A Short History of the WTNA,   by Richard Parsons

The event which energized the creation of the WTNA was the contract Harvey Meyerhoff had with Sheppard Pratt to buy what is now the Versailles Apartments property.  This was subject to Sheppard Pratt's sale of the right of way known as Towsontown Boulevard. Before that, the whole area had been Sheppard Pratt’s cattle farm.

Mr. Meyerhoff wanted to put up residence towers which would have loomed over the neighborhood. We tied him up with hearings for almost six years.  The first date of hearings was the day President John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas in November 1963 (we adjourned!) and things didn't conclude with the Versailles design as we see it today until about 1969. We were joined in this fight by Southland Hills and the property owners in that triangle which includes Villa Madrid.

I don't remember who the first president of WTNA was. I came on the board in 1965, and was president by about 1969. Before me there were Warren Bleinberger, who lived on Woodbine Aveneue, and Bud Weatherley, who also lived on Woodbine Avenue. Then there were, in order; Louis Davis, from Marwood; Eugene Cross, from Groom Drive, Duncan Cornell, Woodbine Avenue, and me. During Cornell's term they changed the bylaws to make the presidency two years instead of one, making me the first of the two year presidents. After me came Loren Jensen, Burnbrae Avenue, who served only one year; Pam Wallace, from Park Avenue, followed by Mary Ginn, from Horncrest, for the first of her two or three terms of service.

I was rather out of contact with the board for several years, being very tied up with the Greater Towson Council of Community Associations of which I was a founding member and third president. I was also vice president for two years and served three two year terms over the years as recording secretary of that organization. I spent a lot of time in hearings! Also, in the late 1970's, I was the third or fourth chairman of the Towson Fourth of July Parade after the Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce had stopped sponsoring it. In my year the sponsorship was that of the Greater Towson Council of Community Associations.

There were a number of presidents in the 1970's and 1980's whose dates of tenure I don't know or remember. Mary Ginn, the only person who could remember, has since passed away. Those that I do remember include: Calvin Kobsa, Charles Street Avenue, Peter George, Allegheny Avenue, Eugene Cloud, (who lived where Nancy Bowen now lives), Allegheny Avenue, Frank Uebersax and Joy Biddison, both on Allegheny Avenue; John Pyle, for at least two, two year terms; Don Wright, for at least two, two year terms, and me, now concluding the final few months of my third term.

We started having annual picnics about the mid 1960's, the first two being on the "L" shaped lot off Allegheny Avenue where Sieverts recently built that new house. We ran an extension cord from someone's house for power for one of the grills; a financial whiz from Black and Decker or McCormicks (I forget which) who lived on Groom Drive named Art Hamil figured out to the dime how many buns, hot dogs, burgers, etc, we would need. He was incredible. For two or three years a sort of picnic was held in Mary Ginn's back yard on Horncrest but then things just sort of petered out. The picnics lapsed until Amy Bateman and Alicia Carson valiantly put it all together again in the 1990's at Bykota house.

Mical Wilmoth, who previously lived on Woodbine Avenue was instrumental in organizing the annual Woodbine Avenue flea market. Mary Ginn, as a fund raiser, had us taking out a booth at the Towsontown Spring Festival for a number of years (we sold plants we got at a discount from Kingsdene Nurseries on York Road, Sparks). She also organized some dinner theater parties as a fund raising mechanism. John Pyle got us started with a quality newsletter, and with the greatly needed and much anticipated annual clean-up we hold on the Bykota House parking pad.

We have been involved in a number of zoning litigations over the years--some extremely expensive. We joined with Southland Hills to fight the original proposal for the development of Hampshire Woods high rise residence towers like the Penthouse on Allegheny Avenue. It took several years at huge expense to shoot that one down. Then Towson Presyterian Church built an assisted living home where their old manse had been. Southland Hills and West Towson fought that unsuccessfully.

Another litigation which was costly was that against oversized illuminated and cluttered signs proposed the St, Joseph hospital's national ownership. We supported the legal costs to the tune of over $1,800, and I am glad we did. Had St. Joseph, as a non profit organization succeeded in this, we would have similar signs all over the county. We had only token input into the Bykota House sign on Joppa Road. Unfortunately the County doesn't have to follow its own laws and rules. The St. Joseph money was extremely well spent I was given the job of raising the rest of the money for the attorney's fee from the other associations in the Greater Towson Council.

About the time I joined the board, WTNA and Southland Hills were coming off a disagreement over the erection of a high rise building on Chesapeake Avenue, and the variances for parking. There is a brick house to the west of the Chesapeake Building where WTNA joined Southland Hills in objection when Southland Hills fought a Towson University frat house rental situation there. The owner was a Towson lawyer. Ultimately he sold and the property was restored.

About three or four years ago, Don Wright joined us with Southland Hills to fight Sprint's use of the Mt Moriah AF & AM lodge on Chesapeake as a home for a 75ft cell tower. We maneuvered this one to the point that Sprint abandoned Mt. Moriah and entered into an arrangement with the Presbyterian Home of Maryland to put an antenna on its roof, (an antenna, NOT a tower).

We used to have a light at the intersection of Boyce Avenue, Charles Street Avenue and West Chesapeake avenue. To our intense aggravation, and with virtually no prior input from the community, the department of Public Works took it out as a money saver and put in four way stop signs. Subsequently a couple proceeding east off Boyce onto Chesapeake were broad sided by a car coming down Charles Street Avenue and killed.

I was not involved in the negotiations in the early 1970's for the subdivision off Woodbine Avenue known as Barranco Court. Dr. Albert Zapata had bought the seven acre John Horn tract from the Dudderears (who lived on Horncrest). The excavated dirt from the site of the County Courts Building was used as fill for his tract which had significant hills and valleys. Part of the deal with the county giving its development approval was that some fifteen or twenty feet of frontage on Chesapeake Avenue was deeded to the County for a mythical road widening in the future. The County Public Works is supposed to maintain this frontage.

Our longest lasting fight, stretching one way or another over almost 18 years, was over the use of 516 Allegheny Avenue, where Dianne Gartner now lives. Basically our battle which went through the Zoning Commissioner three or four times, the District Court and the Circuit Court, revolved around non residential uses to which the house was put. I handled the last fight, involving a Zoning Commissioner hearing which lasted almost fifteen hours over several days. The house was sold to Mrs. Gartner from Wilmington, who fixed it up beautifully. The remaining two lots to the east were then subdivide and two new houses built which were sold. John Pyle and Don Wright had also been involved with earlier litigations.

Our involvement with our neighborhood park started with Joy Biddison and Margo Rogers who lives on Park Avenue. Mrs. Rogers and her committee were responsible for the first purchases of new equipment we made for the park. John Pyle was also closely involved with this. Louise Teubner-Rhodes’s creative involvement with the park's beautification started some years after we got started on the equipment purchases.

Over the years we have tried various ways to involve families. We used to have joint Halloween parties with Southland Hills at the Towson Presbyterian Church. WTNA pulled out after some years when it didn't seem to be attracting that many of our WTNA kids. More recently Amy Bateman has had great success with family oriented bowling parties, Christmas decoration contests and the like. Individual streets in our community still sponsor safe activities for children on Halloween.

Over the years we have closely interfaced with elected officials-some with more success than others. Under Doug Riley, 1990-1998 we got the ROA district between Bosley Avenue and Highland Avenue established as a residence appearing commercial buffer between the outright business district and the residential area. We also achieved some serious down zoning. Around 1986 Mary Ginn got Paul Hampshire's old house on Highland which was zoned D.R. 16 (!) down zoned to D.R. 5.5. I finished the job in 1998 by getting Doug Riley to down zone the whole of Highland Avenue from Allegheny to Chesapeake, and the properties on Allegheny Avenue from the Y entrance to Highland Avenue, and those on Chesapeake from the Y entrance to Highland Avenue, to D.R.3.5. Another major triumph, some 25 years in the wings waiting, was when Don Wright got the Robert Barrett House on Charles Street Avenue, a deteriorated condemned wreck, razed by County order.

As a result of the Korotki fights, we were able to work with Councilman Doug Riley in the development of the language which amended the existing Home Office Legislation; Councilman Wayne Skinner in 1999, added an amendment which tightened it even further. We did the whole county a favor. John Pyle, Mary Laura Kalista and Mical Wilmoth had been active in combating Korotki.

Of course, our biggest defeat was the jail. The cards had been cleverly stacked against us on that one, extreme political influence prevailed, and the timing worked out so cleverly that we didn't have a chance.

Over the years, because we have had responsible board members who did their homework and didn't needlessly waste the time of bureaucrats or elected officials we have garnered a great deal of respect and cooperation.