Paving Perryman Peninsula

 When William Donald Schaefer was Governor he wanted to empower the State to override local government zoning it was necessary to keep development out of non suitable areas. His successor Parris Glendening called it Smart Growth  but neither was able to give the State the power  to override local zoning. What passed were "7 visions" and the Economic Growth, Resource Protection and Planning Act of 1992. Local government stayed in charge and the State was only allowed to "guide" development with planning assistance materials and by judiciously limiting its own investments to suitable areas.

From the Protect Perryman website

Now 30 years later, we know that the voluntary approach was not especially effective. A blatant example how parochial local zoning can be in conflict with those protective visions is Perryman. Imagine a peninsula surrounded on three sides by the waters of the Bush River and the Chesapeake Bay that has been in large part taken by Aberdeen Proving Ground,  that has a rich agricultural history and equally rich soils and forests. 

And then imagine a company that amasses 711 acres of such picturesque lands to build five giant warehouses of over one million square feet each in the middle of this still largely rural paradise. Just to get the picture: These 5.2 million square feet of flat roofed warehouses alone seal 114 acres of land. Add loading docks, driveways and parking spaces for 6000 tractor trailers and cars and almost all 7,000 acres of land will be affected, not to say ruined. Anybody who has seen warehouses from above, say,approaching BWI in a plane knows how charming the are.

Maryland's largest warehouses: The last crop

The development would forever seal the soil, and create an urban heat island that is more than 1/3 the land area of Bel Air, where Harford County's government is seated. According to the project engineer, 10% of the 711 acres are in the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area, Designated as "Limited Development Area", and "Resource Conservation Area", nearly a full third is located in the Water Source Protection District of the Perryman well field and 116 acres are forest with 115 specimen trees.  (attempts are made to keep some trees between the warehouses).

The county council voted recently 7:0 to put a moratorium on the development but the Republican Executive coolly vetoed the unanimous council vote and the council then cut tail and didn't override the veto. There is probably hardly a planner or regular Marylander who thinks that paving this much open space on low-wage low-workforce warehouses with their ensuing truck congestion, air and water pollution and massive amounts of dirty run-off is a really splendid idea or that the Perryman peninsula is the best place to build warehouses, even if they are in high demand. Especially since Perryman has a comparatively higher segment of black residents (10% above County average). But this isn't what matters here. Instead, it is all about private property rights, zoning and a short-lived windfall on taxes.  What also matters is jurisdictional competition. Harford County has more residents than businesses. Baltimore County with its about 4000 acres of brownfields at what used to be Sparrows Point and its re-use of that polluted land for warehouses with excellent highway connections is stimulating a competing jurisdiction.Trying to dig off the water "upstream" on I-95 in the fashion how Ethiopia cuts off Nile water going to Egypt apparently a temptation. 

1996 land use plan: Mostly "light industrial"

Ok, admittedly, everyone ordering stuff online or buying it in big box stores is ultimately responsible for the inordinate demand on warehouse space. Chesapeake Real Estate Group (CREG) and its principal, Jim Lighthizer is just offering what the market wants. His business does so in Harford County, in Baltimore County, in Anne Arundel County and elsewhere, often on land that was previously undeveloped, at times even on a brownfield. Suitable land for 1 million square foot warehouses isn't exactly in ample supply. On Perryman he is eyeing land that is zoned "light industrial" and a declared Enterprise Zone. Forest stand delineation plans, site plans and traffic impact studies have been already prepared and generally accepted by the County. 

CREG still has to sign the contract for the land with the Mitchell family, a farm business in Perryman with a long and proud history going back over more than a 100 years, to a time before the 69,000 acre Proving Ground began gobbling up farmland in 1917. Mitchell Brothers included first tomato canning and later award winning corn production and canning as well as a factory for farm equipment. In 1994, when Schaefer's Growth Act  became law, the family still farmed over 2000 acres, some on leased land.  In 1996 the County converted the land from agricultural (1982) and residential (1989)  to "light industrial" in its County Master Land Use Plan.

Mitchell's corn: Father and son
(Harford County Historic Society undated)

In many ways, the Mitchell family traces the story of much of Maryland's open spaces: The last crop is development. The Mitchells started this process already over 20 years ago when they sold a swath of land to Rite Aid which constructed a giant warehouse on farmland, a thorn in the eye of residents ever since. But can the Mitchells or James Lighthizer be blamed for doing what has been going on for decades on land that has been envisioned for commercial use since the 1950s?  This is where County goals and larger picture State or national environmental goals collide. Former Governor O'Malley used to observe that since 1972 Maryland has developed more land that it had developed  in its entire history up to 1972.  Is now the time to put a stop to this land consumption? Well, many Perryman residents sure think so.

Seeing that neither the County Executive nor the council nor the current Governor would help them fend off the giant development  concerned Perryman residents filed a lawsuit this week, a desperate attempt of stopping the warehouses through the courts. The arguments they put forth involve mostly the insufficiency of the single "rural" exit road to carry the expected  truck and passenger vehicle traffic without jeopardizing existing residents. They also claim a "private nuisance because it is an intentional
and unreasonable legal cause of a substantial interference and invasion to Plaintiffs' interests in the use and enjoyment of their land." The plaintiffs further argue that zoning is supposed to protect the health and welfare of residents and that a "freight terminal" should not be allowed under the zoning category "light industrial". (The traffic impact study predicts 125 trucks per hour for the morning "peak" hour and 172 trucks in the pm peak in addition to 291 and 400 cars, respectively). The suit filed in the Anne Arundel Circuit Court (the business seat of CREG) seeks "a preliminary injunction and permanent injunctive relief to prevent a nuisance and private nuisance that the Freight Terminal will indisputably cause". The suit names the Mitchell business, CREG, the project engineer, and Harford County as defendants. The suit does not go into the details of the traffic impact study, the forest delineation or any other engineered components that were submitted to the County.

Anti warehouse protest (Sun photo 2021)

This Court’s intervention is required to prevent the pollution, destruction, and substantial and unreasonable impairment of the air, water, and other natural and civic resources of the Perryman Peninsula. (from the complaint)

A December community meeting with some 300 irate Perryman residents opposed to the development yielded those opposing statements as the BBJ reported. 

"I am begging you to listen to the community. We hate this plan. We don't want it." (Perryman resident)

"We have been in touch with the entire county administration. Every single one said this is exactly what the property is zoned for and exactly what we wanted. We’ve been waiting for this and we like it. This is exactly what we want." (CREG CEO Lighhizer)

Both sides have their webpages. (Perryman Improvement  and Protect Perryman). Even the County has a designated space for the project, right next to the County's Green Infrastructure Plan. The protectors fight an uphill battle given that the dispute over Perryman's warehouse zoning goes back decades in which Harford County government never budged on its ill advised warehouse zoning, no matter how many County residents had different ideas and engaged in a then popular "visual preference" planning process in which they envisioned a concept which bifurcated the non Proving Ground part of the peninsula along the rail line with protected farmland, "mixed use" development on one side and warehouses on the other. The ten Executive Harkins envisioned technology to come: 

Already existing warehouse on Perryman (Archplan 2002)

"We have the potential, with Aberdeen Proving Ground and the center of technology it has become, to be another Patuxent Naval Air Station," (James Harkins, Harford County Executive in 1991)

At that time statements from MDOT indicated that the State would not fund the necessary highway improvements. I toured the peninsula in 2002 in an effort to support then Harford Planning Director Kocy in working out details for a vision residents at worked out a year earlier in a year long process. But the large community based planning effort of 2001 went nowhere and the proposed warehouse plan is as far from Harkin's technology park dream as the proposed tree remnants between the warehouses are from pristine forests.

Google satellite of Perryman peninsula: Not exactly next to I-95

One would expect that two decades of learning about climate change, traffic congestion, Chesapeake water quality issues and ongoing regional air quality problems combined with environmental justice would have taught Harford County planners a lesson. In the year 2022 everyone knows with renewed urgency, how important it is to keep fertile soils form being sealed, how soil captures carbon, recharges groundwater and helps keeping some food production local keeping local farmers farming. But no, the County administration stick to its age old land use designations. Warehouses are a hotter commodity than ever and so they are willingly sacrificing one of the best landscapes they have to offer, come hell or high water. (Both are pretty much ensured).

Can a court make the Titanic turn? Can a court argue that environmental stewardship can trump zoning? That thousands of citizens should be able to have a voice in addition to private property owners? That the common good can override private interest? That private land ownership has  not only rights but also responsibilities.

Scenic Perryman: (ArchPlan 2002)

"There is more than a mere prayer for declaratory relief in the complaint" the complaint states in the declaratory section. Miracles can happen, but they are usually overruled in the next higher court. But once in a while, the environment wins, for example when prolonged court battles killed the Keystone pipeline project. But don't hold your breath. Landscapes, trees and soils still don't have a lobby, even in Maryland, a state that prides itself of its "smart growth" and environmental record. 

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Port Covington under new leadership: What's next?

When the current Port Covington developer  Marc Weller with Sagamore Development steps down and two new national developers take his space, its big news. But is it good news?

The Baltimore SUN  took cues straight from Sagamore's press release and made it sound as if the two new firms will "join" Weller/Sagamore:

"Two developers of high-profile urban projects in major U.S. cities have joined Sagamore Ventures’ effort to create a mini-city in South Baltimore’s Port Covington and will lead the next phase of development".(Baltimore SUN May 10, 22)

But the BBJ 's take a bit later, was far more explosive. Port Covington master developer Weller will no longer lead the 235-acre project, in fact, he will not be part of the team at all. He will even be moving his headquarters out of Baltimore.

Current state of construction "Chapter One" (SUN photo)

 "The company will be replaced this month by MAG Partners and MacFarlane Partners, a team of national developers and investors, who will launch an immediate marketing and leasing campaign for the five office, retail and residential buildings now under construction at the South Baltimore site". (BBJ 5-10-22)

Goldman Sachs, financial partner on the development team will remain. Goldman asset management director Michael Lohr was quoted in the press release:

“The growing development team reflects both our ambition for Port Covington and commitment to delivering a world-class project that will drive renewed community investment and revitalize South Baltimore’s waterfront”

The Weller Development website still lists his company as the master developer for Port Covington and Weller reportedly will stay involved with finishing the current construction. Weller Development was founded around Port Covington. Most of the company's deals are related to the Plank brothers Kevin and Scott. Weller projects include the Sagamore Pendry Baltimore hotel, Sagamore Spirit Distillery, Rye Street Tavern, City Garage, the management of the Reston National golf course in Northern Virginia and 3150 M Street NW building in Washington's Georgetown. 

A new set of partners: Plank, Gilmartin, MacFarlane (Ryb pictures)

Weller's stake at Port Covington is significant: The "Chapter 1B" complex currently under construction entails  more than 1.1 million square feet of development with 586,000 square feet of residential, 440,000 square feet of office,116,000 square feet of retail, over 1,000 parking spaces, and ten acres of parks and public space. 

For this phase  Weller has drawn the first tranche of $148 million  from the city tax increment financing (TIF) bonds in 2019. The existing financial terms will remain in place according to sources in the development team. The new partners see themselves as additional direct investors and will initially focus on finding tenants for the constructed buildings. 

The new situation is likely to revive the discussion about the redevelopment of Port Covington ("we build it together") which has been a hotly debated topic for at least 7 years since then Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank announced his plans to move to Port Covington and build "global headquarters" there that would be part of an entire new town.

"It will be one of the most incredible places to work, to live and to play," Plank said in an interview at his office overlooking the Inner Harbor. "It would feel like an old port city, and the ability for us to go from the ground up to do that will be just incredible." (Kevin Plank in March 2015)

Since then a lot has happened. While the City's giant tax increment financing bill succeeded against some vehement opposition, Under Armour's incredible growth streak came to an end amidst accusations that the company's growth had been inflated. Still, the community benefits agreements with six surrounding communities (SB 7) was in effect, it was honored and the development team provided resources for improvements. The overall development area was divided into the 50 acre Under Armour headquarters territory and the remaining 235 acres of Port Covington with Weller/Sagamore at the helm. The developers like to see these as separate even though Kevin Plank cleared used to have a stake in both. Weller plowed forward, first with a competitive entry into the "who gets Amazon" sweepstakes that Baltimore lost badly. Then with "Chapter 1B" envisioned as the seed for "Cybertown", a cluster of know-how in cyber security, fueled by the global risks of hacking and the local presence of the nearby NSA. That bubble burst as well, when the lead cyber tenant did renounce his move to Port Covington.

Then the global pandemic struck and made office space a surplus commodity. To this day it is unclear if the bulk of employees will ever return to their cubicles. Still,  Weller continued with mixed use buildings dubbed "Chapter 1 B" on a speculative basis, especially the significant amount of office space posing quite a risk.  Optimistic outlooks were regularly published. However, to this day, shortly before the buildings are slated to open, apparently no offices have been leased.

Another big change in Port Covington was that Plank himself  shrunk his headquarters plans beyond recognition. What had been giant gateway signature towers along I-95 became a suburban agglomeration of low flung stuff, including retaining the former Sam's Club warehouse. UA was now assuming that it would keep a hybrid workforce for the foreseeable future, drastically reducing the need for in person office space. 

UA HQ as presented to UDAAP this month (UA website)

Yet the move towards a new Under Armour campus is underway. In March Under Armour presented a fairly unassuming first phase to UDAAP for review. Design by Gensler, Baltimore. Then, last week new headquarters plans were presented for design review. The plans now showed a more impressive 280,000 sf  structure with much glass. (For a more detailed description see here).

As before, the project was described in superlatives. This time the design which is slated to entail geothermal heating and cooling and a mass timber structure clad in a heat resistant glass was described as the most sustainable project in the region. 

“TMB2 represents Under Armour’s commitment to providing our teammates with an innovative, collaborative and flexible work environment that supports our hybrid work philosophy,” said Under Armour President and CEO Patrik Frisk. “Consistent with one of our values to ‘Act Sustainably,’ TMB2 speaks to our focus on performance, consumers, the planet, and the community we call home.” (website)

The two development areas are assumed to continue in lockstep. Outside the campus there are still some 190 or so acres to be developed. This will now be the task for the new development partners.

The new developers, MAG Partners, a woman owned company founded in 2020 in New York City and MacFarlane Partners, a black-owned company, headquartered in San Francisco would continue to honor all SB7 community benefits obligations. 

Both new partner firms are new to Baltimore. MaryAnne Gilmartin, CEO of MAG  previously served for 15 years as Vice President and President and CEO of Forest City Ratner Companies, a company who lead the EBDI development team. Victor MacFarlane, holding a masters in business and a law degree, founded his company in 1987 but reinvented the company a few times since then.

Sustainability through mass timber (Gensler graphic)

MAG will be the managing partner. Some staff of Weller's company have switched to MAG in their old role, presumably ensuring institutional memory and some continuity

Aside from their excitement of coming to Baltimore, there has been no announcement from the new partners about additional development on the remaining site or what overall long-term vision they may have for this "new town" inside Baltimore. 

The Mayor and the chair of the SB7 coalition were both quoted in Sagamore's press release singing the praises of the leadership new arrangement. They may know more than the public; the news of an entirely new out-of -town development team taking over the largest redevelopment project in Baltimore could, indeed, be the excellent news as which it is presented. However, with everything that is riding on this project, starting with the $128 million TIF bonds, scrutiny by the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC), the Mayor and the Council would be warranted. 

However, according to BDC Vice President Clark, BDC is not in charge of reviewing the project, it’s progress and financing, or the collection of bond repayments.  This would be the responsibility of the Board of Estimates and the Maryland Economic Development Corporation (MEDCO) which issued the bonds. BDC believes in the project, sees no reason for concern and considers the change a positive development. 

Seven years after Plank outlined his vision in 2015, it is still in large part an aspiration. But unlike some other big projects in Baltimore, Port Covington has seen some real change. In 2015 Plank said "We do have an image problem in Baltimore and we could do something great and iconic and have people see it and be visible. I think the combination between Under Armour and Baltimore right there under 95 will be incredibly powerful." This potential is still there. The  vital catalyst, though, may be the new Middle Branch plans developed by New York's Field Operations, not Under Armour. 

Let's see what happens next.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Updated 5/19/22 for statements from BDC. 

Related on this blog:

 

Port Covington - on course or a vanishing dream? April 21

What's going on with Port Covington? (Feb 2019)

Hi flyers, Icarus and why rich men won't save cities (Sept 2018)

Sagamore and Baltimore's Future (Sept 2016)

To TIF or not to TIF? (March 2016)

Smoke and mirrors or a dream come true? (Jan 2016)

Big, bigger, biggest: Plank Town at Port Covington (Jan 2016)

A large corporate campus in Baltimore? (March 2015)

 

How Should the City Fix its Circulator Bus ?

To some the Baltimore Charm City Circulator ("The backbone of any great city is transportation") is nothing but a toy for the young professionals and "creatives" who live in the affluent parts of the City also known as the "white L". A bus system, critics say, that further cements the racial divide in our city. 

To others the City operated transit system was an encouraging signal that Baltimore's city leaders understood that modern urban  transportation really needs good transit and that  catering to the only communities in the city with population growth was a sustainable smart move featuring an environmentally friendly local transit system that was fueled by electricity, paid by car owners who park in downtown parking garages, and was fun to use. 

The Circulator: Continued ridership losses over the years
(Source: BCDOT)

The original mission of the Circulator was to avoid further downtown parking garages by better utilizing peripheral parking and connecting parking with a free shuttle that would get people from there to their workplace or to downtown shopping and restaurants. The mission was clearly downtown centered and not intended to serve neighborhoods or compete with MTA bus service.

The existing Circulator routes are concentrated inside the "White L"
and barely touch disadvantaged neighborhoods (City graphic)

But the initial Circulator fan base slowly evaporated when a series of calamites struck:

• the "green" electric buses failed and had to be replaced with used diesels, 
• a DOT employee in charge of the bus system was caught embezzling funds, 
• the City wound up suing the operator (Veolia/Transdev) over a dispute about the contractual service obligations 
• the City hired an outfit mostly known for running limousine services which had neither the required operator training nor the right buses. 

Parallel, the system suffered from "mission creep", cost went up but ridership didn't. To please various constituents the routes had been expanded to a point that operations used more money than the parking revenue surcharge yielded, even if one doesn't count the unexpected cost of the replacement buses. With each trouble the ridership dwindled. When finally enough replacement buses were in place (24 buses are now fully City owned), operators trained and things were running again on all four routes, COVID struck, some service was suspended, ridership plummeted even further. 

Trip purpose: Most trips are not for going to work

The voices demanding a fix for the non equitable, unreliable, money losing and no longer fun to use system became louder. 

No wonder then, that Director Sharkey's new DOT has set out to reform the Circulator and put it into the context of all the other modes the City manages, namely the Harbor Connector boats and the bike and scooter-share systems which DOT licenses. The new BCDOT created a  TDP Transit Advisory Committee Meeting that had six meetings to date, minutes and materials are posted online. Representation on the committee included agencies such as BMC, BDC, DOT and MTA as well as transit advocates such as Transit Choices, the Transit Equity Coalition, the Charles Street Development Corporation, the South Baltimore Gateway partnership, the Downtown and the Waterfront Partnerships and Johns Hopkins University. The creation of the committee and MTA's presence at the deliberations were promising signs of collaboration.

BCDOT also created a separate website "streetsofbaltimore.com" where one can find various city transportation initiatives such as The Baltimore City Transit Development Plan (TDP), i.e. the reform of the Circulator bus in the form of a "StoryMap" (which requires quite a bit computing horsepower to run smoothly). 

The Baltimore City Transit Development Plan (TDP) is a planning process that will develop a five-year transit investment strategy for the Charm City Circulator bus service. The Plan will identify opportunities where the Charm City Circulator service can improve efficiency and equity. This TDP includes analyses of unmet needs, potential route changes to address those needs, and short- and long-term operating plans for the service. (website)

One would think that the reform plans would be mostly driven by ridership, i.e. by supporting the services the most that attract the most riders today. By that metric the Purple Route going up and down the "White L" from Johns Hopkins University to Federal Hill is most successful with 1,548 riders a day and the Green Line with its circuitous attempts of reaching into disadvantaged areas on the est is failing with its mere 181 riders a day. The second worst performer, the Banner Route has 269 riders.

The proposed "optimized route" system: 
Extensions into the "Black Butterfly" (City graphic)

But in a  sharply divided city where everyone is suspicious about what the other one is doing, simply cutting low performing routes would be too simple. Looking at the proposed map, the City has taken the accusation that the system wasn't equitable to heart by planning extensions into the wings of the "black butterfly areas", i.e. the parts of Baltimore that have high percentages of poverty and low car ownership. With that, the City also decided that they won't try to cover the operating cost through parking surcharges which means that a portion is funded from the general fund, i.e. by regular tax dollars. This approach towards more equity contrasts sharply with ideas that MTA had provided some time ago in an attempt to avoid service duplication between the the two transit systems. MTA contributes a small portion of the operating costs and isn't sympathetic to the notion that the City should just run better transit than the State agency and make thus make up for the shortcomings of the CityLink bus system. 

Adjusting the Circulator routes with the goal of equity in mind is a good thing. But the proposed adjustments are only on the margins and the system was originally designed with other legitimate goals. Combining those different goals creates potentially a Frankenstein monster that doesn’t accomplish any of the goals effectively. Brian O’Malley, CMTA).  

On April 26 the City presented a proposed "optimized" new route map and presented the analysis and ideas that lead to the suggested map. The "Optimization Proposal", presumably has taken into account the essence of comments gathered in the past. The website describes the optimization this way:

The Transit Development Plan is proposing improvements to current routes as well as operations improvements of the Charm City Circulator to expand transit access for key equity zones within the city and improve access of transit to job centers not currently served. These proposals include:

Extending the service’s weekday hours so that buses start running at 6 a.m. instead of the current start time of 7 a.m.
Adjusting weekend hours from 9 a.m.-9 p.m., rather than the current 9 a.m.-midnight period on Saturdays and 9 a.m.-8 p.m. on Sundays.

The routes go deeper into the black butterfly areas, the Banner Route was eliminated and the new Cherry Route connects Cherry Hill. Public comments on the website welcome the access to Cherry Hill, decry the loss of the Banner Route to Locust Point and the proposed earlier shut down in the evening. Of course, it isn't a given that ridership will shift as much as the routes. A survey on the current system indicated that only 6% of all riders earned under $30k annually while over 45% earned over $75 k, a stark contrast to the ridership profile on MTA buses. Even though by far the most frequently requested improvement of the survey has been increased service frequency (61%), better headways are not part of the draft improvement package. To the contrary, the headways on the Orange Line will increase by 2 minutes. One third of respondents wanted to see longer weekend evening service, what the proposed system would provide is an earlier shut-down at 9pm instead of midnight. 

Predictably, there is little public concern with how the expanded system would be funded. There is a comment from somebody who plans to move here who suggests based on her current hometown that institutions served by the routes should contribute. It should, indeed, be part of the discussion why Hopkins, for example, runs its own buses up Charles Street and still wants the Circulator to drop people off at the doorsteps of the University, a duplication Baltimore's transit system can ill afford. The expanded services are estimated to cost $2 m per year in added operating cost. The City hopes to get additional funds from the federal infrastructure bill and considers the TDP a step in that direction. Current funding includes, local, state (MDOT/MTA) and federal money. 

Asked for this article about the proposed routes and if MTA is in agreement with them, Administrator Arnold provided the following response for MTA:

The Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Transit Administration (MDOT MTA) supports local transit operations in all 23 counties and Baltimore City.  In FY21 and FY22, MDOT MTA provided Baltimore City with $1.6 million for eligible operating expenses for the Charm City Circulator.  The budget allocation also provides $1.6 million in funding for FY23.

 

While MDOT MTA provides support to local jurisdictions in the development of their local transit operations, decisions relating to service levels, hours of operation, and areas served for the Charm City Circulator remain the responsibility of Baltimore City Department of Transportation.

This map is labeled "Possible Long Term Service": Adding a Poe
Route

The improvement menu of the TDP is interesting for what it does not address:

• Even in its longer view is also mum on the question how the bus can be better integrated with the other modes that the City operates, the water taxi (Harbor Connector) and the bikes and scooters.
• Even less is there a hint about the City's transit in a future time when there would be a regional transit authority, something the Mayor and DOT supports. 
• The electrification of buses as part of the City's sustainability strategies isn't on the menu either
• nor is an outlook towards autonomous buses and how they could be ideal for short range circulator systems where they are already operating on an experimental base in some cities. 
• The license with the current Circulator operator will run out soon, but no strategy how a future service agreement should be framed has been part of the Transit Development Plan.

The suggested route changes are not yet final, comments are still possible. Public response is still expected until May 13. Comments can be placed online or emailed to StreetsofbaltimoreTDP@wrallp.com, a clear hint that the consultant Whitman Requardt has been commissioned with running the public engagement. 

If the changes would be similar to the draft, the City owned Circulator's equity pivot would move the Charm bus into uncharted territory with the assumption that poor and non-motorized Baltimore residents would flock to the free service and that the earlier start hours would entice low wage workers to use the free ride while the bulk of the current more affluent non-work riders on the Purple Line would continue to use the buses. If the MTA bus system gives any indication, "choice riders" (those who are not dependent on buses for their mobility) are hard to come by on a system dominated by transit dependent riders. This is especially true now, when transit around the country are still struggling to get the riders back they lost under COVID, in part for fear of infection, in part because of work from home shifts, in part because a large part of the entertainment sector had shut down. Around the country circulator type bus systems complement larger scale public transit as a short trip, hop-on, hop-off addition that fills a small scale mobility need one level up from scooter and bicycle share systems. It isn't clear that the proposed Baltimore Circulator routes stay in their lane, i.e. complementing MTA routes instead of competing with them. 

The implementation of Circulator service changes are expected to occur in the Spring/Summer of 2024. According to BCDOT "the implementation phase of the TDP includes the planning and finalization of bus stop locations, the design and construction needed for the new bus stops, and the installation of improvements at current stops. This time frame also includes federal and city regulatory requirements regarding public outreach and notification about the planned transit changes."

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

the article was update for the MTA quote 5/5/22

Related articles on this site:

A Strategic Plan for Baltimore's Transit Bureau (2021)

The Charm City Circulator remains in the headlines for all the wrong reasons (2019)

Circulator service severely disrupted - totally down on two routes (2018)

City sues Transdev. Circulator on course to crash and burn (2018)

Time to reset the Circulator bus (2017)

Who runs Baltimore's transportation? (2017)

Water Taxi - Urban Transportation between Uber and the Bus (2014)

$20 million public money for the ailing Security Mall

 The entire Southwest Baltimore County political echelon including House Speaker Adrienne Jones was assembled when County Executive Johnny Olszewski  announced that $10 million State and $10 million County money would be set aside for investment at this ailing 100 care mall site tucked in between I-695, I-70 and Security Boulevard. Olsziewksi described the mall as a one thriving hub which he imagined to turn again into a "world class shopping center and and community hub". To help matters along, the County will retain architects and planners to guide a "community driven design charrette".

County Executive Olszewski announced $20 million for 
Security Mall (Photo: Philipsen)

The backdrop for the open air press conference were some back hoes and the remnants of an old Bennigans and I-Hop which had sat as abandoned eyesores along Security Boulevard for years. A couple TV stations had come out, and the print media took notes. 

Speaker Jones, who hails from the area, noted Security Square Mall still remains a vibrant place for many local businesses and an important part of the community. She observed that the communities of the Southwest have often reminded her that the property needs significant revitalization and investment. “This $20 million investment will jump-start this effort and help bring new life to the community.”

Council chair Julian Jones recalled the year 2015 when the construction of the $2.9 billion Red Line should have started with a stop "right here where I stand", Jones said. "That would have brought investment to this mall, but now we will do what is necessary, he said and thanked the Executive and the Speaker for their efforts of securing the funds.

Mall redevelopment with housing in Santa Ana, Ca

Of the 5 mall owners only the latest operator spoke, the pastor of the "Set the Captives Free" church, Karen Bethea, introduced as "a force of nature" spoke. The church has bought the former JC Penny wing of the mall and operates community outreach, education and soon a daycare center in the mall. The possibly most outspoken and powerful owner, Howard Brown, was not present. A few years back he was the first to publicly present the idea of a new mixed use town center on the nearly 100 acre mall property. He was convinced he could strong-arm the other parties into his vision. Albeit, this didn't happen.

Brown thinks little of the replacement of the abandoned I-Hop with a new Chick-Fil-A, planned in the same location. This plan follows a defeated gas station and is seen as an improvement by some who are tired of the abandonment and trash. However popular, in terms of urban design and land use Chick-Fil-A is not different from the other 1-story drive to or drive through "pad uses" that ring the mall. Those structures will simply be in the way if the NAACP's Task Force preferred vision should be realized which was developed with strong community participation. The preferred scenario envisions a mixed use urban village with a "main street" lined with higher end retail, market rate housing, some offices, urban parks and civic uses.

The NAACP vision was not mentioned in today's press conference, and none of the task force members got to speak about their vision. Instead, the Executive  spoke  of "a blank slate". Mall redevelopments around the country show, that conversions of old malls into vibrant towncenters don't happen easily, and certainly not without strong leadership. Ryan Coleman chair of the Randallstown NAACP and Danielle Singley, the Task Force Chair know how difficult it is to unit people behind a common goal. Both were at hand at the press conference but stayed in the background.

Demand for retail space is declining while housing needs are unmet
(From a mall redevelopment presentation)

Especially since communities around the mall have already spoken in an at least preliminary manner, there wouldn't be anything wrong with County leadership uniting around the concept of a mixed use center which would not only provide much better services for the community but also provide jobs and become and economic engine in the area which has seen declining school performance and increased crime.

A $20 million investment is a great start if the money is used as a seed to facilitate that all stakeholders rally around a new vision. With potentially millions of additional square feet of use (the current mall on a mostly vacant lot covers an area of about 1 million square foot of use area) nobody would have to fear displacement. Lots of "stuff" could be developed on the vast parking lots long before any part of the mall would have to come down and there would be still room for green open spaces and parks. 

Experiences from other redevelopments show that a new masterplan should not only be developed but must also become legally binding. Public investment in the roads and the infrastructure needed for a new town center could facilitate the creation of fully "entitled" development parcels. Ready to build development parcels right at the Beltway would attract new investors and wake up the current mall businesses from their slumber. In this manner the County-State funds could, indeed, become the first step for a new community hub that is also an economic power-house.

While the new masterplan is being developed in the "charrette" process starting sometime this year, no new development should be allowed in the interim. However, it seems not only Chik-Fil_A is an offender; the County administration itself  is already creating new facts on the ground with a new $1.2 million 8.8 thousand square foot community health center planned in collaboration with the church. Not helpful, should the masterplan recommend that the mall should be leveled, as for example, at the old Rockville Mall in Montgomery County.

With new elections for a Council and Executive with the seat of district 1 vacated by Councilman Tom Quirk, champions of a radically new development model can yet emerge. All three candidates vying for Quirk's seat were present at the press conference today. 

Olszewski himself, whose seat is safe, when asked about a development moratorium during the planning stage responded: "Speak with the Council!". 

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Previous mall articles on this blog:

How the failed Security Mall could become a thriving town center (July 2021)

Howard Brown plans second County Town Center (March 2017)

Druid Park Lake Drive: Baltimore's struggle to implement a new transportation paradigm

Across America transportation and public works departments are trying to wean themselves from decades of following a single paradigm: Make car traffic flow as freely as possible. Baltimore's BCDOT was a leader in making this happen. 

Car centric design: Lots of space for cars, little for pedestrians. 
(Image from TAP, 

Shaped for half a century by the likes of Henry Barnes, an influential traffic engineer who as traffic commissioner shaped the streets of Denver, Baltimore and New York with innovations such as the "green wave" of synchronized traffic lights and the world's first big main frame computer installed in Baltimore to control the signals from a central location. He also invented the "Barnes Dance", a special signal sequence to deal with the pesky pedestrians that tended to cross streets at all times.

Since then, the computer obsolete, and new technologies apparently hard to make work, Baltimore's drivers would wish the lights still had a "green wave". But otherwise the legacy of post-war traffic engineering is still in place, the one way streets (which are a precondition for synchronizing lights), the multi lane arteries with left turn bays, the fragments of freeways channeling suburbanites to their offices downtown and back home.

Druid Hill Park: An asset chocked off by roadway barriers

At Druid Lake Park Drive two elements of Baltimore's rich history collide. The 740 acre  beautiful Druid Hill Park designed by Howard Daniels and opened in 1860 and the 100 year later Henry Barnes inspired Johns Falls Expressway with its complicated multilevel ramps and tendrils choking the park on three sides with in the shape of fast multi-lane feeder arteries arteries. This reduced park access points from 18 to just 5. The matter has become ever more deplorable, the more Baltimore's surrounding neighborhoods fell into disrepair. In 2017 Baltimore architect Davin Hong summarized the problem in a SUN editorial:

Baltimore's Druid Hill Park ranks with distinction among a very short list of large historic urban parks in America. With a pastoral landscape, picturesque reservoir and even the Maryland Zoo, it is a popular destination for not only Baltimore residents but also for visitors from the surrounding region. Yet somehow, its bordering neighborhoods have not benefited from being next to such a landmark amenity. They have not thrived as sought-after communities and are instead deserts to recreation, greenery and quality of life.
Certainly, there are many complex factors that shape the health of communities and that make their success so elusive. But there is one very obvious reason why Druid Hill Park does not contribute to its surrounding neighborhoods: It is bordered by very wide, fast streets that act as physical barriers, separating the park from its surrounding communities as a green island among a sea of asphalt arteries.

Shortly afterwards, Daniel Hindman a community member and physician, added the equity and health angles in another SUN editorial

This photo of the construction of the JFX shows the extent of impact
urban freeways had

While many know of the racism of the park’s past — the segregated swimming pools, tennis courts and playgrounds — many do not know the politics and history behind the construction of the Druid Hill Expressway. The story of the expressway’s construction is a narrative of racism and corruption, that, like an arrow shot from the past, inflicts damage on our most vulnerable populations today. ...The impact of this history is evidenced today in the 2017 Neighborhood Health Profiles, which demonstrate that Reservoir Hill and Penn North, communities that border one of the largest urban parks in the country, have some of the highest rates of cardiovascular disease in the city. 

Back then those editorials and other activities finally initiated action. However, now with lots of ARPA and federal infrastructure bill money in reach and a much more progressive DOT leadership in place, Baltimore is in danger of missing a critical opportunity. 

Let's recap what happened: The current DOT Director Steve Sharkey is attacking the old ways of car centric thinking on several fronts. 

As Director, his top priority is to focus BCDOT's efforts on initiatives that better serve all users of the transportation system to improve walking, biking, transit and driving in Baltimore (DOT website)

The new paradigm isn't entirely by Sharkey's own making, it also is local law after the City Council  finally approved "complete streets" legislation in 2018 after years of deliberation. The new set of rules gave former DOT Director Pourciau headaches, but they also initiated the Druid Park connectivity project when DOT installed an experiment dubbed "the Big Jump". The experiment was funded by a grant. The complete streets legislation was in its final round.  Then local councilman Leon Pinkett had  organized stakeholders and residents with the goal of leveraging Druid Park for revitalization and provide better access and more equity for those who aren't drivers. The resulting TAP coalition describes itself this way.

Overpass over the JFX at 28th Street before the "Big Jump":
Little room for pedestrians, fast moving traffic

TAP Druid Hill is a coalition of residents, city officials, and community partners working together to increase access to Druid Hill Park for people on foot, wheelchair, transit, and bicycle / escooter. (website)

The Big Jump which opened with a party in 2018 and is still in place, consists of  temporary “pop up” mixed-use trail along Druid Park Lake Drive protected by water filled plastic barriers. The trail proceeds west from Madison Street, across the 28th Street Bridge, and along 28th Street to Atkinson Street.  Additionally, over in Remington, a flex post delineated bike lane was created on Sisson Street from 28th Street to Wyman Park Drive; In part the Big Jump project was making up for the loss of a loop trail around the Druid Lake reservoir which was the result of a giant $140 million DPW project going on inside Druid Hill Park: With 52 million gallons the world's largest underground drinking water reservoir under progress at the park's lake.

Overpass after the Big Jump installation (DOT)

Pop ups like the Big Jump provide an immediate benefit and allow engineers and stakeholders to obverse the effects of an intervention in a real world simulation that is cheaper than lengthy studies, easy to modify, or, if necessary, to abandon. An evaluation of the Big Jump performed by Toole Design, a consultant to DOT showed, that the resulting single lane of traffic in each direction did not lead to a noticeable increase in travel times on the roadway and did not push traffic into other areas either. 87% of folks who expressed an opinion wanted the "Big Jump" solution become permanent.

BC-DOT's new attention to other road users than car drivers puts the department at the forefront of the many current US culture wars from education, LGTB rights, and guns, to bikes and electric scooters. Thus DOT is at odds with the perceived right of driving unimpeded through American cities. In Baltimore, Sharkey's predecessor Pourciau wavered on several early bike lane installations and lost a major battle in the prosperous Roland Park corridor. There were lessons to be learned for the Druid Park project, and indeed, it was much better prepared with much more outreach.

Sharkey's refocused DOT defines the Druid Lake problem in much the way road critics had described it:

While the Druid Park Lake Drive corridor borders the United States’ third-oldest public park and beautiful historic neighborhoods, the roadway is designed with the characteristics of a highway, rather than a neighborhood-scale roadway. Originally a two-lane residential street, the current alignment of Druid Park Lake Drive is now a 4-to-9-lane arterial road that carries high-speed vehicle traffic, lacks safe pedestrian, bicycle and transit infrastructure and effectively creates a barrier between neighboring communities and Druid Hill Park.

 That the streets are also seen as a battlefield for equity and social justice just heightens the tensions. DOT's Druid Lake Park Drive report  ("The Report") says:

Councilman Pinkett (speaking), Mayor Pugh in 2018
at the Big Jump opening party (Philipsen)

The neighborhoods bordering Druid Park Lake Drive are predominantly Black and have experienced generations of disinvestment, racial discrimination, poor public health and decreased quality of life [....]

Equity is a driving factor for the redesign of Druid Park Lake Drive, and ensuring access for all modes, ages and abilities is a key component in creating an equitable corridor. Demographic data for the area within a half-mile and quarter-mile radius of the corridor illustrate what equity means in the context of Druid Park Lake Drive. Of the 88,000 people living within a half mile of Druid Park Lake Drive, 30 percent live below the poverty line, 22 percent live with a disability and 93 percent are people of color.1 Nearly half of households living in the neighborhoods around the Druid Park Lake Drive do not have access to a car. These community members get around by walking, cycling, using wheelchairs, riding scooters and catching transit. Building infrastructure to allow these residents to safely use Druid Park Lake Drive is key in advancing equity. 

After several initial community participation meetings DOT developed a vision:

We envision a reimagined Druid Park Lake Drive that is safe, built for the human scale and accessible for all ages, abilities, and modes of transportation. This future corridor will closely align with the City’s Complete Streets principles, while creating a functional, vibrant, and aesthetically pleasing roadway that reclaims roadway space to re-establish safe multimodal connections between surrounding communities and the park and embraces the area’s natural beauty and historic significance. Through the redesign of this corridor, we aim to  elevate health equity, allow communities to support aging in place, and support expanded transit service to Druid Hill Park.

The community based approach, the outreach, the grant funding, the problem definition, the experiment and its evaluation were all great moves. But where are we now? 

One Lane option and bike/ walkways: 779 votes  (DOT)

Some 5 or so years after inception and 4 years after installing the pilot, the project should be well in the implementation phase. Instead: analysis, paralysis. No money is in the budget for construction, an avoidable condition..

In late 2020, BCDOT retained the services of  WSP, a transportation planning firm. The engineers developed three alternatives for right-sizing Druid Park Lake Drive corridor, more similar to what it was before the expansion after I-83 was built. All three design versions share a 12-foot sidewalk adjacent to residences, three 8-foot “green buffers,” and a 15-foot shared use path adjacent to Druid Hill Park. One of them left like the Big Jump just one travel lane for cars per direction. Another moment for the community to chime in: Which option to build?

The new paradigm and the prospect of a "road diet" predictably drew the ire of ardent promotors of unfettered automobility. A small but vocal and prolific "Save our Streets Coalition" operated under a motto that would make Barnes proud:

Two lane option: 170 votes (DOT)

We are citizens dedicated to fighting efforts to alter city streets in ways that promote traffic congestion (Facebook page)

The group has blanketed the neighborhoods with yard signs and dubious messages against bike lanes on Gwynns Fall Parkway (part of an envisioned big bike-ped loop around Baltimore) and on Druid Lake Park Drive. 

The bike lobby Bikemore and the car lobby Save our Streets called upon their followers to weigh in on the three design options which were polled early this year on DOTs website. Neighbors, of course, voted, too. The results are very clear: 779 votes opted for Option 1 which proposed only a single lane of cars in each direction, 170 voted for option 2, with two lanes of traffic in each direction. Only 15 votes for a hybrid option with 2 driving lanes in one and 1 in the other direction.

Save Our Streets coalition poster: Free to drive

 

In this culture war reason was winning. Luckily the future design isn't really decided via open polling. Ex-councilman Pinkett's foresight of organizing local stakeholders and putting them in the "driver's seat" (or into the "Big Jump") pretty much ensures that nearby residents will have a voice when it comes to what gets implemented when. . The engineering evaluation showed no downside to the preferred single lane solution, neither in modeling nor in the real world application. So what stands in the way of implementation? Why is the project not  funded for construction, in spite of all the extra federal funding for infrastructure and Covid recovery? The current capital improvement program (CIP) shows no money for the project which is estimated to cost around $30 million in all. It isn't too late to amend the CIP. It is not too late to comment on the DOT report . The comment period for the ends this week Friday. 

Bikemore director Jed Weeks observes that the drawings for the three options are not yet the 30% design level that usually justifies the first tranche of implementation funds. Even when funded, it will take long enough to build the project. William Ethridge, the DOT planner for the project, estimates that it would take 5-7 years to get the project completed, once money is set aside, that is.  

Now is the time to "jump" into implementation. Maybe it takes a decision of the Mayor to finally implement this project and signal that once and for all, Baltimore's transportation paradigm has shifted. 

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Related on this Blog: What is the Big Jump all about?