Duvall Farm

The Duvall Farm is a farm located in North Laurel, Howard County, Maryland, now the site of Coastal Sunbelt Produce.

Duvall Farm
Location of Duvall Farm in Maryland
LocationLaurel, Maryland
Coordinates39°06′35″N 76°49′46″W
AreaLaurel
BuiltEarly 19th century
Architectural style(s)Wood Frame

The Duvall Farm is a historic farm worked by descendants of one of Maryland's earliest settlers, Mareen Duvall (1625–1699).[1][2] The Duvall farm is situated on Whiskey Bottom Road, a historic path that once linked Mareen Duvall's Davidsonville plantation to other family plantations formed as settlers moved westward.[3] Martenet's 1860 Map of Howard County Maryland shows the farm along the crossroads of Route One, where George Washington once travelled. Robert L. Duvall and his wife Margret owned the property against the B&O tracks giving it the name "Elm Ridge".[4] The site was the low point where barrels of Maryland Rye Whiskey would be delivered from nearby distilleries to load on trains, giving it the name "Whiskey Bottom".[5] In 1914, a freight train struck the barn co-owned by Dr. Warfield and Duvall containing 6000lb of tobacco.[6]

In 1991, a Laurel man was charged with killing and setting his girlfriend Cathy May Baier on fire next to the race track, which resulted in a brush fire.[7]

In April 2013 the Duvall Farm was burned from large brush fires that were considered connected to arson on the Laurel Fuel and Oil Company. Fire investigators ordered the house demolished rather than stabilize the historic structure.[8][9]

The farm is adjacent to Laurel Park, a historic race track in bankruptcy following a decade long initiative to legalize slot gambling at tracks and rezoned for high density "transit-oriented development" under growth policies of Parris Glendening. The Duvall agricultural farm was rezoned for Transit Oriented Development in anticipation of an unfunded rail stop adjacent to the already existing stop servicing Laurel Park requested by Ken Ulman, whose father is on the Maryland Racing Commission.[10]

In 2014, Ulman provided a "development fast track" to relocate Coastal Sunbelt's facilities from Savage, Maryland. The Transit Oriented Development zoning was rapidly amended to include light industrial uses in January 2014. Since spot zoning for the benefit of a single entity is illegal, the zoning law also included a provision to expedite a former planning and zoning director's Joseph Rutter's housing development project around the Rosa Bonheur Memorial Park Cemetery.[11][12] Ulman was quoted in a newspaper saying "I think this was the fastest rezoning in Howard County history, because this about job creation. We had to get it done,". Coastal Sunbelt Produce was offered $1 million in loans and $150,000 in Howard County tax credits to relocate to a 240,000-square-foot Preston Scheffenacker Properties facility built on the Duvall Farm with a 99-year lease.[13] The new facility covering the majority of the 33-acre site had a groundbreaking on August 18 with Anthony G. Brown attending.[14] The 900-employee Coastal Sunbelt operation claims it will add 400 new jobs to meet the terms of its state loan.[15]

See also

References
  1. The founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland. 1904. p. 51.
  2. Joshua Dorsey Warfield. The founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland.
  3. "Duvall Mill Historic District" (PDF). Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  4. William Grover Cook (1976). Montpelier & the Snowden family. p. 51.
  5. Patrick Skene Catling (7 December 1950). "Whiskey Bottom In Ferment, But Road Is Patuxent Still". The Baltimore Sun.
  6. Louise Vest (13 August 2014). "Struck by a Freight Train' History Matters". The Baltimore Sun.
  7. "Body found In Laurel". The Washington Post. 20 January 1991.
  8. "Md. Abandoned House, Brush Fire Under Investigation". WUSA. April 15, 2013. Archived from the original on April 27, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
  9. Melanie Dzwonchyk (12 March 2013). "Laurel Fuel Oil open for business after March 6 fire Cause of fire still not determined, owner said". The Baltimore Sun.
  10. Amanda Yeager (18 August 2014). "Coastal Sunbelt breaks ground on North Laurel site". The Baltimore Sun.
  11. Amanda Yeager (29 January 2014). "Zoning change would help Coastal Sunbelt stay in Howard County". The Baltimore Sun.
  12. Amanda Yeager (5 February 2016). "Council approves zoning change to help business stay in Howard". The Baltimore Sun.
  13. "Coastal Sunbelt Produce to get $1M state loan for new Howard County facility". Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  14. "The Coastal Companies Expanding Into New Distribution & Processing Center". Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  15. Jamie Smith Hopkins (18 August 2014). "Maryland sees one of nation's largest job declines in July". The Baltimore Sun.
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