Ownings Mills, MD (Map, News) - Gov. Martin O’Malley ordered a maligned state-run facility for people with developmental disabilities to be closed in the next 18 months and its 156 residents moved to community settings.

“This was a decision that was, quite frankly, very difficult if you walk down these halls and talk to these individuals,” he said Tuesday.

The governor’s announcement came after years of reports detailing abuse and neglect at the Rosewood Center in Owings Mills. The state banned admissions to the Baltimore County center three times during the past year as reports detailed bungled prescriptions, razor blades in the yard and stabbings.

The state will work to place each resident — some ordered to Rosewood by courts that found them not competent to stand trial — in other institutions or group homes, said Maryland Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene John Colmers.

An assessment found most of the facility’s residents can live in community settings.

Carol Fried, an advocate with ARC of Maryland, celebrated the decision, which she called overdue.

“People with developmental disabilities want rich lives and have friends and go bowling and be part of the day-to-day world,” Fried said.

But some family members of residents who have spent their entire lives in Rosewood said community settings might prove more dangerous.

Harry Yost, whose son, Larry, is a 46-year resident of Rosewood, said conditions in Rosewood have steadily improved, and the reports are grossly exaggerated.

“We had no say in the process,” Yost said. “Safety doesn’t seem to be a consideration.”

Yost said O’Malley met with family members before the announcement and agreed to meet again in 90 days.

The decision also angered the facility’s 500 employees, who O’Malley said will be transferred to other state jobs. Union president and Rosewood employee Barry Chapman said many of his co-workers blamed problems on the center’s court-ordered population.

The staff, he said, was never trained to deal with forensic patients.

The center, which dates to 1888 and once housed 3,700 residents, is on a 300-acre parcel of what is considered commercially attractive land. Some residents Tuesday said they fear the land will be sold to developers.

jmalarkey@baltimoreexaminer.com