Baltimore’s Planning Commission delayed voting on land use changes and building height requirements for the proposed Harborplace project after technical issues prevented online participation during their Thursday afternoon meeting.
At the request of Councilmember Eric Costello, who sponsored the three bills up for consideration, the commission both delayed the vote and is keeping testimony open until their next meeting on December 21st.
But, the commission still went on with presentations from the city’s department of planning and from P. David Bramble, the co-founder of MCB Real Estate — the company leading the harbor’s rehaul. Afterwards, a handful of residents, some of whom waited nearly four hours in the packed and sweltering conference room, testified on the proposal.
The commission is considering recommendations on a suite of bills on which it will make recommendations to the City Council. Those bills include rezoning requests, including an attempt to remove height restrictions at the city’s Inner Harbor and allow for residential buildings. Part of the proposal includes two residential towers that would stand in place of the current pavilions once they are razed.
“Recent history has shown the need to diversify the harbor’s economy and add population density that could support the area’s commercial tenants,” said Caitlin Audette with city planning, who noted that recently enacted plans for the area haven’t included mixed-use and residential structures.
Also before the commission is an amendment to the city's charter, which would require a vote from residents on the ballot next year, to increase the ground lease held with MCB Real Estate from 3.2 acres to 4.5 acres.
Bramble described the Inner Harbor as the “heart” of Baltimore.
“If the heart of our city is weak, then all the neighborhoods are weak, it doesn't matter what neighborhood you live in,” he said. The city would suffer if it didn’t take plans to “revitalize” the waterfront as many cities around the world have done, Bramble argued.
Although many who stuck around to give comments felt that, indeed, the proposed plans are weak.
“In my view, it was a disastrous proposal in both the way this proposal is being crammed down the throats of the citizens of Baltimore and its total lack of respect for this sacred public space,” said David Tufaro, a Baltimore resident and developer.
In particular, Tufaro objects to the 900 planned residential units.
“Apartment dwellers do not generate pedestrian traffic,” he said. “Public open space, public amenities, attractions and an appropriate amount of retail and eating and drinking establishments will activate public spaces.”
“I think the process is seriously compromised,” he said. “For a 100-year plan, you don’t condense it to a few meetings and a few people.”
Bramble described a six-month community feedback process that included meetings all over the city and a youth engagement strategy that relied on a handful of youth workers to engage young people. Anyone that says the company didn’t do community engagement “wasn’t paying attention,” according to Bramble.
Others came with objections to the Harborplace project but provided their own ideas, like Charles Kunning, who brought along a framed map from the 1980s that showed the harbor and surrounding downtown.
Kunning urged the commission to think about the harbor’s roots as a “festival marketplace.”
“There’s a way of bringing modern retail into the Harborplace model, but regenerating the excitement that was there before,” said Kunning.
But not everyone is against the plans. Amir Yazdi described himself as a business owner with a shop near the harbor that is currently closed but that he is “loathe” to reopen.
“This can’t happen fast enough,” he said. “I understand overall pangs of nostalgia for what it used to be but what it used to be is not what it is.”
