Baltimore City voters approved Question F by 60-40% margin Tuesday, which opens up a 4.5 acre large section of the Inner Harbor to development, including residential apartment buildings.
Nearly two-dozen people lined up before the Christ Church Harbor Apartments as polls opened on Tuesday morning, just across the street from the Inner Harbor, where the morning sunlight sparkled on the water. For these residents, it’s a neighborhood issue.
A “yes” vote on Question F was necessary for the proposed $900 M redesigns of Harborplace to become a reality.
Mike Hardesty lives a few blocks from the Harbor, and said he planned to vote ‘yes’ - even though he has some reservations and believes the arrangement between the city and MCB Real Estate may have been a “backroom deal.”
“But the city for decades, has lost its tax base. It needs more residents. It needs more tax base. A billion dollars getting shoveled into the city is probably going to be helpful,” said Hardesty, who just moved to Baltimore in June. “So it's not perfect, it's not great, but probably a good idea.”
Standing a few yards behind him, Pamela Smith of Federal Hill had a different idea.
“This question? No!” she said emphatically. “My thing is, restore the harbor, not with 100 buildings, and that's how I feel.”
As per the city charter, the Inner Harbor area is a public park. However, the buildings and development rights are privately owned. Those currently belong to MCB Real Estate, a Baltimore real estate investment management firm.
The charter does not allow for residential housing in that parkland but that will now be permitted, thanks to city voters.
As part of the redesign, MCB proposes razing the harborplace pavilions and building a new architectural feature dubbed “the Sail”, an outdoor amphitheater, and 900 apartment units spread throughout the area with mixed residential-retail buildings. Part of that includes housing in two-tiered 25 and 32 story towers built right along the waterfront.
Question F has had a rocky road through election season. In September, an Anne Arundel County judge heard and sided with a challenge from opponents who, represented by perennial citywide candidate and attorney Thiru Vignarajah, challenged the question on the grounds that it was too confusing for voters to follow. Judge Cathleen Vitale ruled that the question should not be certified on ballots. That decision was then overturned by the Supreme Court of Maryland.
When Vitale made her ruling on September 16th, ballots had already been printed and were sent to voters, meaning that anyone who sent in a mail-in ballot before the state supreme court decision on October 10th would not have known if their vote on Question F would count.
“I’m not surprised,” said Anthony Ambridge, the lead plaintiff on the court challenge. MCB had more money to spend, he conceded. “We were unable to get the message out there.”
This story may be updated.
