Elkridge residents are livid after a recent county zoning move cleared the way for a Sheetz-branded gas station, convenience store, and car wash on land that includes the front of Rosa Bonheur Memorial Park, a small but storied pet cemetery. Volunteers and plot owners say the site holds both pet and human graves dating back to the 1930s and argue they were not properly notified before the rezoning advanced.
According to CBS Baltimore, the Howard County Zoning Board approved the developer’s plans last week, sparking protests at public meetings. The petition asked the board to reclassify parcels along Washington Boulevard so that a motor-vehicle fueling facility, convenience store, and car wash could be built.
County technical documents show the petition (ZB‑1130M) seeks to rezone roughly 3.91 acres from TOD to B‑2 and includes a site plan for fuel pumps, a 6,200‑square‑foot convenience store, and a 5,000‑square‑foot car wash. The staff report indicates about 2.06 acres of the memorial park fall within the rezoning area, while the petitioner says the larger interior of the cemetery would be preserved and encumbered by restrictive covenants, according to Howard County's technical report.
Rosa Bonheur has a long, quirky local history. The burial ground dates to the 1930s and over the decades became known for celebrity animals and, in some plots, human burials. Last September, after a packed hearing, the county Planning Board voted to recommend denial of the proposal and sent the petition to the Zoning Board for further review, according to The Baltimore Banner.
Pet owners and Rosa Bonheur volunteers told CBS Baltimore they simply want the graves left alone. "To violate that trust in a cemetery is to undermine what makes us human," said Candy Warden, the Rosa Bonheur Society president. Plot owners said they fear remains will be disturbed or moved without clear answers.
What the developer says
The petitioner has argued that the parcels were mis-zoned in the 2013 comprehensive map and that redevelopment along Route 1 would address blight while preserving the park's interior. County filings say the company proposed reconstructing the stone entrance, creating a mausoleum to reinter any disturbed remains, and placing protective covenants on the preserved acreage, per Howard County's technical report.
How the process played out
The rezoning and site plan went through months of public testimony, technical reviews, advisory panel input, and a multi-day hearing that both supporters and opponents described as grueling. WMAR‑2 News reported that the hearings ran for hours and that the hearing examiner was tasked with compiling a report for the Zoning Board's decision.
Legal questions
Maryland tightly regulates disinterment: a disinterment and reinterment permit must be issued by a local health department or the Maryland Department of Health, only with written authorization from the local State’s Attorney, under state regulations, according to Maryland disinterment rules (COMAR). Testimony filed with state lawmakers shows the Howard County State's Attorney authorized disinterments at Rosa Bonheur in 2023, a move volunteers say happened without adequate notice to next of kin, per Maryland General Assembly testimony.
What's next
Neighbors and the Rosa Bonheur Society say they will keep pressing the county for stronger protections, and county staff notes that further site-plan, cemetery-boundary, and design reviews would still be required before any construction could begin. Even with zoning approval in hand, technical conditions, preservation covenants, and additional reviews will shape any final proposal.
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