The Baltimore Country Club has a “financial and physical interest” in the city of Baltimore, according to a fact sheet available to members.
Embroiled in a community controversy over the rezoning of 32 acres it owns in Roland Park, the 118-year-old club has prepared a list of statistics showing the impact it has on the city.
In a letter this week, General Manager Michael Stott raised the prospect that the club may move out of the city if it doesn’t receive support from elected officials. The club already has a campus in Lutherville, known as Five Farms.
“Jobs will be lost if BCC leaves the City of Baltimore,” Stott said in his September 28 letter.
Here are statistics showing some of the impact the club has on the city, according to the club.
In 2015, BCC paid $111,213 in personal property and real estate taxes to the City of Baltimore.
84 of its current 365 employees are Baltimore City residents, earning $1,688,634 in taxable wages in 2015.
Almost 28 percent (885 out of 3,209) of the BCC members are Baltimore City residents.
BCC’s lender requires the Roland Park property and “the value of such” to be used as collateral to secure any future borrowing.
BCC has made $1,833,847 in capital investments in the Roland Park Clubhouse and property in the last 36 months with at least another $250,000 scheduled for January and February of 2017.
BCC has plowed Club Road in Roland Park after snow storms; hosted a luncheon and golf tournament for the Baltimore City police and fire departments at its Five Farms property and provided Thanksgiving dinner for employees working at the Roland Park fire station on Thanksgiving for the past 11 years.
The club also has compiled a list of 18 of its “most recent charitable endeavors.”
Events and beneficiaries include: the Corporate Fun Run for the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center; the Kennedy Krieger Roar for Autism and the Kennedy Krieger Festival of Trees; the Helping Hands Foundation, the Young Life Baltimore Urban Mentoring Program; the ALS Association’s Ice Bucket Challenge, the Baltimore Orchard Project, the Hospice of the Chesapeake and the Mercy Foot & Ankle Run to Remember, among others.
BCC is much more community-minded than the NIMBY opposition.
Hard to argue with your statement! Plus, it’s fun to be able to use the word NIMBY!!!