A collective gasp filled the room Monday evening when an attorney for the developer behind a Royal Farms at York Road and Bosley Avenue told a crowd of Towson residents that additional mature trees will be removed from the site.
Rona Kobell, a Southland Hills resident, had asked Venable attorney Christopher Mudd if he could promise that developer Caves Valley Partners would keep the 36 trees, which are more than 20 feet tall, that currently separate Immaculate Conception School playing fields from the proposed Royal Farms gas station.
“The proposal at this moment is to take all those trees down and put up a fence,” Mudd replied, to a wave of shouts from angry audience members.
“Cities all over the world are spending taxpayer money to plant trees for environmental, economic, and health benefits. Why in the world is this developer tearing them down? Why is the county environmental department supporting that while simultaneously proclaiming they’re about sustainability?” Kobell said after the meeting. “If you care about the environment, the most cost-effective thing you can do is keep the healthy trees in place. Shrubs won’t provide the benefits.”
The crowd at the community-input meeting was already incensed that Baltimore County ordered 30 trees to be cut down without notice last month.
Read full article: More trees to be felled for Towson Station; residents frustrated with lack of info – Towson Flyer
