Howard County has completed the purchase agreement for Camp Ilchester. In May, the Howard County Council approved the County Executive Calvin Ball’s proposal to include $6 million in the budget to acquire the 21-acre property from the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland.

Howard County intends to preserve Camp Ilchester as green space, keeping up to 105 housing units out of the development pipeline and utilizing the property to expand recreational program offerings to residents across the region. Potential uses of the camp could include sports programs, outdoor adventure camps, active aging activity and a nature center with nature-based educational programming.

The acquisition of Camp Ilchester will help advance the High School No. 14 project, which will be located at Troy Park, in Elkridge, following Ball’s announcement in October 2020. 

Under state law, the use of park land purchased with funding from the state’s Program Open Space fund for a non-park purpose requires a local jurisdiction to convert an equivalent acreage of land to park or open space. 

Pending approval by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the purchase of Camp Ilchester could provide several acres of land eligible to offset the conversion of the portions of Troy Park, in Elkridge purchased with Program Open Space funding for High School No. 14.