Harford County officials are eyeing the purchase of an abandoned development project in Bel Air as the combined new home for Harford Academy, which serves students with severe disabilities, and a new public elementary school.
County Executive Bob Cassilly announced plans Tuesday to acquire the 45-acre site on North Fountain Green Road, near Route 543, for $6.3 million, the land’s appraised value, pending approval by the Board of Estimates.
The site, owned by Presbyterian Home of Maryland, was set to become Carsins Run at Eva Mar, a $100 million independent, not-for-profit retirement community that would have had 137 residences in two apartment buildings and two manor homes. After breaking ground in 2020, Presbyterian Home’s board of directors canceled the development, which would have been the first continuing-care retirement community center in Harford County, in February 2022, citing growing construction costs and slowed sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the last 15 years, Harford County Public Schools has pushed for a new building for students at Harford Academy, previously named John Archer School. Built in 1971, the school is the only public facility in the county serving students ages 3 to 21 with severe disabilities. A 2009 study of the facility determined it could not be renovated while occupied and a new building was necessary.
“The staff, students and families at Harford Academy are looking forward to the groundbreaking on a new building,” Harford Academy Principal Richard Greyer said in an emailed statement. “There are several steps that must occur before that happens, but we are hopeful that we are one step closer to welcoming our Harford Academy family into its new home now that a new site has been identified.”
Aaron Poynton, president of the Harford County Board of Education, said in a news release that he is thrilled to begin the Harford Academy project.
“The property is centrally located to help relieve crowding in nearby schools, it’s on public utilities, and it’s closer to the hospital for our students with critical needs,” Poynton stated.
According to HCPS facilities planner Missy Valentino, in 2007 officials submitted a property on Shucks Road as a potential site for construction of a new building for Harford Academy. Though the Schucks Road property was initially approved by the state, the Maryland Department of Planning objected to funding the project due to the property being outside the state’s priority funding area.
Harford County officials said the fact that the Schucks Road property is not on public water and sewer created another barrier.
By contrast, the current 45-acre site on North Fountain Green Road is in the county’s priority funding area and is on public water and sewer, which led the state to allocate $50 million to develop the new school building.
“This is a win-win for our school families and Harford taxpayers,” Cassilly said in a news release. “We’re repurposing developable land for the public’s benefit and capturing state funding that was unavailable for the Schucks Road site, saving our taxpayers as much as $50 million.”
The proposed new elementary school that will share the site will have a state-rated capacity of 598 students to help alleviate overcrowding in other county elementary schools, according to school officials.
According to a September 2023 growth report, multiple county elementary schools are over 100% capacity, including Bel Air, George Lisby, Havre de Grace, Homestead Wakefield and Red Pump. Several more schools are projected to go over 100% capacity this year, including Emmorton, Hickory, and Youth’s Benefit.
