What You Need to Know: Catonsville Y Will Formally Present Plans for Medical Building, Renovations

Representatives from the Y of Central Maryland are making their official pitch to the community tonight for a on the Rolling Road  campus and the expansion of the current Y facilities.

Tonight’s meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at at 1000 South Rolling Road. Representatives of the Y have been meeting with community associations in Catonsville and Arbutus in recent months to present the plan in smaller settings.

John Hoey, president of the , said several people will speak, including some of the doctors from Saint Agnes Hospital, who hope to occupy the medical building.

“We really want to give as much time as possible for the people to ask questions,” he said.

The plan has been met with mixed reviews from the community, with many questioning the traffic that another building would bring and if there is enough space on the Y’s campus.

Councilman Tom Quirk has also raised concerns about the project. In order for the Y to build the medical building, Quirk would have to submit it as a Planned Unit Development (PUD) proposal. The PUD process for Baltimore County is designed to foster greater creativity and design in development in return for more flexible land use and zoning regulations.

In order to ease concerns about traffic, the Y has agreed for the developer,  Duke Realty, to pay for a traffic study before the PUD process begins. The study will be completed in a month to 45 days, Hoey said.

While the idea of a medical building may seem out of place in the residential area of Rolling Road, Hoey said other Ys have thrived with this type of partnership.

In Harford and Carroll counties there are currently medical partnerships on Y properties and in Baltimore City, Union Memorial Hospital hosts a clinic at the Weinberg Y.

The medical building at Catonsville would house 8-10 tenants that could include physical therapists, family medicine, orthopedics and a pharmacy.

Hoey said he sees this addition to the Y’s campus as a positive for the community because many of the Y’s services involve health and wellness.

“It’s the core of our strategy and it’s the core of our mission," he said. "We don't want to be sitting beside ourselves on the hill over there.”

The plan to redevelop the Y has been going on for about four-and-a-half years, according to the Y's website. It wasn't until Saint Agnes approached the Y in 2008 about constructing a building on the campus that Y officials said they felt like they had a viable plan for redevelopment.

Other plans for development dried up due to the sour economy, which has also affected residential development.

Initial community meetings held in the past few years indicated most residents were in support of the project, Hoey said.

"If there's a better plan out there, we're certainly all ears," Hoey said.

To see details of the Y's plan, go to its website here.

This article was corrected to include the proper name of the Planned United Development.