In the wake of two devastating flash floods in three years, Howard County last week unveiled its plan to tackle any future deluges before the same natural disaster happens again. The county’s $50 million blueprint entails demolishing as many as 19 low-lying historic buildings in order to widen existing channels for the Tiber River and streams running beneath the old town’s streets, and adding three water-retention facilities upstream and new tunnels to carry floodwaters away from Main Street.
County Executive Allan Kittleman said the changes would help protect the town at a press conferenceone week ago. “I wish we weren’t here,” he said solemnly. “But this is a change we need.”
A group of preservationists says that’s not true, however.
In a report published yesterday, Preservation Maryland criticized the county’s reliance on demolition as a flood-mitigation strategy, saying it “could come at an extremely significant cost to the economic well-being of the district” and could cause the town to lose its National Register of Historic Places designation.
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