New Town is a planned community in Owings Mills. Baltimore Magazine reports that the area was marked as a growth area in 1975, and the public schools New Town Elementary and New Town High School show that the name is in everyday local use. If water is spreading through your New Town home, this page explains the steps that matter most.
We found no official boundary map for New Town, so we describe it only as a planned community inside Owings Mills and do not draw lines around it. If you are not sure your address counts as New Town, the call is the same. Say where the water is and where it started.
How the community came about
The New Town plan dates to the 1970s, and the Metro line opened in July 1987. In the same part of Owings Mills, Baltimore Magazine describes a planned mini-village called Lakeside, meant to have 5,500 homes around a manmade lake, with townhomes built in the 1980s alongside the old Owings Mills mall.
The lake was never built. The proposed dam on Red Run was abandoned in 1992 after the Army Corps objected on environmental grounds. Attached housing is the main reason water damage in this kind of community has its own pattern.
Attached housing and what it means for leaks
A real estate guide for the wider Owings Mills area says townhouses are the most common home type, with newer townhome and apartment building over roughly the past decade and a median build year of 1995. Those figures describe all of Owings Mills and not New Town alone, so treat them as background only.
What matters for restoration is how attached homes share structure. Water that starts in one unit can follow pipes, floor joists and wall cavities into the next, so a leak you can see may be only part of the wet area.
Where leaks usually start in a townhome or condo
The common sources are the same in every attached building.
- A washing machine hose or dishwasher supply line
- A water heater tank or its relief line
- A bathroom supply line or a toilet connection
- An air conditioning drain line
- A pipe in a wall shared with a neighbor
We do not know how often each of these happens in New Town and we do not claim a ranking. They are the places to check first when you find a wet floor.
First steps before anyone starts cleanup
Safety first
Keep people and pets away from water that may touch outlets, power strips or appliances. Do not stand in water to reach a breaker panel. Shut off the water at the fixture valve or the main only when you can reach it safely.
If you smell gas or see sparks, leave and call 911. If the water might be sewage, stay out of it and wait for professional help.
Tell the right people early
In a community with an association, report the leak to the property manager or board as well as your insurer. A leak that began in a neighboring unit may involve their policy, your policy and the association policy, and the order of those calls can affect the paperwork.
Photograph the damage before moving anything. Note the time you found the water and what you did to stop it.
Water spreading through your home?
Call and describe where it started.
Extraction and drying in an attached home
Crews begin by finding which materials are wet, using moisture meters and thermal imaging. Standing water comes out first, as described on our water extraction page. Air movers and dehumidifiers then dry floors, walls and ceilings while daily readings show progress, as our structural drying page explains.
In attached homes, drying may need to reach the adjoining unit. The neighbor must agree to access, which is one more reason to involve the property manager early. Carpet and pad, drywall and baseboards are checked and either dried in place or removed.
Insurance records
Photos, moisture readings and a written scope can help document what happened. Whether the loss is covered depends on the cause of the damage and your policy, so ask your insurer. The Maryland Insurance Administration says sudden damage such as a burst pipe is generally covered for the water damage while the pipe repair is not, and that standard homeowners policies generally do not cover flood.
Ask whether your association carries a master policy and what it covers. We cannot decide coverage and we do not promise approval of any claim.
Rain, creeks and flood questions
Red Run crosses Lakeside Boulevard in this part of Owings Mills, according to the road article on Wikipedia, so streams are part of the local surroundings. Baltimore County says flooding can occur from heavy rainfall, snowmelt or the overflow of bodies of water, and asks residents to report flooding by calling 311 or using the BaltCoGo app.
Neighborhood-specific FEMA flood-zone status not verified for New Town. To check your own address, use the FEMA Flood Map Service Center. Our flood damage cleanup page explains how flood water differs from a plumbing leak.
New Town on the map
Questions from New Town residents
Close the water valve if it is safe to reach it, then call for help with the water and tell your property manager or association. Notify your insurer and keep photos.
Yes, water can move through shared walls, floors and ceilings. Who pays depends on the cause and on each policy, so document your damage and ask your insurer.
We did not verify a flood-zone status for New Town. Check your address with the FEMA Flood Map Service Center, and remember that a map zone does not tell you whether a plumbing leak can happen.
We found no documented neighborhood flood event for New Town. Baltimore County has seen flash flooding elsewhere in Owings Mills, such as the July 2017 storm near Hammershire Road, but we do not apply that history to this community.
Dated photos, a list of damaged items, moisture readings from the drying crew and the written scope of work. Your insurer decides coverage.
Water still spreading?
Describe the water at your New Town address and get safety steps right away.