaminated by lead paint could be cleaned up at 77-year-old Fort Smallwood Park. But seven years later, sections of fence have fallen or disappeared at the Baltimore City-owned park in northern Anne Arundel County, a place that has raised the ire of county officials. The areas where elevated levels of lead paint were detected have not been cleaned up, and the park is open to visitors - despite warnings from consultants as early as 1998.

Baltimore City and Anne Arundel County officials plan to meet again today to discuss the future of Fort Smallwood Park, including a proposal for the county to take over maintenance of the dilapidated park by leasing it from the city. County Executive Janet S. Owens has pushed since January to acquire the 100-acre park on the Patapsco River in northern Anne Arundel County, and her campaign apparently received a boost from Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley during his monthly talk show last month on WBAL Radio.