July 13, 2001|By Scott Calvert | Scott Calvert,SUN STAFF
Two years ago Susan Shawver and William Coogan fled the suburbs for downtown Baltimore. They paid $167,000 for an 1,800-square- foot condominium at Scarlett Place so they could walk to work, stroll to antique shops in Fells Point and gaze at the Inner Harbor from their fourth-floor balcony.
They didn't know it, but the Cordish Co. was eyeing a sliver of city-owned land just across the narrow Jones Falls from 147-unit Scarlett Place. The company wants to build a multilevel garage to provide parking for an office building that Cordish intends to put up nearby.
"One of the things that we love about this place is the view," Shawver said recently. "It's taking a big part of that."
The result has been predictable: Residents have lodged fierce objections to the garage, including assertions that waterfront land should be put to better use. Cordish executives say they hope to ease the worries but insist the privately financed garage -- designed to hold 700 cars and stand about 50 feet high -- must rise on East Pratt Street just east of the Columbus Center.
As residents and developers increasingly crowd each other downtown and along the water, such clashes are inevitable, observers say. The city is caught in the middle, wanting to work with developers while preaching that residents keep it vibrant and pay needed taxes.
"It's a balancing act because residents have a right to peace and quiet," said city Councilwoman Lois A. Garey, who represents a swath of downtown and opposes the garage, which needs city approvals. "But developers have a right to develop property, too. When that gets out of balance, we have a problem."
Garey, a Southeast Baltimore Democrat, said she has seen similar fights in Canton and Fells Point.
"It is a good problem to have as long as we make the appropriate judgment about how to deal with them and not act irresponsibly," said Andrew B. Frank, executive vice president of Baltimore Development Corp., the city's quasi-public economic development agency overseeing the lease and development of the site.
The process, not just the prospect of a garage, has riled Scarlett Place residents. They say they feel shut out. Carrie Johnston, a leader of the condo association, says she learned of the plan in February from a bartender at the Purple Orchid restaurant on the building's ground floor.
Even City Council members say they have had trouble getting clear information from the Cordish Co. and the BDC. "No matter who you talk to, on any given day you get a different answer," said Councilman Nicholas C. D'Adamo Jr., another Southeast Baltimore Democrat who opposes the garage.
The city was not required to send notification of the garage proposal to Scarlett Place, city planning officials say, but the BDC told Cordish it had to keep residents apprised when it was chosen for the project two years ago.
Someone should have sent residents word sooner, said M. J. "Jay" Brodie, BDC president. "We probably should have gotten to the Scarlett Place folks a little earlier," he said. But he also suggested residents should have known something would be built there.
The financially troubled Columbus Center's original plan called for a nearby garage, Brodie noted. He said he disagrees with a recommendation in the O'Malley administration's draft economic growth plan urging "no stand-alone garages" on the waterfront.
Cordish Co. Vice President Blake Cordish said one reason for the confusion may be that plans are preliminary and have yet to reach the city's Design Advisory Panel, which effectively must sign off on the project, along with the Planning Commission and Site Plan Review Committee.
The design is evolving, he said, in part to address neighbors' concerns. For example, a 10-foot space between the garage and canal-like Jones Falls has grown to 21 feet.
Architects have shrunk the footprint of the garage so it would not go beyond the Columbus Center's southern edge and hurt views from some Scarlett Place units. But to avoid losing parking spaces, it would rise to six levels instead of three -- putting it about level with Shawver and Coogan's balcony. That's still lower than the Columbus Center's roofline, which shaved views from parts of Scarlett Place when it was built in 1994.
To blend in, the garage would mimic the Columbus Center's gray and white exterior using metal and masonry panels, Cordish said.
Cordish Co. has wanted to build the garage there for years. After the company pitched the idea, BDC invited bids in 1999 from interested developers. Only Cordish responded and is negotiating lease terms for the site. The Board of Estimates must approve any lease.
