Carbon Monoxide Olympic Park
The site of a former gas station in Towson is slated to be the next honor for the county’s Olympians.
County Executive Jim Smith announced over the weekend that he wants to turn the site of the former Shell Station off the Towson Roundabout into Baltimore County Olympic Park.
Smith, in remarks made during Saturday’s festivities honoring Michael Phelps and other Maryland Olympians, said he would re-dedicate the empty lot currently now Towson Circle Park.
“This park will have special recognition of all Baltimore County’s Olympic medalists,” Smith said in an Oct. 5 release of his remarks from the night before.
The land used for the park has a somewhat controversial history.
In August 2007, the county paid $500,000 to Motiva Enterprises. The agreement came after about three months after Smith announced he would use the county’s condemnation powers to acquire the site. Motiva Enterprises, which operated a Shell station on the site, has been involved in cleaning up gasoline contamination there and is expected to continue those efforts through 2009.
Councilman Vince Gardina, a Democrat who represents the 5th District, including Towson and Perry Hall, praised the idea. When the initial announcement was made in 2007, Gardina said he expected the spot would become “a quiet oasis.”
“When you’re in the midst of a desert, anything can be an oasis,” Gardina said.
Bryan McIntire, Gardina’s Republican council colleague, painted another image of the future greenspace at one of the county’s busiest intersections.
After voting to approve the sale in 2007, McIntire suggested another name to me for the park - “carbon monoxide park.”
Given media reports of heavy smog in Beijing during the Olympics this summer, perhaps McIntire’s name is apropos.