The BPW considered and approved the following requests and recommendations at its meeting on December 21, 2022:

Allegany County

• A request from the Department of Natural Resources to grant $250,000 of Program Open Space statewide funds for the acquisition in fee simple of 46.75 +/- acres (Artmor property) in Allegany County.  This largely forested property with unique rock and cliff features is adjacent to Wills Mountain State Park on the edge of the City of Cumberland. The property will be managed by the Maryland Park Service, who will oversee site cleanup as part of an overall plan to develop an entrance and parking to provide needed access to the park.  The property supports State Threatened, Endangered, and In Need of Conservation Species habitat. Acquisition will protect the Wills Creek sub-basin of the upper Potomac River Watershed, allow for restoration, and increase public recreational opportunities for hiking, biking, rock climbing, and scenic overlook access (Item 4A of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda).

Anne Arundel County

• A request from the Maryland Historical Trust to approve a $100,000 grant to the Charles W. “Hoppy” Adams Jr Foundation, Inc. under the African American Heritage Preservation Program to rehabilitate the interior and exterior of the “Hoppy” Adams House (35 Old Solomons Island Road, Annapolis). The House was built by Mr. Adams in 1964 on land that had been passed down by his family since 1880.  He was a celebrated African American radio broadcaster on WANN Annapolis, playing soul and R&B music to black and white audiences. He was the host of weekly concerts at Carrs Beach between 1952 and 1974 (Item 18B of the Secretary’s Agenda);
• A request from the Maryland Historical Trust to approve a $86,000 grant to Mount Calvary United Methodist Church under the African American Heritage Preservation Program to rehabilitate the exterior of the Mount Calvary United Methodist Church (1236 Jones Station Road, Arnold). The Church began gathering on this site between 1832 and 1842, making it the oldest African American church in Arnold. The building was constructed in 1896, with a large addition added in 1970 (Item 18C of the Secretary’s Agenda);
• A request from the Maryland Historical Trust to approve a $100,000 grant to The Seafarers Yacht Club, Inc. under the African American Heritage Preservation Program to rehabilitate the interior and exterior of the Eastport Elementary School, 3^rd Street (301 Chester Avenue, Annapolis). From 1918 until 1963, Eastport Elementary School, 3rd Street was Eastport’s school for African American children.  Nearly a decade after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown vs. the Board of Education, the Anne Arundel County finally integrated the all-white 5th Street school, and the 3rd Street School was closed. In 1967 the Seafarers Yacht Club Inc. purchased the vacant building.  The club was formed in 1959 by a group of black men with a shared interest in boating.  They were inspired to form their own club in response to routinely being refused service at piers and being denied membership to yacht clubs (Item 18D of the Secretary’s Agenda); and
• A request from the Maryland Historical Trust to approve an $80,000 grant to Adams U.M. Church under the African American Heritage Preservation Program to renovate the interior and exterior of the Adams Methodist Episcopal Church and Cemetery (937 Bayard Road, Lothian). The church’s site contains an original and a new structure.  The original 1883 church is a simple weatherboard sided late Victorian structure.  The new brick church was built on the east side of the old structure in 1968.  The project focuses on work to the new church and graveyard (Item 18N of the Secretary’s Agenda).

Baltimore City

• A request from the Maryland Historical Trust to approve a $100,000 grant to Mount Auburn Cemetery Company under the African American Heritage Preservation Program to conserve and renovate Mount Auburn Cemetery (2630 Waterview Avenue, Baltimore).  The cemetery was dedicated in 1872 and originally known as “The City of the Dead for Colored People”. It was one of the first and now the only remaining cemetery owned and operated by African Americans in Baltimore. It uniquely represents the values and burial traditions of the community from the late 19th century to the present. Mount Auburn continues to be an active historic cemetery with a modest number of burials per year, consisting of new burials in existing family plots (Item 18A of the Secretary’s Agenda);
• A request from the Maryland Historical Trust to approve a $100,000 grant to the Upton Planning Committee, Inc. under the African American Heritage Preservation Program to rehabilitate the exterior and interior of the Parren J. Mitchell House and Cultural Center (828 North Carrollton Avenue, Baltimore). The property is best known as the long-time home of Parren J. Mitchell, a renowned professor, scholar and Maryland’s first African American U.S. Congressman, serving from 1971-1987. Mitchell was also a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and was a WWII veteran and Purple Heart recipient. In 1950 he won a landmark legal case against the segregated University of Maryland to allow him admission into their graduate school. He became the first African American to graduate with a master’s degree from the University, and his case is considered instrumental in desegregation of higher education in Maryland (Item 18F of the Secretary’s Agenda); and
• A request to enter into a grant agreement for a $6,750,000 grant to the Board of Trustees of the Maryland Zoological Society, Inc. to assist in funding the design, construction, and equipping of infrastructure improvements for the exhibits and operations of the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. There is no matching fund requirement for this grant (Item 8 of the Department of General Services’ Office of State Procurement Agenda).

Baltimore County

• A request from the Maryland Historical Trust to approve a $30,000 grant to St. James African Union Methodist Protestant Church, Inc. under the African American Heritage Preservation Program to fund a full roof replacement as well as repair the roof framing and chimney at St. James African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church.  The church was built in 1881 as a one-story wood frame building. A second story was added onto the building in 1906. The church was built on property which is believed to be the first documented African American landholding in Towson (Item 18L of the Secretary’s Agenda); and
• A request from the Department of Natural Resources to grant $60,000 of Program Open Space statewide funds for the acquisition in fee simple of 5+ acres (Atkins’ property) in Baltimore County. This entirely forested property is adjacent to Gunpowder Falls State Park and will be managed by the Maryland Park Service as an addition to the park. The property includes potential Forest Interior Dwelling Species habitat and an unnamed tributary to Gunpowder Falls. Acquisition will add to a contiguous block of forest habitat, provide water quality protection in the Little Gunpowder Falls Watershed, and simplify boundary management at the park (Item 5A of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda).

Calvert County

• A request from the Maryland Historical Trust to approve a $27,000 grant to Friends of the Old Wallville School, Inc. under the African American Heritage Preservation Program to rehabilitate the exterior and interior of the Old Wallville School (1450 Dares Beach Road, Prince Frederick). The one-room wooden schoolhouse served African American students in the unincorporated village of Wallville from 1880-1934. The building illustrates the segregated educational facilities of the late 19^th and early 20^thcenturies. In 2006 the building was moved and placed adjacent to Calvert Elementary School.  The building was restored to its early 1930s appearance based on extensive interviews with Elizabeth Brown, the last teacher at the school before it closed, and through extensive archival research (Item 18E of the Secretary’s Agenda);
• A request to enter into a grant agreement for a $630,000 grant to the Board of County Commissioners of Calvert County for the acquisition, planning, design, construction, repair, renovation, reconstruction, site improvement, and capital equipping of flood mitigation projects at the Calvert Pines Senior Center and Calvert County Office on Aging. There is no matching fund requirement for this grant (Item 1 of the Department of General Services’ Office of State Procurement Agenda).

Caroline County

• A request from the Maryland Historical Trust to approve a $50,000 grant to the Fiber Arts Center of the Eastern Shore, Inc. under the African American Heritage Preservation Program to restore the first floor of the Richard Potter House to its 1855 interior as a museum with classroom space (9 N. 4^th Street, Denton).  The house was built in 1810.  Mr. Potter lived in this house in 1855, and recorded his experience being kidnapped in Greensboro, Maryland and sold into slavery in Delaware in the first book ever published in Caroline County.  The site is included as part of the National Park Service’s Network to Freedom (Item 18H of the Secretary’s Agenda); and
• A request to enter into grant agreements for grants totaling $1,000,000 to the Board of Education of Caroline County for the acquisition, planning, design, construction, repair, renovation, reconstruction, site improvement, and capital equipping of the Judy Hoyer Early Learning Center at the Greensboro Elementary School. There is no matching fund requirement for this grant (Item 6 of the Department of General Services’ Office of State Procurement Agenda).

Carroll County

• A request from the Department of Natural Resources to commit $138,687 from the Program Open Space funding allocated to Carroll County to install new LED lighting on athletic field “C” at Christmas Tree Park (Item 1A.1 of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda);
• A request to enter into a grant agreement for a $300,000 grant to the Board of County Commissioners of Carroll County for the acquisition, planning, design, construction, repair, renovation, reconstruction, site improvement, and capital equipping of a law enforcement building. There is no matching fund requirement for this grant (Item 5 of the Department of General Services’ Office of State Procurement Agenda);
• A request from the Department of Natural Resources to commit $360,000 from the Local Parks and Playgrounds Infrastructure funding allocated to Carroll County to purchase and install LED field lighting at Cape Horn Park (Item 1A.6 of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda);
• A request from the Department of Natural Resources to commit a total of $387,987 from Program Open Space funding allocated to Carroll County for the following projects:
  • Piney Run Park: $249,300 to design and construct a new bulkhead (Item 1A.2 of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda);
  • Cooper Park: $90,000 to replace dilapidated wood and provide structural reinforcements for three wooden pedestrian bridges (Item 1A.3 of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda);
  • Town of Sykesville Trail: $48,687 to repave 700 feet of the deteriorating multiuse Linear Trail (Item 1A.4 of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda); and
• A request from the Department of Natural Resources to commit $140,000 from the Local Parks and Playgrounds Infrastructure funding allocated to Carroll County to resurface an existing gravel parking lot with asphalt and replace an old wooden pavilion with a powder-coated steel one at Freedom Park(Item 1A.5 of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda).

Dorchester County

• A request to provide a $496,948.41 grant to The Conservation Fund from Rural Legacy Funds for the acquisition of a 336.12-acre conservation easement in the Harriet Tubman Rural Legacy Area (Say Uncle, LLC property). Acquisition of this easement will protect forested land and wetlands in the Little Blackwater watershed, providing migratory and wintering habitat for waterfowl. Preserving this land from development provides additional resiliency to the effects of climate change on the Eastern Shore. This easement project is being leveraged with contributions by federal programs. The easement will be jointly held by the Department of Natural Resources and the United States of America. The Grantee is paying administrative and compliance costs.  Easement value: $2,068/acre (Item 6A of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda).

Frederick County

• A request to enter into a grant agreement for a $300,000 grant to the Board of Directors of the Mountain City Lodge #382 Improved Benevolent and Protective Order Elks for the acquisition, planning, design, construction, repair, renovation, reconstruction, site improvement, and capital equipping of the Mountain City Elks Lodge No. 382 facility.  There is no matching fund requirement for this grant (Item 10 of the Department of General Services’ Office of State Procurement Agenda);
• A request from the Department of Natural Resources to commit a total of $629,311 from Local Parks and Playgrounds Infrastructure funding for the following projects in Frederick County:
  • Green Hill Park: $77,084 to rehabilitate the basketball courts, install fencing around the playground and install shade structures (Item 2A.3 of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda);
  • Pinecliff Park: $415,700 to install new playground equipment and safety surfacing, repave the boat ramp area, and add additional parking spaces and safety surfacing around an existing playground (Item 2A.8 of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda);
  • Point of Rocks Community Park: $136,527 to resurface the existing basketball and tennis courts, and add new fencing, goal posts, and backstops (Item 2A.9 of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda);
• A request from the Department of Natural Resources to commit $45,000 in funding from the Community Parks and Playground Program for new playground equipment at the Terraces of South Mountain (Item 2A.1 of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda);
• A request from the Department of Natural Resources to commit a total of $820,291.17 from Local Parks and Playgrounds Infrastructure funding for the following projects:
  • E. Eugene Myers Community Park: $22,289.17 to purchase and install a prefabricated concession stand building with restroom (Item 2A.2 of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda);

• • Libertytown Park: $472,746 for new athletic field and tennis court fencing, basketball and tennis court resurfacing, and new backstops (Item 2A.5 of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda);
  • Middletown Community Park: $300,000 to construct a skate spot (Item 2A.6 of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda); and
  • Othello Regional Park: $25,256 for shade structures around the existing playground (Item 2A.7 of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda).

Montgomery County

• A request from the Maryland Historical Trust to approve a $50,000 grant to the Boyds Clarksburg Historical Society under the African American Heritage Preservation Program to rehabilitate the exterior of the Boyds Negro School (19510 White Ground Roads, Boyds). The school was built in 1895 for African American children in grades 1-8.  The students completed their formal education with grade 8 until Montgomery County opened the first black high school in 1936. It is the County’s only remaining one-room schoolhouse for African American children that is regularly open to the public (Item 18G of the Secretary’s Agenda);
• A request to enter into a grant agreement for a $150,000 grant to the Board of Directors of the Audubon Naturalist Society of the Central Atlantic States, Inc. for the acquisition, planning, design, construction, repair, renovation, reconstruction, site improvement, and capital equipping of play features and other necessary improvements to create a wheelchair-accessible Nature Play Space at Woodend Nature Sanctuary. There is no matching fund requirement for this grant (Item 3 of the Department of General Services’ Office of State Procurement Agenda);
• A request to enter into a grant agreement for a $185,000 grant to the Board of Directors of the Madison House Autism Foundation, Inc. for the acquisition, planning, design, construction, repair, renovation, reconstruction, site improvement, and capital equipping of the Pavilion at Madison Fields. There is no matching fund requirement for this grant (Item 13 of the Department of General Services’ Office of State Procurement Agenda); and
• A request to enter into grant agreements with the Board of Directors of the Olney Boys and Girls Community Sports Association for the following non-matching grants:
  • $1,000,000 for the acquisition, planning, design, construction, repair, renovation, reconstruction, site improvement, and capital equipping of a new Crop Duster Stadium (Item 11 of the Department of General Services’ Office of State Procurement Agenda); and
  • $250,000 for the acquisition, planning, design, construction, repair, renovation, reconstruction, site improvement, and capital equipping of the Performance Sports Center (Item 12 of the Department of General Services’ Office of State Procurement Agenda).

Prince George’s County

• A request from the Maryland Historical Trust to approve a $50,000 grant to the Mildred Ridgley Gray Charitable Trust, Inc. under the African American Heritage Preservation Program to rehabilitate the exterior of the Ridgley Methodist Church (8900 Central Avenue, Landover).  The Church was built in 1921 and is in its original form.  It features memorial stained-glass windows with pointed frames. The 1892 cemetery occupies the west end of the property.  There are a number of unmarked graves, and about 20 gravestones dating from the 1910s to the 1940s. Most of the stones are hand-carved and many feature a carved flower and vine motif (Item 18K of the Secretary’s Agenda); and
• A request to enter into a grant agreement for a $530,000 grant to the Mayor and City Council of the City of Mount Rainier for the acquisition, planning, design, construction, repair, renovation, reconstruction, site improvement, and capital equipping of green street projects and flood mitigation projects in Mount Rainier, including along 31^st street. There is no matching fund requirement for this grant (Item 9 of the Department of General Services’ Office of State Procurement Agenda).

Somerset County

• A request from the Maryland Historical Trust to approve a $86,000 grant to the Somerset County Historical Trust under the African American Heritage Preservation Program to rehabilitate the interior and exterior of the Mount Zion Memorial Church (29071 Polks Road, Princess Anne). The Church is architecturally significant due to its intact condition and survival as one of a few late-19th century African American churches in Somerset County. One of the most distinctive features of the interior is the early-20th century bead board ceiling (Item 18I of the Secretary’s Agenda).

Talbot County

• A request from the Department of Natural Resources to commit $126,000 from the Program Open Space funding allocated to Talbot County to design and construct walking trails, an overlook and a pollinator area at Frederick Douglass Park on the Tuckahoe Development (Item 3A of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda); and
• A request from the Maryland Environmental Trust to ratify the donation of a perpetual conservation easement on 128.5 acres in Talbot County (500 Beaver Road II, LLC property on Cedar Point Road in Easton) (Item 9A of the Department of Natural Resources’ Real Property Agenda).

Washington County

• A request to enter into a grant agreement for a $125,000 grant to DiPietro & Son, LLC for the acquisition, planning, design, construction, repair, renovation, reconstruction, site improvement, and capital equipping of a community concert hall, retail, and nonprofit space in the Town of Boonsboro.  There is no matching fund requirement for this grant (Item 4 of the Department of General Services’ Office of State Procurement Agenda);
• A request from the Maryland Stadium Authority for approval to award Bid Package #2 for the Hagerstown Multi-Use Sports and Event Facility project.  This Bid Package is comprised of site work, wet utilities, support of excavation, survey, concrete, mechanical equipment, electrical distribution equipment, and sports lighting (Item 19 of the Secretary’s Agenda); and
• A request to enter into a grant agreement for a $150,000 grant to the Town of Boonsboro for the acquisition, planning, design, construction, repair, renovation, reconstruction, site improvement, and capital equipping of the Boonsboro Wastewater Treatment Plant Sludge Dewatering Facility. There is no matching fund requirement for this grant (Item 15 of the Department of General Services’ Office of State Procurement Agenda).

Wicomico County

• A request to enter into a grant agreement for a $1,000,000 grant to the Board of Directors of Junior Achievement Eastern Shore for the acquisition, planning, design, construction, repair, renovation, reconstruction, site improvement, and capital equipping of a Junior Achievement Center. There is no matching fund requirement for this grant (Item 7 of the Department of General Services’ Office of State Procurement Agenda);
• A request from the Maryland Historical Trust to approve a $74,000 grant to Greater Washington DC Chapter of The Ninth And Tenth (Horse) Cavalry Association, Inc. under the African American Heritage Preservation Program to renovate and conserve the Thomas Polk, Sr. House (403 S. Upper Ferry Road, Eden) a two-story home built on Mr. Polk’s property during the late 1920s.  In 1962, a fire destroyed the original building, and a second home was built in the same location in 1962-63. Mr. Polk was a Buffalo Soldier and this project will focus on predevelopment and renovations to convert this 60-year-old structure into a visitors’ center, and exhibit space for a future Buffalo Soldier Living History Site. (Item 18M of the Secretary’s Agenda); and
• A request to enter into a grant agreement for a $150,000 grant to the Board of Directors of The Salvation Army Lower Eastern Shore Renovations for Youth Clubs for the acquisition, planning, design, construction, repair, renovation, reconstruction, site improvement, and capital equipping of the Salvation Army facilities. There is no matching fund requirement for this grant (Item 2 of the Department of General Services’ Office of State Procurement Agenda).

Worcester County

• A request from the Department of Natural Resources to provide a $1,508,500 grant to the Worcester County Commissioners to construct a 1,100 linear foot living shoreline in the Isle of Wight Bay, Cape Isle of Wight, West Ocean City under DNR’s Resiliency through Restoration Initiative. This program was developed to address escalating risks to Maryland communities and public resources from extreme weather and climate-related events (Item 8 of the Secretary’s Agenda); and
• A request from the Maryland Historical Trust to approve a $67,000 grant to New Bethel United Methodist Church, Inc. under the African American Heritage Preservation Program to renovate the exterior of the New Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church (1020 Trappe Road, Berlin). Founded in 1855, New Bethel is the oldest African American Methodist congregation in Worcester County.  Rev. Charles Albert Tindley, known as the Godfather of gospel music, was a member of the church in boyhood, and attended when he would visit from Philadelphia in adulthood. The present church was built in 1905 in the Gothic Revival Style (Item 18J of the Secretary’s Agenda).