Baltimore Magazine
Despite what you read in the newspapers, says William C. McDonnell, planning director for the Green Spring and Worthington Valley Planning Council (BALTIMORE, May, 1967), the council is not about to fold up and its ambitious plan for the orderly development and preservation of the scenic beauty of the prestigious valley country north of Baltimore is not about to be ditched. He refers to a recent article in The Sun which quoted William E. Finley, chief planner for James Rouse’s Columbia, as saying that the council’s Plan for the Valleys was a failure. “It’s true that Mr. Finley used the word ‘failure’ in connection with our plan,'” says Mr. McDonnell, “but what he really said was that unless we do certain things now, the plan could fail within a few years. He also said, and the article didn’t touch on this at all, that the principles on which Columbia is based are the same as those on which the Plan for the Valleys is based, that is, to accommodate and accept growth and development but to restrict it to areas chosen for development, thereby making it possible, both economically and politically, to preserve open space that would ordinarily be overrun by development. He said to his knowledge, our program was still the only one of its kind in the country and that it was, in his words, ‘absolutely top flight.’ But he said the pressures on the valleys are enormous and will get stronger as time goes on, and that unless we take steps to broaden our membership base, develop a better program of public education about what we’re doing, expand our multiowner agreements to cover up to 10,000 acres, add a full-time attorney and public relations person to our staff, investigate the possibility of setting up a special conservancy district and build a prototype to show that the kind of development we foresee under our plan is both possible and profitable – unless we take steps in all these directions, he said our plan would fail. He concluded by saying he though we had a chance.” Mr. McDonnell says the council is well aware of these problems which face it and is already moving in most of the directions outlined by Mr. Finley, who made his remarks by invitation at a membership meeting of the group. For example, a membership drive at the end of last year picked up an additional 60 families, bringing the total to 355, a new high. Last month, the council reorganized its governing body to represent the members on a more equitable and broader basis, and other oranizational
Mr. Warren’s profession
We couldn’t have picked a better photograph to illustrate our story about the valleys than the one below: the work of Marion Warren, the Annapolis- based professional whose work so frequently ornaments our pages, it was taken at Sagamore Farm, and it has been exhibited at many shows. We feel we owe Mr. Warren something of an apology, although he doesn’t. In our last issue, it was the Warren lens which looked at Midshipman Petrino in our story about the forces which shape a middie; in the deadline rush, the Warren credit line was omitted.
Read the article complete with photos in its original format.