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Catonsville Armory community meetings planned as new stewards weigh future of long-vacant property

By: Jack Watson

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CATONSVILLE, Md. — The nonprofit now overseeing the former National Guard Armory on Mellor Avenue in Catonsville is moving forward with plans to gather community input on what comes next.

Southwest Visions, a 501(c)3 organization serving as steward of the Catonsville Armory, will host its first community engagement session on Nov. 19 at a location to be determined, with a second session likely scheduled for the second week of December.

"It's been fun. It's been entertaining at times. Everybody's got an idea of what they would like to see the building become. Um, right now we're just trying to figure out, can we use the building?" said Jay Dillow, executive director of Southwest Visions.

Dillow said civil, structural and environmental engineers have already surveyed the property, conducting testing and measurements. The results will provide cost projections and help determine whether the building can be rehabilitated or whether it would need to be demolished and rebuilt from the ground up.

"Part of that's actually going to be an analysis of, we know there's some environmental issues inside the building just because of the age of when it was constructed and what its use was, just like many armories around the state. So do we actually have the ability to remediate? We don't know that yet, it could be cost prohibitive, but maybe it's not," Dillow said.

Last summer, the state of Maryland considered using the site for what it described as a first-in-the-nation cannabis incubator to support local business owners in that industry.

A group of neighbors petitioned against the proposal, and the state backed off. The site has since transferred from state to county to Southwest Visions' control.

Dillow said the community response to the current process has been encouraging.

"All in all, it's been a positive reception from the community, and I think that's because now they feel like their voice is being heard," Dillow said.