Howard County residents upset after gas station development approved on cemetery site

Some residents in Howard County are pushing back against plans that would turn part of a cemetery into a gas station.

The Rosa Bonheur Memorial Park in Elkridge, Maryland, dates back to 1935. It is a historic pet cemetery, but it also has human remains buried there.

Last week, the Howard County Zoning Board approved a developer's plans to build a Sheetz gas station on part of the property.

"Our cemeteries are what make us human; they portray how people want to take care of their dead, how they can be at peace with themselves from such a severe loss," said Candy Warden, the President of the Rosa Bonheur Society. "To violate that trust in a cemetery is to undermine what makes us human."

Long battle to stop development at cemetery

Elkridge residents have been fighting for months to stop the development at Rosa Bonheur Memorial Park.

In September 2025, Corridor Square LLC asked the Howard County Zoning Board to rezone nearly four acres of land along Route 1, primarily in and around Rosa Bonheur Memorial Park.

With the rezoning approval, the developer has plans to build a Sheetz gas station, convenience store, and car wash.

Corridor Square LLC contends that the property was improperly zoned in 2013, and the development plans are "not disturbing the majority of the park."

But Elkridge residents filled the public meeting to oppose the development.

Among the most vocal were members of the Rosa Bonheur Society, a group that has maintained and preserved the cemetery since 2007.

Pet owners told CBS News Baltimore that they just want their buried pets to be undisturbed.

"I just want it saved, for myself, for my doggies that I love a lot," said Howard County resident Milda Sermuksnis. "Also, for people who have their animals there."