Townhouses

Flooding from heavy rains and melting snow forced five families out of their townhouses in the Oakland Mills section of Columbia early Saturday, according to Howard County police. A team of volunteers from the Red Cross of Central Maryland provided 15 adults and children with food, clothing and an overnight stay at a hotel, according to a Linnea Anderson, public relations director for the Red Cross. The homes, in the 9400 block of Indian Camp Road, were without heat, Anderson said. Up to three other homes appeared to have been affected, but their residents were not at home at the time of the flooding.

A development group wants to build nearly 200 townhouses on the site of the former Seagram's distillery in Dundalk - a blighted collection of abandoned buildings where two people have died while trespassing and exploring. The Sollers Point Road property, which hasn't been used as a whiskey distillery since the early 1990s, has been the scene of problems in recent years. Fires have broken out, and county officials have received complaints about graffiti, weeds, broken fences and other issues.

A two-alarm fire burned through five townhouses in Elkridge early Tuesday morning, requiring one person to be transported to the hospital and three to be treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, according to the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services. Firefighters responded to the homes in the 6900 block of Ducketts Lane shortly before 12:30 a.m. for reports of a fire on the rear deck of one of the homes, the department said. At the scene, a second-alarm was called after it became clear the blaze had spread through the home's attic and roof and into multiple adjacent homes, the department said.

When Evelyn Gorman bought her then-10-year-old contemporary brick townhouse in Ruxton 25 years ago, change was the first order of business. To this seasoned interior designer from New York City, there was no reason not to create everything in her style - one she calls "country French in an eclectic, sophisticated approach. " The obvious starting point was getting rid of the 1980s kitchen that was prominently avocado green. "I have always tried to be true to my own design concepts," said the award-winning designer and former interior design columnist for the Baltimore Jewish Times.

A midday, two-alarm fire heavily damaged the western Ellicott City townhouse where it began and two adjoining units Monday, according to Howard County fire officials. Howard County Fire Department Battalion Chief Gordon Wallace said the fire in the 10500 block of Old Ellicott Circle was reported at 12:50 p.m. and arriving crews found the garage townhouse engulfed in flames. Units on both sides of the three-level house were also damaged, and two vehicles in the garage were destroyed, he said, though the homes are equipped with sprinklers.

A townhouse complex in Owings Mills erupted in flames Tuesday afternoon, and some 80 firefighters battled the blaze. The 3-alarm fire, reported shortly after 2 p.m., affected at least 13 townhouses in the complex at 15 Old Coach Lane, according to Jay Ringgold, a spokesman for the Baltimore County Fire Department, who was speaking from the scene. The fire was under control by about 3:50 p.m., officials said. Ringgold said the fire burned in a stretch of 3-story houses that occupy "one long building.

In the area around Hollins Market in West Baltimore, more than 50 restored town houses used as rental housing have been put up for sale, at prices ranging from $60,000 to $120,000.Known as the Hollins Townhouses, the 54 historic properties represent one of the largest single groups of rehabilitated residences ever to go on the market at one time near Hollins Market and Union Square.With state funding assistance that enables them to be sold for little or no down payment and at below-market interest rates, they also represent an opportunity for renters to become first-time buyers.

A plan to build up to 40 townhouses on a narrow tract near Red Pump Elementary School in Bel Air will be the subject of a community input meeting Monday evening, March 10, at the Fallston library beginning at 6:30 p.m. The proposed development, called Red Pump Crescent, will be on 9.3 acres off the 400 block of Red Pump Road, between the Marywood community and a new single-family home community already under development called Blake's Legacy....

The Howard County Planning Board last week approved plans for 58 townhouses next to Snowden River Parkway in the Kendall Ridge neighborhood of Long Reach village.The townhouses would be across Snowden River Parkway from the planned Eastern High School, a source of some concern for the Long Reach village association. Kathryn Mann of the association told Planning Board members during their Thursday meeting that village board members were concerned that children would be crossing a four-lane, divided road to play.

A three-alarm fire swept through eight townhouses in Edgewood yesterday just before noon, leaving 26 residents with little more than the clothes they were wearing.In all, 12 adults and 14 children were displaced from the Meadowood complex.About 75 firefighters from Joppa-Magnolia, Abingdon, Bel Air, Aberdeen, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Kingsville, Fallston and Cowenton battled the blaze that rose from the kitchen at 1630 Candlewood Court. The flames fanned out through the attic, Mr. Thomas said.

Developers of a large senior living complex in Annapolis have more work to do before their proposal can gain preliminary environmental approval from city officials. On Friday the city sent developers of Crystal Spring Annapolis - a proposed mix of senior housing, townhouses and shops on 180 acres - a lengthy list of revisions that need to be made before the project's forest conservation plan can win approval, an early but key step in the process. Crystal Spring would include 350 apartments and cottages for seniors and 75 beds for nursing care and assisted living.

A funny thing happened to Joe and Morgan Horvath on their way to a community art show in Reservoir Hill a few years ago. They fell in love at first sight with this Baltimore neighborhood of rehabbed rowhomes - many in the Italianate architectural style of the late 19th century. Adding to that feeling were the inhabitants, who to this day, the couple feel, are some of the best things about the neighborhood. "We were welcomed by everyone, from the young folks who rent a house across the street to the neighborhood veterans who bought their homes 30 years ago," said Morgan Horvath, a 31-year old preschool behavioral specialist with Project ACT (All Children Together)

Located one block from Southeast Baltimore's Canton Square, 3027 Dillon St. is a corner contemporary townhouse unlike any other in the area. "I have never seen such a high-end house in the city before," said listing agent Cindy Conklin of Prudential Homesale YWGC Realty, who is selling the home for $849,000. "Not even larger homes on the harbor have that level of finish, upgrades and amenities. It's phenomenal. " Just 3 years old, this four-story custom design by Jim Shetler of Trace Architects has been constructed of brick and cedar siding with three levels of glass walls.

Like more and more homeowners these days, Ron Brown and his fiancee, Susan Powers, have discovered their ideal living space hidden within the same walls they have called home for quite some time. "After years of debating whether to remodel, buy an existing house or build new, we decided to remodel the kitchen," said Brown, 63, director of corporate relations at Towson University. And just like a shopper who goes to the grocery store for one item and comes out with a full cart, one remodel lead to another, and another.

The Baltimore City Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation on Tuesday approved a developer's exterior renovation plans for the conversion of an historic former home for unwed mothers into apartments. CHAP voted 6-1 to approve staff recommendations endorsing the renovation of the mansion, the old Florence Crittenton Home for Girls at 3110 Crittenton Place in Hampden. Developer John Brooks wants to convert the house into 14 apartments, plus one in a nearby cottage.

For many people, midlife is a time for fresh beginnings, and often those beginnings bring the exhilaration of reinvention. Deb Moriarty, vice president of student affairs at Towson University, acknowledges both. After 13 years in Catonsville, her large home was suddenly an empty place filled with the memories of her recently deceased husband, Greg Giovanazzi, and a daughter, Casey, now 20, about to take off for college. It was at that point last August that the 59-year-old gathered up her favorite mementos, pieces of artwork and assorted photographs and left Catonsville for a Bozzuto-built, three-story townhouse in the new development of Towson Green.

Vincent J. Gardina, the Baltimore County councilman who has crusaded for more single-family homes and larger lots as the county redevelops the east side, said he plans to ask for less restrictive zoning to allow a townhouse development in the Bird River area. The County Council will vote today on a community development plan for a largely undeveloped 1,000-acre tract in the Middle River and Bird River area. Gardina, a Perry Hall Democrat, said he will submit the zoning change for 50 acres as an amendment to the community plan, although he did not present it when the council discussed the plan at its work session Tuesday.

On Saturday, Barbara Henry will move into a new, three-bedroom townhouse in a blighted area of East Baltimore."I've been looking for decent, low-income housing for a long time," Ms. Henry said yesterday at the official opening of a $4.1 million, 55-townhouse development in the 1100 block of Aisquith St. in Johnston Square."

A plan to build up to 40 townhouses on a narrow tract near Red Pump Elementary School in Bel Air will be the subject of a community input meeting Monday evening, March 10, at the Fallston library beginning at 6:30 p.m. The proposed development, called Red Pump Crescent, will be on 9.3 acres off the 400 block of Red Pump Road, between the Marywood community and a new single-family home community already under development called Blake's Legacy....

Jean H. Hepner, an early Fells Point community activist who restored one of its residential landmarks and fought a planned interstate highway, died of injuries she suffered as a passenger in an automobile accident Feb. 1 on the Baltimore Beltway at Park Heights Avenue. She was 90. Family members said Jean Rose Harvey was the first child born in Wisconsin in 1924. She was born in Milwaukee at eight minutes after midnight on Jan. 1. She was the daughter of James D. Harvey, a radio store owner who wrote a broadcasting column for the Milwaukee Journal, and Rhea Carson Blake, an occupational therapist.