But the issue isn't so simple. The Reisterstown-Owings Mills-Glyndon Coordinating Council, an umbrella for area community groups, wants the facility to stay open, said its president Calvin Reter, not only for the sake of its residents but because its closing would raise the question of what happens to that piece of valuable land in Owings Mills.

Rosewood Center, a residential facility for the developmentally disabled, is operated by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Since the mid-1990s and the advent of community-based settings for this population, the department has been selling off pieces of the original 630-acre property.

Under 300 acres are still available for sale on the Rosewood campus with the main Rosewood Center campus accounting for 134 acres, according to John Hammond, spokesman for the health department. State officials and neighboring community groups have been vocal in their preference that the land be sold for institutional purposes. Buyers include Irvine Nature Science Center, Ruxton Country School, Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital (for a convalescent/nursing home), The Shoshana S. Cardin Jewish Community High School and Baltimore County (for a future public school).

Adding to the uncertainty is House Bill 970, sponsored by Del. James Hubbard (D-23A), of Prince George's County, to close Rosewood Center. At press time, only a brief description of the bill was available. However, Cristine Marchand is familiar with it. Ms. Marchand is executive director of ARC of Maryland, an advocacy group for the developing disabled that is in favor of Rosewood's closing. Ms. Marchand said the bill would require the state to develop a plan to close Rosewood over the next three years, by 2010. "The plan would include options for current Rosewood residents and retraining of the state employees who now work there," she said.

Ms. Marchand said that Mr. Hubbard's bill would "supersede" the health department in deciding on the facility's closure. Mr. Reter does not agree. It his understanding that the health department makes that decision.

"Mr. Hubbard can put in all the bills he wants but it's the department of health and mental hygiene, along with the governor and the Board of Public Works, that makes the decision. Mr. Hubbard may be trying to pull out the budget for Rosewood and then they'd be forced to close," said Mr. Reter.

Mr. Hammond, the health department spokesman, tended to agree with Mr. Reter. In closing any of its facilities, Mr. Hammond said, "it would require first, approval from the legislature; second, approval from the governor; and third, approval from the Board of Public Works."

Rick Abbruzzese, spokesman for Gov. Martin O'Malley, said that the governor was concerned about reports of the conditions at Rosewood. But Mr. Abbruzzese declined to speculate about a possible land sale, saying only that the governor would work with the Baltimore County delegation and county executive in any decision.

The future use of the Rosewood Center campus is one of the issues that will undoubtedly shape the debate as legislators consider Mr. Hubbard's bill. In the event the bill passes and is signed into law by Gov. Martin O'Malley, there is a whole process for selling off or, in the jargon, deacquisitioning, the land.

Health department officials would declare the site "surplus." Then the Maryland State Clearinghouse would announce its availability to other state agencies and to Baltimore County. If there was no interest on their parts, the land would go before the public works board to be sold at fair market value, said Elizabeth Barnard, director of the office of planning at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Besides the public works board, two legislative committees would get a chance to comment on the land deal. "It's very transparent. It's not an overnight process," said Dave Humphrey, spokesman for Maryland Department of General Services.

Few large tracts of land are left in Owings Mills and Rosewood Center would undoubtedly be considered valuable real estate. Sen. Bobby A. Zirkin (D-11th), of Baltimore County, has been active in the effort to acquire a 54-acre parcel for a future county public school at a reported cost of $2.8 million. Should the Rosewood Center land be sold, he said his preference is for schools, parks or other community uses.

But Mr. Zirkin isn't necessarily in favor of closing Rosewood. Big institutional settings are not the best places for court-committed juveniles, said Mr. Zirkin, who has introduced several bills to reform the state's juvenile justice system. The "forensic" population should not be mixed with other people with serious mental health needs, he said.

"I would love to see the forensic population moved out of Rosewood to a more appropriate setting," he said.

Mr. Zirkin said that some people with developmental disabilities need more intensive help than community-based group homes can provide. If the facility could be modernized, it may be premature to close it down, he said.

Rosewood Center's fate has long been controversial. In 2003, at the behest of the General Assembly's budget committees, the health department was asked to close one of four such institutions. Opened in 1897, Rosewood was the oldest and largest, and widely considered the most likely candidate. The other three institutions were Potomac in Hagerstown, Brandenburg in Cumberland and The Holly Center in Salisbury.

In 2004, the department issued its report on closures. The department deemed that Rosewood Center should remain open and, as appropriate, residents moved into community settings although no timeframe was given for that. The report further stated that Rosewood was the "best option" for closure, but that it was not financially worthwhile to do so that that time. At the time of the report, Rosewood Center had 209 residents and 631 full-time staff.

At a press conference in Annapolis earlier this month, the Maryland Disability Law Center released a new report on conditions at Rosewood Center, the state's largest institution for people with disabilities. In presenting its argument for closing Rosewood, Virginia Knowlton, the law center's executive director, said that the conditions of isolation found at Rosewood "shock the conscience."

The law center's report documents reports of staff using illegal physical restraints, residents being locked away in long-term seclusion, a deaf resident hospitalized without interpretive services, and other residents blocked from seeing family members or continuing school.

"We ask that Governor O'Malley and the state legislature develop and execute a plan to move these individuals into integrated settings where they can be safe while also developing physically, emotionally and intellectually," said Ms. Knowlton.

State health care authorities have cited the troubled institution twice in the last four months for failing to protect and provide adequate care to its patients. On Jan. 23, the Maryland Office of Health Care Quality imposed a 30-day ban on new admissions, saying the safety of residents was in "immediate jeopardy" and that staff should focus its full attention on correcting these problems.

At the press conference, disability advocates said the civil rights violations at the facility come at a time when Maryland just received new federal funds — a five year, $67-million grant -- to help move people out of institutions.

"We know for a fact that people live better lives in community-based settings and ironically, these settings are often less costly to taxpayers than maintaining this broken system at Rosewood," said Mr. Hubbard, who spoke at the press conference.

The cost of caring for individuals at Rosewood is more than $180,000 a year, which is double the cost of community-based care and could be used to help the 16,000 people waiting for community services in Maryland, according to disability groups at the press conference.