Here are the competing visions for Anne Arundel County’s Crownsville Hospital Memorial Park

As Anne Arundel County gears up to create a master plan for the future Crownsville Hospital Memorial Park, area residents are chiming in ahead of a draft release this fall.

Over the last year, the county asked residents what they’d like to see happen at the site. Some suggested an addiction recovery center, mental health resources and educational opportunities. Others asked for the dark history of the former mental institution to be a significant part of whatever is built.

Now, two years after the Maryland Board of Public Works transferred ownership of the property to Anne Arundel County, the first conceptual plans have been released for the reimagining of the 500-acre hospital complex and the more than 70 structures there. The proposed plans were unveiled July 11 at Rolling Knolls Elementary School in Annapolis.

“It’s just amazing to see that over the years, things have sort of dropped and fallen away, and that we’ve revived and are actually making an effort to do something about the history of the problems that existed,” said Diane Phillips LaGuerre, whose father was superintendent of the hospital.

LaGuerre, who grew up on the hospital grounds, wants to see facilities to meet the mental health and substance use challenges faced by residents today — a sentiment echoed by others at the meeting.

Mental health and wellness services are just some of the recommendations from the Crownsville Advisory Committee, which has been compiling suggestions from the public. Affordable housing, displays detailing Crownsville’s history and access to the cemetery on the property were among other recommendations from the group.

Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman, who wants to turn the site into a place of healing, said that while people have a variety of suggestions there is shared sentiment in them.

“When we talk about and think about Crownsville and we go there, we have this feeling that it’s something sacred,” he said. “And it’s something that can bring people together, it’s something about healing, it’s something about history, it’s something about nature — that is in all of these recommendations, so really exciting to see those.”

Reimagined open space

Beyond the main campus buildings on Crownsville Road, the hospital’s historic farmstead, fields and forested areas exist as open space. Suggestions for what to do with the land included athletic fields, an amphitheater and gardens, among others.

Potential new open space features could be organized around the site’s structures, said Brian Reetz, director of Design Collective’s landscape architecture studio. Art and sculptures influenced by the site’s history are another option.

The lawn behind the administrative building complex, for example, could become a gathering area with a stage. An amphitheater, playground and pond could be placed adjacent to it.

Recreational fields organized around the Campanella building, the hospital’s former recreation space, would also be part of the plans. One option for the area would remove the Meyer building, previously the largest of the patient buildings, to add tennis and pickleball courts, a track and parking.

Reactions to recreational suggestions were mixed, however, according to notes left on a board displaying a plan with the removed building. County resident Debbie Young spoke in favor of the track, saying it could be beneficial for injured or disabled residents who need a safe, flat surface to walk on.

Much of the open space at the site is along Farm Road, which leads to the proposed park and cemetery where more than 1,700 Crownsville patients are buried. Maintaining public access to the cemetery is “a strong part of the project’s narrative,” Reetz said.

Two options were presented for the park, both of which have a path to the cemetery, restorative environments and three accessible trail networks.

One option shown depicts the area if the existing wastewater storage and treatment ponds are kept, which would have a trail winding north to the forest’s edge. Ideally, Reetz said, if those ponds are removed, the area could be reclaimed as open space.

Repurposing existing structures

Located adjacent to Crownsville Road, the main building complex includes an administrative building, the Hugh Young Building, “B” building, “C” building and the nurses’ home. The “B” building was part of the original hospital complex. Expansion of the facility in the 1930s included the “C” building and the Hugh Young Building.

The administrative building could be integrated into a museum, as well as space for Bowie State University to use for research. Anne Arundel County and the state’s oldest Black university will work together on historic preservation, library and environmental sciences, and health and wellness services.

The “B” building could hold museum exhibits and a cafe, as well as additional classroom space for Bowie. The Hugh Young building could be used as a “day in the life” of a patient or staff member exhibit and a maker space.

While the Meyer building could be replaced by a track and other recreational spaces, if it’s maintained, the one-story, H-shaped structure could become an expansion site for new and existing programs.

One option depicts housing associated with Chrysalis House, a residential addiction treatment center for women that’s already located at the hospital complex. Another option proposes using the building for the treatment center and as a veteran and family clinic. A third option could split the space between beds for the women’s center and 24 affordable apartment units.

“It sets itself up well for reuse,” said Cecily Bedwell, a planner from Design Collective.

Though some residents supported housing, others either questioned whether infrastructure exists to support those units or opposed having residences in a memorial park space.

Adaptive reuse of all of these structures will require renovations, however, and efforts to restore the exteriors must comply with Maryland Historical Trust guidelines. The interiors also require extensive renovations.

A draft master plan for Crownsville Hospital Memorial Park is expected to be shown in September.