Redevelopment

Baltimore has broad legal authority to take immediate possession of property to clear or redevelop blighted areas, provided it can show that the condemnation is in the public interest. In a city this old, and with so many neglected neighborhoods, that shouldn't be a hard sell. But the city has relied too routinely on this power in recent years - and that isn't always in the public's interest. The city's use of "quick take" condemnation to gain possession of a North Charles Street bar and package goods store is under scrutiny by the state's highest court and is illustrative of our concerns.

MARYLAND'S young "brownfields" program to clean up and redevelop polluted lands is still trying to find its way.In the program's first two years, only four property owners have qualified for state grants and tax credits, and 52 have applied for voluntary cleanup registration, which limits their legal liabilities.The extreme caution of regulators and property owners alike should not be seen as a rejection of the initiative's main goal: to remove harmful contaminants at former industrial sites and reuse the properties, preventing the sprawl of development into open space "greenfields."

So, what's next?Where will Baltimore-area residents settle after the rapid conversion of farms to suburbs slows and all the big tracts of land are taken?"

THE EASTERN edge of Baltimore's downtown is about to change beyond recognition.Already, a $184 million cancer complex is rising at Broadway and Orleans streets, next to Johns Hopkins Hospital. Neither of its two structures is a skyscraper; nevertheless, their combined square footage equals the 30-story Alex. Brown Building plus the 30-story Blaustein Building.The two buildings are several months from completion. Even so, they have made city officials realize the magnitude of the potential change as one of Baltimore's biggest employers grows even bigger.

The Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning has approved a minor variance request that could lead to the redevelopment of Chatham Mall in Ellicott City, one of the oldest shopping centers in the county.The department agreed Fridayto allow Chatham Mall Co. LLP to reduce the required 100-foot setback from a public street right of way to 80 feet for two freestanding buildings totaling almost 151,000 square feet.The approval paves the way for the company to build a 14,820-square-foot building between the Giant and Kmart stores and a 136,000-square-foot building where Caldor is now.Caldor has declared bankruptcy and plans to close all eight Baltimore-area stores by mid-May.

As more and more cities build glitzy sports palaces, a new problem arises: What should be done with the old stadiums and arenas that are left behind?As the first to construct side-by-side stadiums downtown for baseball and football, Baltimore has gained widespread recognition for demonstrating how sports facilities can help draw people back to the city while invigorating the surrounding area.Now the city is in a position to lead the way again as it evaluates proposals from three local groups seeking rights to redevelop Memorial Stadium, former home to the Orioles and Ravens, the major league teams that moved to separate stadiums in Camden Yards.

Two Baltimore-based historic preservation groups are hoping to save dozens of downtown buildings they fear will be demolished as part of the $350 million west side redevelopment plan.Baltimore Heritage Inc. and Preservation Maryland contend in a new report that 150 buildings in the 18-block downtown area slated for renewal have enough historical significance to be spared the wrecking ball.Plan leaders say many of the preservationists' fears are unwarranted and that they intend to save those buildings that have historical significance and are economically viable.

Dreams of a $350 million renovation of the west side of downtown took a step toward reality yesterday when the City Council introduced legislation to condemn 127 properties.City leaders hope that taking the properties will spur the greatest downtown business development since the Inner Harbor. Baltimore joins a list of communities across the nation that have increasingly begun using powers of eminent domain to encourage redevelopment.Despite protests two weeks ago from downtown business owners who would lose their properties, the urban renewal legislation for an area city planners call Market Center arrived with little fanfare.

A nonprofit organization working to redevelop East Baltimore is being investigated by the city's housing department and comptroller's office for its slow progress and unreported spending of part of a $34.1 million federal housing loan.City officials say they launched the investigation because redevelopment efforts by the Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition (HEBCAC) were limping along and the organization had not submitted the required monthly progress reports in more than a year.

Peter G. Angelos is moving ahead with plans for an $8 million retail shopping center along the York Road corridor in Timonium that has attracted millions of redevelopment dollars during the past year.Demolition of eight buildings on a 4.5-acre lot in the 2000 block of York Road began about two weeks ago, said Wayne R. Gioioso Jr., vice president of Artemis Management and Development Inc., Angelos' real estate company. Angelos, a Baltimore lawyer, owns the Orioles.The building, expected to be finished by late next year, will house at least four stores, but possibly as many as eight or 10.A number of new or developing buildings have gone up in the area, including Angelos' Foxtail Center, which opened nearby on York Road last year, and Fairgrounds Plaza on Aylesbury Road )

Columbia residents will be given more say in how the town's aging village centers are redeveloped as a result of changes in the zoning process approved by the Howard County Council. The 5-0 vote Tuesday night ended months of wrangling over how to change the 42-year-old system regulating the land, The new law: * Requires early notification of any redevelopment plan and two community information meetings at least 30 days apart before any plan is submitted to the county. * Encourages residents to craft their own plans for their own individual centers before a developer announces any concept and add their own impact statements to county planners' reports.

The nine candidates vying to be Annapolis' next mayor discussed public housing issues ranging from funding to revitalization and social services at a recent forum hosted by the Housing Authority of Annapolis. The seven Democrats, one Republican and one independent spoke mostly in broad terms of improving communication and collaboration between public housing residents and city government and creating opportunity for residents. Housing Commissioner Michael Jackson posed perhaps the most controversial question of the forum, asking candidates if there should be a time limit on families living in the city's public housing, which is often home to generations of families.

When the Howard County Council begins taking public testimony Monday night on a bill that would create a new way to redevelop Columbia village centers, a somewhat-reluctant Columbia Association board of directors will be ready. After a nearly five-hour, two-part meeting that lasted until 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, the board adopted a slightly altered version of its December position. Still, some expressed concern that the county is rushing things, or that adopting a new redevelopment zoning process would give developers an advantage, while others said the problem is immediate and needs attention now. Columbia resident Joel Broida noted that Kimco, which owns the half-vacant Wilde Lake Village Center and four others, has given up its plan to demolish it in favor of 500 apartments and a retail center.

A proposal to allow major redevelopment of Columbia's village centers has so divided the Howard County Planning Board that members can't even agree how to describe their disagreement. The board divided, 2-2, on the issue March 23 with one person absent. But Monday night, members were still arguing over what the description of their votes should say. After a closed meeting with a lawyer and a public discussion after that, the members agreed to try again to come up with a document they can sign to push the issue to the County Council.

Public testimony on ZRA 113, the redevelopment of downtown Columbia, will continue before the Howard County Planning Board at 7 p.m. March 5 in Tyson Room II in the county's offices at 8930 Stanford Blvd., Columbia. The public is invited to present their concerns and suggestions to the advisory board on the future of downtown Columbia. Those wishing to testify at the hearing can sign up beginning at 5 p.m. Information: 410-313-4303.

East Baltimore residents marched yesterday to the office of the nonprofit organization overseeing the redevelopment of 88 acres around Johns Hopkins Hospital, protesting the lack of homeownership opportunities for displaced residents wanting to return to or remain in the neighborhood. More than 550 buildings have been demolished and about 500 families relocated. But Donald Gresham, president of the Save Middle East Action Committee Inc., which represents area residents, said many homeowners had to take out mortgages on their new homes, while they had owned the previous ones outright before they were demolished.

For about half a century, the stocky brick building that stands on the border of Remington and Charles Village languished as tenants and owners came and went. Redevelopment efforts stalled, leaving pigeons, graffiti, vandals and the elements to steadily wear on this one-time tin can manufacturing plant. But for the past several months, neighbors have watched as workers in hard hats cleared decades worth of trash from the 80,000-square-foot building, which was built in 1874. Workers have installed new plumbing and are working on renovations that will maintain the building's status as a historic structure.

Facing a cash crunch that has it considering selling off properties, developer and multiple-mall owner General Growth Properties is at the same time about to take the next step in what could be a big moneymaker: the makeover of downtown Columbia. The development company is planning to submit rezoning requests this week for perhaps the biggest project the county has seen since Columbia's birth four decades ago. The fate of those requests could determine how much of a financial transfusion the company can expect.

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation announced yesterday that it will contribute $15 million over five years to the second phase of a major redevelopment plan near the Johns Hopkins medical complex. The money will support existing programs of the East Baltimore Development Inc., the nonprofit organization overseeing the project, as well as new initiatives for work force development, senior services and education, including construction of an education campus that will include a school for children in prekindergarten through eighth grade.

With the formal rezoning process for central Columbia's redevelopment about to begin, a group of young, business-oriented Howard County residents has stepped into the nearly five-year-old discussion. Called Columbia 2.0, the new group drew about 25 people to a news conference yesterday on the parking lot of The Mall in Columbia, a short distance from a restaurant where David Yungmann, 41, a Columbia real estate agent and one of three leaders, began the event. "We wanted to highlight how hard it is to walk from there to here," Yungmann said, explaining that his group wants to involve more young people in the discussion and push for the kind of redevelopment plan proposed by General Growth Properties Inc., the Chicago-based firm that bought the Rouse Co. "The status quo is not an option," Yungmann said, noting how difficult it is to move around Town Center's vast parking lots on foot.