Urban Renewal Plan

The City Council has passed legislation giving the city the power to acquire, by eminent domain, about 3,000 properties for an east-side revitalization project centered on a biotechnology park. Passage of the urban renewal plan Thursday night cleared the way for major acquisition and relocation activity to begin late this winter or early spring, said Laurie B. Schwartz, interim chief executive officer of East Baltimore Development Inc., the nonprofit organization overseeing the project.

A six-year effort by city officials and others to rezone certain industrial properties along the South Baltimore waterfront to permit more mixed-use development was endorsed Thursday by Baltimore's Planning Commission, which approved two City Council bills drafted to bring about the changes. The pending legislation would alter the boundaries of an urban renewal plan for Key Highway and create a new renewal area called Key Highway South. It would replace an area in which only industrial uses are permitted at present.

The O'Malley administration retreated yesterday on a proposal that would have forced the removal of 11 billboards along Russell Street - a change designed to assure City Council passage of an urban renewal plan for the Carroll Camden Industrial Area. After the Baltimore Development Corp. backed away from the billboard amendment, the council gave preliminary approval last night to the renewal plan, which city officials hope will breathe new life into a 500-acre "brownfields" industrial area at the city's southern edge by attracting a fresh generation of businesses to land that could be contaminated.

A plan by HarborView to build two more waterfront towers - despite having exhausted its construction options on the South Baltimore site - has aggravated long-standing tensions between the prolific developer and Federal Hill area neighborhoods. People who live south of HarborView, with its hundreds of luxury homes that multiplied at the water's edge in the past two decades, are urging city leaders not to indulge a developer who they say has blocked views, hung no-trespassing signs, violated height limits and defied stop-work orders.

PLANS FOR A 125-ROOM Residence Inn by Marriott hotel in downtown Baltimore are on hold, after local preservationists objected to the city's decision to issue a demolition permit for two vacant Redwood Street buildings that stand in the way of the proposed development. Baltimore attorney John Murphy appealed the permit last month, on the grounds that demolition of the two buildings would conflict with the city's Financial District Urban Renewal Plan, which calls for preservation of "the historic character of Redwood Street."

I AM WRITING in response to the Nov. 30 Sun editorial, "Little risk, big windfall," and the many other articles and editorials regarding the proposed Inner Harbor East hotel.The Citizens Planning and Housing Association is a 56-year-old, city-wide nonprofit organization with members throughout Baltimore and the region. Historically, CPHA has not become involved in specific land use and development issues. However, we now feel compelled to speak out against the approval process for the proposed amendment to the Inner Harbor East urban renewal plan.

The Board of Estimates narrowly approved an amendment yesterday that clears the way for a major development in Fells Point, despite votes against it by the City Council president and the city comptroller. The amendment to the Fells Point Urban Renewal Plan changed the land-use designation of a parcel at Caroline and Lancaster streets from residential and commercial to mixed use. Whitman, Requardt & Associates, an engineering firm in the 2300 block of St. Paul St., will move its headquarters to a four-story building to be erected on the site.

The Baltimore Board of Estimates is set to vote today on an amendment to the Fells Point Urban Renewal Plan that would allow Whitman, Requardt and Associates to build its headquarters there - a project some residents feel would disrupt the historic area. The amendment would clarify that the land bordered by South Caroline, Lancaster, Dock and Dallas streets is a mixed land use and disposition lot, which would allow for construction of the engineering design firm's building, said M.J. "Jay" Brodie, president of Baltimore Development Corp.

Residents of Coldspring New Town in Northwest Baltimore sparred with naturalists yesterday at a City Council hearing over a proposal to permit 102 new houses along Cylburn Arboretum's southern border.Although Coldspring residents are eager to expand their small community, naturalists fear the houses would mar the natural beauty of Baltimore's only park dedicated to trees.The development "is crucial to the success and maintenance of Coldspring," said Alex Kreamer, president of the Coldspring Community Association.

THE BALTIMORE City Council intended to roll over and play dead rather than oppose a misconceived plan to build a convention hotel a mile away from the Convention Center. But the tremendous outcry against the proposal that dominated a public hearing Thursday night should have shaken the council from its lethargy.This monster edifice is not what people want. It's the council's job to make sure the hotel, in its current configuration, is not stuffed down Baltimoreans' throats.Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and developer John Paterakis Sr. have made a case for building a hotel on the bakery mogul's property in Inner Harbor East -- but not one of this size.

In a blow to a coalition of Baltimore community leaders who say penthouses atop the Pier Homes at HarborView violate height limits and should come down, a city housing officer has affirmed her department's decision to allow the developer to continue building rooftop structures at the luxury waterfront project. Although neighborhood groups argued at an Aug. 4 hearing that the penthouses - with stairways, elevators and sinks - are more like living space than shelter for mechanical equipment and are in violation of the city's 58-foot height limit, hearing officer Jan Goslee declared the rooftop structures in compliance.

HarborView defends waterfront project With regard to The Sun's editorial "A view too costly" (July 16), I contend that there has not been - nor will there ever be - what the editorial called a "flagrant" violation of development regulations on the part of HarborView Properties. In fact, we contend that at every step of the way, we have fully complied with the Key Highway Urban Renewal Plan. Moreover, city housing officials conscientiously monitored every step in design and construction and they continue to do so. The editorial labels the "offending structures" as "roof pop-tops," and continues, "All that was permitted under the law was a structure for mechanical equipment."

After a five-year battle, the issue of new tall buildings threatening the unique character of historic Mount Vernon and the view corridor along Charles Street has recently been resolved. But residents of another of Baltimore's most beloved districts are battling the pending demolition of several historic buildings in the heart of their community. St. Stanislaus Kostka Roman Catholic Church sits at the geographical center of Fells Point. The church and its associated structures form a full block bordered by Ann and Aliceanna streets.

If Baltimore City Council members are expecting the two sides in the Mount Vernon height battle to settle their differences, they are sadly mistaken. A compromise on a revised urban renewal plan for the neighborhood is not in the offing. An experienced mediator brought into the debate previously concluded to city planners that the groups were beyond her help. But the council needs to move this process along: It should use the Planning Commission's proposed height limits as its guide in setting new parameters for development in this historic neighborhood.

Planning panel protects charm of Mount Vernon This letter is to correct the mistaken impression left by The Sun's article on the July 21 Planning Commission hearing on the Mount Vernon urban renewal plan ("Planning panel OKs 200-foot Mount Vernon height limit," July 22). The panel resoundingly supported two of three major recommendations of the community, and on the third issue, it significantly reduced height limits to 100 feet or less for more than half of Mount Vernon. Yes, it did allow a 200-foot zone and a 150-foot zone, which are unacceptable.

BALTIMORE Discussions planned today, tomorrow on book `Holes' Discussions are planned across the city this month for Baltimore's 2005 book selection, Holes by Louis Sachar. Organized by the city's Department of Recreation and Parks and the Enoch Pratt Free Library, the discussions aim to encourage Baltimore youth to continue reading during the summer. The next discussion is set for 2 p.m. today at the Mount Royal Recreation Center, 120 W. Mosher St. Another discussion on the book is scheduled for 2 p.m. tomorrow at the Curtis Bay Recreation Center, 1630 Filbert St. BALTIMORE Planning panel hearing set on Mount Vernon renewal The Baltimore Planning Commission will consider the controversial Mount Vernon urban renewal plan at a public hearing tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Waxter Center for Senior Citizens, 100 Cathedral St. The goal of the plan is to encourage development in Mount Vernon, a historic neighborhood centered around the Washington Monument.

The Anne Arundel County Council approved a bill last night that allows mixed-use development -- offices, shops and apartments -- on the Superblock, the last large parcel in Glen Burnie's urban renewal district and a long-standing eyesore.The bill amending the urban renewal plan clears the way for the development of a "town center" for the north county community. It was approved 6-0. One council member was absent.In an urban renewal plan approved in 1980, the 5.6-acre site was earmarked for commercial development only.

If urban renewal could be legislated, Glen Burnie's Superblock would be a thriving commercial center today. Alas, it cannot. Thirteen years after the Anne Arundel County Council earmarked the 5.6-acre site near Ritchie Highway and Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard for commercial development, the parcel remains an eyesore.Tired of waiting for something to happen, the County Council has now revised the urban renewal plan for the Superblock, authorizing mixed use instead of strict commercial. By giving developers this leeway, the council hopes that offices, shops and apartments can be drawn to the block.

A developer who envisions transforming Westport's industrial shoreline into a mixed-use development has signed a contract on a key property that would give him control of more than half of a 50-acre swath along the Middle Branch waterfront. Inner Harbor West LLC, a development company led by Patrick Turner of Baltimore-based Henrietta Development Corp., has agreed to buy the 12-acre site of a shuttered Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. power plant from Constellation Energy Group, the company said yesterday.

UNTIL THIS week, discussions about a revised urban renewal plan for historic Mount Vernon, developed by City Planning Director Otis Rolley III, had led the public to believe that any new construction wouldn't exceed 180 feet, more than preservationists wanted and less than developers did. But the plan as now presented makes it possible for a 230-foot building to be constructed in the midtown neighborhood. That exceeds the stature of Mount Vernon's signature Belvedere Hotel and historic Washington Monument (although a building of that height would be prohibited within close proximity to the square)