Development Site

Baltimore County planners want to allow hundreds of houses on waterfront conservation land along the Bird River in Middle River, over the strong objections of environmental regulators. Some county officials say a proposal for up to 400 homes where only three are now allowed would defeat the purpose of multimillion-dollar public investments in natural resource protection and would represent an unprecedented expansion into an area where the county has restricted growth since 1967. Joseph Stamato, owner of Verus Development LLC, the company that wants to develop the site, said "we're protecting the land" by using only about half of the 292 acres of woods and fields.

Baltimore County planners want to allow hundreds of houses on waterfront conservation land along the Bird River in Middle River, over the strong objections of environmental regulators. Some county officials say a proposal for up to 400 homes where only three are now allowed would defeat the purpose of multimillion-dollar public investments in natural resource protection and would represent an unprecedented expansion into an area where the county has restricted growth since 1967. Joseph Stamato, owner of Verus Development LLC, the company that wants to develop the site, said "we're protecting the land" by using only about half of the 292 acres of woods and fields.

Baltimore officials have finalized the $1.1 million sale of a 19-acre "brownfields" site on Pulaski Highway to construction magnate Willard Hackerman, who plans to develop a big-box store or warehouses or both, a city economic development official said Tuesday. The sale of the lot, the former site of a waste incinerator, was completed Friday, said M.J. "Jay" Brodie, president of the Baltimore Development Corp. The city's Planning Commission approved a "planned unit development" designation for the property a day earlier, allowing the uses proposed by Hackerman, president and chief executive of the Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. Hackerman formed Pulaski Limited Partnership to develop the Northeast Baltimore site and still needs City Council approval to proceed.

Your editorial about the proposed Maryland flush tax failed to mention a number of facts ("The flush tax blues," Jan. 27). For one, the upgrade of the treatment plants was originally budgeted at $550 million by the Glendening administration. It's easy to pass on the financial responsibility for a bill to your successor. What about the farms? According to the Chesapeake Bay Program, agriculture is responsible for 40.9 percent of the nitrogen and 46.5 percent of the phosphorus released into the Chesapeake Bay. Nothing is being done about this.

A developer who is building more than 700 homes on Abingdon property that includes two closed landfills overcame the last obstacle to completing the project last week.Nineteen 55-gallon drums containing material thought to be printer's ink were removed from the construction site Monday.The drums were discovered Aug. 4 in a section of the former Johnson landfill, which operated as a rubble fill in the late 1970s and early 1980s. County records show that mostly tree stumps and dirt were deposited there.

A new developer is proposing a smaller, more environmentally attuned housing project on a heavily wooded hill in southwestern Columbia, replacing an earlier plan that created a furor among area residents over traffic and the impact on the Middle Patuxent River. Simpson Mill is the new name for what was once called the Riverdale townhouse project at the northeast corner of Route 32 and Cedar Lane, just south of the river. It is much smaller, but traffic congestion and environmental issues remain concerns, community members said.

The developer of Westport's waterfront is selling an acre of the property along Baltimore's Middle Branch of the Patapsco to a company planning to build a luxury apartment building - part of the first phase of new construction in the proposed $1.2 billion mixed-use community. Baltimore-based Turner Development, headed by developer Patrick Turner, has signed a contract with Landex Development LLC for a parcel at the southern end of the development site a block from the Westport light rail station.

County planners may soon require residential developers to set asidelarge parcels, instead of numerous smaller ones, to ensure adequate space for parks in new communities.County Planning Director Ardath Cade said yesterday she hopes to have proposed regulations tightening requirements for developers submitted to County Executive Robert R. Neall soon after County Council budget hearings are completed next month.The proposed changes will spell out how much land developers of large parcels would be required to set aside as either pastoral open space or for recreational uses, Cade said.

A Baltimore development company has filed suit against the County Council, contending that it improperly delayed water and sewer service to a development site where the company wants to build 1,600 homes.Security Management Corp. is asking the county Circuit Court to strike the council's approval of a plan that downgrades its development site.Security Management, operated by Victor Posner, is planning to build single-family houses and multifamily units at a 315-acre site offRoute 7, west of Aberdeen.

The way Jan Stinchcomb sees it, somebody has to look out for the health of her future neighbors in Abingdon.So she's organized a group of about 30 Abingdon residents to keep watch on county reviews of aproposed Abingdon development of more than 700 homes that would be built near four closed landfills.One of the dumps is on the federal Superfund list of hazardous waste sites.Many of the concerned citizens don't live near the development site, but want to make sure that health and environmental questions about the dumps are answered before the development is allowedby county planners to proceed, Stinchcomb said.

Baltimore officials have finalized the $1.1 million sale of a 19-acre "brownfields" site on Pulaski Highway to construction magnate Willard Hackerman, who plans to develop a big-box store or warehouses or both, a city economic development official said Tuesday. The sale of the lot, the former site of a waste incinerator, was completed Friday, said M.J. "Jay" Brodie, president of the Baltimore Development Corp. The city's Planning Commission approved a "planned unit development" designation for the property a day earlier, allowing the uses proposed by Hackerman, president and chief executive of the Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. Hackerman formed Pulaski Limited Partnership to develop the Northeast Baltimore site and still needs City Council approval to proceed.

One mobile application lets people know the ratio of single people to married people at a bar or restaurant. One website lets owners of vacant buildings poll the crowd to see what kind of business should move into the neighborhood. Another app lets teachers use Facebook as a tool. These are a handful of apps that came to life in Baltimore during the city's first Startup Weekend. More than 125 people descended on Baltimore from as far away as New York City for the chance to rapidly develop their ideas into prototypes, in hopes of becoming the next Facebook or Google.

Defying Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake and city redevelopment officials, Baltimore's preservation commission voted Tuesday to add the former Read's drugstore to the city's "special list" of landmarks, an action that protects the building from demolition for at least six months. Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation voted 7-1 to grant temporary landmark status to the city-owned building because it was the site of a 1955 lunch counter sit-in that had national significance in the U.S. civil rights movement.

A new developer is proposing a smaller, more environmentally attuned housing project on a heavily wooded hill in southwestern Columbia, replacing an earlier plan that created a furor among area residents over traffic and the impact on the Middle Patuxent River. Simpson Mill is the new name for what was once called the Riverdale townhouse project at the northeast corner of Route 32 and Cedar Lane, just south of the river. It is much smaller, but traffic congestion and environmental issues remain concerns, community members said.

State transportation officials met last week with a group of Howard County residents and school officials to discuss concerns that a possible container transfer facility might affect plans for a new school in the area. The Maryland Department of Transportation is considering a dozen potential rail facility locations — including two in Howard County — for a CSX facility that would allow trucks to transfer cargo to and from rail cars 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The facility is slated be moved from the port of Baltimore to free up space for international cargo.

A Baltimore city councilman is raising concerns over a plan to grant $155 million in aid to a Southeast Baltimore development project led by bakery magnate and developer John Paterakis Sr. City development officials say the benefits of developing the waterfront parcel far outweigh the city's investment. They have asked the council to quickly approve a development district encompassing a planned $800 million project at Harbor Point, which is sandwiched between Fells Point and Harbor East.

Your editorial about the proposed Maryland flush tax failed to mention a number of facts ("The flush tax blues," Jan. 27). For one, the upgrade of the treatment plants was originally budgeted at $550 million by the Glendening administration. It's easy to pass on the financial responsibility for a bill to your successor. What about the farms? According to the Chesapeake Bay Program, agriculture is responsible for 40.9 percent of the nitrogen and 46.5 percent of the phosphorus released into the Chesapeake Bay. Nothing is being done about this.

Cambridge -- The Ehrlich administration announced yesterday that it plans to spend $10.4 million to preserve about two-thirds of a contested development site near the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. The effort to save 754 acres of Eastern Shore farmland marks a change in direction for the administration, which previously declined to get involved in what it called a mostly local land-use decision. The purchase agreement will still allow developer Duane Zentgraf to build more than 600 homes, marketed to senior citizens, on 326 acres of farmland on the southern fringe of this city.

Baltimore's first Lowe's home improvement store and a supermarket would anchor a $65 million mixed-use project straddling Charles Village and Remington under a retail developer's plans to transform the site of Anderson Automotive, a fixture since the mid-1950s. Developer Rick Walker unveiled plans Wednesday to build the home improvement store and a grocer, along with 32,000 square feet of specialty shops and up to 60 apartments on 11 acres roughly bounded by 25th Street to the north, Maryland Avenue to the east, 24th Street to the south and the CSX rail line to the west.