BALTIMORE REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP
Newsletter
December 1999
Land Use and Transportation Decisions Around the Region
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Welcome to the premier issue of the monthly electronic newsletter
promoting smart growth in the Baltimore Region. See end for more
information about the Baltimore Regional Partnership and this newsletter.
Website: www.balto-region-partners.org/
IN THIS ISSUE
1. The Region: Region's leaders forced to address air quality
2. Anne Arundel County: Arundel Mills Mall
3. Baltimore City: Plan Baltimore; Mondawmin Plan
4. Baltimore County: Master Plan Update; Comprehensive Re-Zoning
5. Carroll County: Re-zoning Decision - The end of farming in
Carroll County?; Westminster - Is it a community or a traffic
obstacle?
6. Howard County: MD Route 32; Task Force on the General Plan
7. Tools & ideas for activists: Smart Growth must get smarter: a new
report by Chesapeake Bay Foundation and 1000 Friends of Maryland;
Congestion Relief: Commuter Choice programs can reduce highway
stress and pollution
1. THE REGION
REGION'S LEADERS FORCED TO ADDRESS AIR QUALITY
Contact: Michelle Wirzberger, Baltimore Regional Partnership,
Phone: 410-539-1369, e-mail: michellew@cphabaltimore.org
After disregarding great public concern about the air quality effects of a
new list of transportation projects, the region's leaders backed off their
approval of a transportation plan which intentionally underestimated air
pollution increases. The Transportation Steering Committee, composed of
area governments, asked federal agencies to "delay" their review
of the plan shortly after adopting it due to pressure from the Baltimore
Regional Partnership, other civic and public health groups, and the
federal government.
In an effort to comply with federal air quality requirements, the
Transportation Steering Committee is developing air pollution mitigation
measures for a revised transportation plan. The revisions, however, have
had little input from the public or many concerned government officials. A
thirty-day public review of these proposed mitigation measures will be
held over the winter holidays.
The short-fall in meeting air quality standards was not a surprise given
the popularity of more polluting sport utility vehicles and continued rise
in the number of miles traveled by the region's drivers. Decision-makers
have relied on technological advances to meet air quality standards while
continuing to invest heavily in new roads which induce more driving and
auto emissions.
Now that the region's leaders are caught by legal requirements to invest
in a transportation system that improves the area's poor air quality,
citizens need to continue to press for real changes in the transportation
plan and ensure mitigation strategies will clean up the air. The
Transportation Steering Committee will make available for public comment a
revised transportation plan (technically known as the "2000-2004
Transportation Improvement Program") after December 14. A public
hearing is set for January 18, 2000.
ACTION
* Request that the Transportation Steering Committee and your
elected officials extend the review period of the proposed mitigation
measures another month so that the public has time to adequately review
the revisions to the plan, and that the results from the region's new
computer models can be used to give an up-to-date assessment of how much
air pollution will be generated by the revised transportation plan.
* Attend and speak out at the Transportation Steering Committee's January
18 hearing. Also, contact your County Executive or Mayor, who sit on the
Committee, and let him or her know that we need real solutions to the
region's transportation and air quality problems.
MORE INFORMATION
For more information about the hearing and the transportation plan,
contact Regina Aris, Phone 410-333-1750, ext. 238, e-mail: raris@baltometro.org
or see: http://www.baltometro.org/.
Or write to: C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, Chairman, Transportation Steering
Committee, 601 N. Howard Street, Baltimore, MD 21201-4585.
To contact your elected officials see: http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdmanual/01glance/html/county.html
For the Baltimore Regional Partnership's analysis of the transportation
plan and the recommendations for better transportation investments that
improve air quality and enhance communities see our website:
http://www.balto-region-partners.org/advocate.htm
2. ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY
ARUNDEL MILLS MALL: Regional impacts go unexamined
Contact: Michelle Wirzberger, Baltimore Regional Partnership, Phone:
410-539-1369, e-mail: michellew@cphabaltimore.org
The Mills Corporation has already begun plowing down the landscape to make
way for Arundel Mills Mall, a 1.4 million square foot super-regional
"shoppertainment" center on a 400-acre forested tract in Anne
Arundel County. Much of the forest on the tract was cleared before the
development gained final approval for wetlands impacts from the US Army
Corps of Engineers. As for the project's proposed transportation
improvements, they are still awaiting review as part of the assessment of
air quality impacts of the region's new transportation projects.
The Arundel Mills Mall project is the most recent egregious example of how
planning in the Baltimore area is completely backwards: developers break
ground on megamalls before the authorities have looked at the cumulative
impacts of the developments and the infrastructure needed to serve them.
Large developments of regional impact get set in concrete before the
public hardly knows about them.
Although the Arundel Mills Mall project's regional traffic and air
pollution impacts remain largely unexamined, construction is underway. The
Baltimore Regional Partnership has asked that the Mall's developer, the
Mills Corporation, fund adequate mitigation measures to offset potential
pollution and traffic increases generated by the Mall and to give job
seekers access to the Mall via transit. Such measures include: adequate
transit service and shuttle services for employees, cash in lieu of free
parking to all employees, free transit passes, and comprehensive traffic
management and mitigation strategies on and off site.
3. BALTIMORE CITY
PlanBaltimore!
Contact: Scot Spencer, Environmental Defense Fund,
Phone: 202-387-3500, Email: scot_spencer@edf.org,
see:
http://www.balto-region-partners.org/doc19.htm
In April 1999, after eighteen months of a citizen participation process,
the City of Baltimore released a draft of its comprehensive plan for
review and comment. The plan examined everything from sprawl, to
transportation, to urban design strategies.
The Baltimore Regional Partnership's comments on the plan urge the City to
become "the state's leader in providing tangible, sensible
alternatives to greenfield and sprawl development," and to reassess
the effectiveness and openness of the Transportation Steering Committee.
The public comment period concluded on June 30, 1999. Since that time,
City Planning Department staff has been incorporating the comments into a
final document. They expect to release the new draft of the City's plan by
the end of the year.
Some parts of the plan have already begun to see implementation -- namely
the Neighborhood Planning Program that will assess and work with
communities to devise revitalization and sustainability efforts. New urban
and community design guidelines are being drafted as well.
The Plan does not adequately or actively address the sprawl-bound
transportation planning practices of the Transportation Steering
Committee. This is not surprising given the City's minority role on the
Transportation Steering Committee.
The focus and direction of the plan await Mayor Martin O'Malley. We should
all hope to see the mayor-elect become actively involved in a
city/regional planning movement that weds transportation and land use
practices.
MONDAWMIN PLAN FOR TRANSIT CENTER IMPROVEMENTS
Federal grant for station area improvements
Contact: Evette Rowe, Transportation Organizer, Citizens
Planning and Housing Association, Phone: 410-539-1369,
Email: evetter@cphabaltimore.org
The Mondawmin Transit Center is the target of $85,000 under a grant from
the Federal Highway Administration's Transportation, Community, and System
Preservation Program.
The grant was awarded to a partnership between the Baltimore Regional
Partnership, the Maryland Office of Planning and the Maryland Department
of Transportation. The grant will fund long-term planning for the
Mondawmin community, and some of the improvements to the transit center.
The short-term improvement plan -- developed by community and
institutional leaders with community-wide input from a meeting held in
April 1999 --recommends additional facilities, better use of police
resources, and beautification of the transit center.
On Saturday, July 24th, more than fifty residents, community leaders,
elected officials, and representatives of public agencies gathered to
discuss the plan to improve the transit center.
Community members hope the plan will ensure that more resources are
devoted to improving the transit center and its surrounding neighborhoods
by the Mass Transit Administration and the City's Department of Public
Works.
4. BALTIMORE COUNTY
MASTER PLAN UPDATE
Baltimore County initiated its 2010 Master Plan Update in January 1997,
enlisting the help of citizens through ten advisory groups designed to
help plan, including: Centers/Growth Areas, Rural Areas, and
Transportation. Copies of the plan are available at
http://www.co.ba.md.us/bacoweb/services/planning/html/mastplan.htm
The County Council accepted public comments on the Master Plan through
November 9, 1999. After consideration of comments, the Council is expected
to adopt Master Plan 2010 in early 2000.
For more information contact: David Pinning, Master Plan Coordinator,
Office of Planning, 401 Bosley Avenue, Suite 406, Towson, Maryland 21204;
E-mail dpinning@co.ba.md.us.
Phone 410-887-3211.
COMPREHENSIVE REZONING:
Process could protect farms or spur sprawl
Contact: James W. Constable, Manor Area Association, 410-659-1315; Valleys
Planning Council, Inc. 410-337-6877.
Every four years, Baltimore County gives its landowners an opportunity to
revisit the zoning classifications for their properties. The cycle is just
now underway. It will generate hundreds of requests by owners to have
their land up-zoned -- if residential, to allow higher density; if
commercial, to allow a greater array of permitted uses.
Between August 2, 1999 and November 1, 1999, any person, group or agency
may file for a change. From December 1 to January 18, 2000, members of the
County Council may raise additional issues. The issues are analyzed by the
planning staff by March 31, 2000 and discussed at public hearings before
the Planning Board in April. The Planning Board must make recommendations
by June 30, 2000. The County Council then studies, holds public hearings
and votes on the issues in the late summer and early fall of 2000, and the
final maps showing the approved reclassifications are published.
Most of northern Baltimore County is classified by one of three rural
conservation zones. Two of these, RC-2 and RC-4 are the most common. The
RC-2 classification is one of the most restrictive agricultural zones in
the country. Tracts of land 100 acres or under may only be subdivided into
two lots. Parcels in excess of 100 acres are allowed one density unit for
each fifty acres. RC-4 has a density restriction of one density unit for
each five acres and requires a clustering of the dwellings. In practice,
it has produced subdivisions requiring infrastructure that is inconsistent
with a rural environment, vastly increased traffic on farm roads, and a
significant increase of surface water runoff into water courses draining
into the bay. Fingers of RC-4 wind through the RC-2 farm land. It places
clusters of suburbia in the midst of prime farm country.
While a flood of up-zoning requests is anticipated, much of the RC-4 in
areas where it is inconsistent with a primarily agricultural community can
be down-zoned. During the last cycle, north county Councilman T. Bryan
McIntire, shepherded a down-zoning of thousands of acres from RC-4 to
RC-2. During this cycle, rural preservationists hope that Councilman
Joseph Bartenfelder, whose district contains much of the remaining prime
agricultural land, will do the same.
ACTION
Send letters to support Councilmen Bartenfelder and McIntire, County
Council, Old Court House, Washington Avenue, Towson, MD 21204. Get
involved in supporting down-zoning or assisting in the effort to block
up-zoning in the north county -- call Manor Area Association or Valleys
Planning Council.
For a list of rezoning petitions, contact: Baltimore County Office of
Planning, 410-887-3480, or see: http://www.co.ba.md.us/bacoweb/services/planning/html/czmpprocess.htm
5. CARROLL COUNTY
RE-ZONING DECISION: the beginning of the end of farming in Carroll County?
Contact: Carolyn Fairbank, Phone: 410-549-5230,
Email: cfairbank@compuserve.com;
Nimrod Davis, Freedom Area Citizens' Council, Phone: 410-795-2896.
On August 26, 1999 Carroll County Commissioners voted 2 to 1 to re-zone
145 acres of the Rash Brothers farm, by Rt 97 and Rt 26 in the southern
part of the county.
The same request -- with the same reasoning -- had been denied twice
before by prior Boards of Commissioners, and this time was opposed by
State officials and the County's own Planning Department. The
Commissioners voted to agree with the attorney for the owners that the
character of the surrounding area has changed significantly over the past
several years, and that the original zoning was in error.
If built according to the owners' wishes, the golf course and luxury homes
would further expand the "significant change to the character of the
surrounding area," paving the way for even more development of
farmland.
Currently, the property is served by well water only. To develop the
re-zoned property to the density and uses proposed, an extension of the
water line would be required -- extending the line beyond the original
Freedom District.
The re-zoning is located in the Freedom District -- an area that is
already strained to provide water, police and fire protection, schools,
roads, and parks and recreation facilities.
More than 6,500 homes in the Freedom District experienced water-use
restrictions during the past three years -- due to lack of capacity of the
current treatment plant, and the inability to purchase Liberty Reservoir
water from Baltimore City.
Ironically, Carroll County touts its agricultural land preservation
record, and received another Rural Legacy award from the State this year.
This significant re-zoning decision contradicts the County's rhetoric and
threatens farming's future.
ACTION
Concerned citizens should contact elected officials and ask them to
reverse the re-zoning decision due to its great harm to farmland
preservation in the County, its violation of Maryland law and Smart Growth
laws and principles. Thank Commissioner Julia W. Gouge for voting against
the re-zoning, and ask Commissioners Donald I. Dell and Robin B. Frazier
to reverse their decisions.
Contact County Commissioners:
http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdmanual/36loc/carr/html/carrl.html
Contact General Assembly representatives:
http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdmanual/07leg/html/gacocarr.html
WESTMINSTER: Is it a community or a traffic obstacle?
Contact: Ken Davidson, Carroll Life; Phone: 410-876-9017
Email: kennydav@erols.com; Cheryl
Cort, Chesapeake Bay Foundation; Phone: 410-269-0481; Email: ccort@savethebay.cbf.org
Westminster has always been the center of activity in Carroll County: for
work, play, government and shopping. However, some people -- including the
Transportation Steering Committee -- see Westminster not as Carroll
County's largest community, but as its largest traffic obstacle. They want
to build yet-another-bypass highway around Westminster.
Plans for a bypass hit a roadblock at the beginning of the year when the
Maryland Department of Transportation determined that Westminster's
proposed -- though not funded -- second bypass was contrary to Smart
Growth laws. Community activists are now working with the State to improve
Route 140, the existing bypass.
One of Westminster's greatest assets has been that most major roads in
Carroll County lead there. Even a bypass built several decades ago was
built close enough to the center of town that it serves the historic city
center and still provides traffic relief.
Poor planning plagued the original bypass with haphazard strip
development, but this condition is correctable. Properties along the
existing bypass can be woven into the existing town fabric, and traffic
improvements can be made to increase the road's capacity.
A new bypass, located out in the Carroll countryside, would affect traffic
patterns throughout the County. Most roads would no longer lead to
Westminster, but to the new bypass instead. Opportunities to enhance the
existing community and maintain its status as the center of Carroll County
would be thwarted.
A new bypass would simply allow county residents to turn their backs on
Westminster, and create new developments unrelated to the existing town.
Carroll County would lose its heart.
Moreover, a new bypass wouldn't solve the traffic congestion problem, but
would simply move it to its end points and ramp intersections.
Most Carroll County citizens realize the proposed bypass is a bad idea,
and now the State does too. The next step is for the local and regional
planning processes to be redirected to recognize this, and work to enhance
-- rather than turn away from -- the existing Westminster community.
Carroll Life, a group of citizens dedicated to preserving the rural
character of Carroll County, is currently participating in the Westminster
Working Group, led by the State Highway Administration, which is studying
the future of Route 140 in the Westminster area.
State Highway Administration has a four-phase plan to upgrade Rt 140,
parts of which are near completion or in progress. More substantial
changes such as widened bridges and added lanes are not yet funded.
Expensive alterations of Rt 140 are likely, including grade separations at
major intersections.
Substantial investments may be required in order to improve traffic flow
on Route 140 and avoid demand for a costly $200 million new bypass.
6. HOWARD COUNTY
MD Route 32 widening from Clarksville to I-70
CONTACT: Debbie Izzi, Citizens' Alliance for Rural Preservation,
Phone: 410-442-5970,
Email: izzcool@aol.com; Cheryl
Cort, Chesapeake Bay Foundation Phone: 410-268-8816, Email: ccort@savethebay.cbf.org
A proposal to convert Route 32 between MD 108 to I-70 from a two-lane
rural highway to a four-lane freeway would attract more traffic and spawn
more sprawl development in rural western Howard County and rapidly-growing
southern Carroll County.
After encountering serious opposition to the ill-conceived proposal from
Howard County residents, the State Highway Administration is considering
alternatives. Alternatives might include a center median on the two lane
highway, a safety design proposed by citizens and the Baltimore Regional
Partnership.
The US Environmental Protection Agency has rejected the federally-required
Draft Environmental Impact Statement due to the project's inconsistency
with Maryland's Smart Growth Areas Act, which requires the State to limit
growth-inducing investments to Smart Growth Areas. State Highway
Administration is currently discussing how it could justify a major
capacity expansion outside Smart Growth areas.
Although State Highway Administration has argued that additional lanes and
service roads, and 6 - 7 interchanges are needed to fix safety problems,
the Baltimore Regional Partnership has provided alternative proposals
which effectively resolve safety issues without vastly increasing road
capacity
For more information regarding MD Route 32, see the following documents on
the Baltimore Regional Partnership website:
www.balto-region-partners.org/doc9.htm,
www.balto-region-partners.org/doc10.htm,
www.balto-region-partners.org/doc11.htm.
ACTION
Ask County Executive James Robey and the State to abandon the proposal for
a four-lane freeway, and to develop an innovative, safety-alternative road
design.
Contact: James Robey, County Executive, 3430 Courthouse Drive, George
Howard Bldg, Ellicott City, MD 21043, Phone: 410-313-2013; and John
Porcari, Secretary, Maryland Department of Transportation, PO 8755, BWI
Airport, Maryland 21240-0755, Phone: 410-865-1000
COUNTY GENERAL PLAN TASK FORCE ADVOCATES BETTER IMPLEMENTATION OF GOOD
POLICIES
Contact: Geoff Silberman,
Howard County Citizens Association,
Phone: 410-997-4658; Email: geoff.silberman@jhuapl.edu.
The Howard County General Plan Task Force forwarded its recommendations to
the County Planning Board in late July, providing the basis for guidelines
to revise the County's General Plan. Members of the Task Force found
woefully insufficient progress toward attaining many of the 1990 Plan's
laudable goals. The Task Force recommended instituting a periodic progress
report on implementation of the General Plan's objectives. The Task Force
also recommended forming a department to oversee environmental issues and
sufficient resources to enforce environmental regulations. The Task Force
advocated for better regional coordination to address economic
development, revitalization of older communities, transportation, and
environmental protection. The Task Force asked the County to assess how
well it is managing growth, protecting agricultural lands and promoting
revitalization of older communities to reduce pressure to develop new
lands.
Activists are concerned that Task Force recommendations will be weakened
by the County government which is currently creating the final guidelines
for the General Plan revision. Community activists advocate the formation
of an independent body to assess the County's performance in meeting the
General Plan's goals. Perhaps in response to the Task Force's
recommendation, the County recently formed a new environmental division
within the Department of Planning and Zoning, but activists are concerned
that it is not empowered to achieve its aims. While Smart Growth and
revitalization were prominent topics among the Task Force's discussion,
measures for revitalization tended to win broad support among
pro-development members and environmental and civic activists alike, but
measures restricting growth elsewhere in the County did not receive
similar support.
ACTION
Get involved in the next phase of the process and voice your concern for
the future of your County. For information and hearing schedule, call the
Howard County Council at 410 313-2001
For Task Force recommendations and General Plan information see: http://www.co.ho.md.us/PZ/genplan.html
7. TOOL AND IDEAS
SMART GROWTH MUST GET SMARTER
New report by Chesapeake Bay Foundation and 1000 Friends of Maryland sees
need to improve smart growth laws and procedures.
Smart growth must become smarter if Maryland hopes to control sprawl and
the devastating impacts it has on communities, the environment, and
quality of life, according to a report by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation
and 1000 Friends of Maryland. The report, released October 8, 1999, noted
that most county governments are not directing growth into smart growth
areas, that state agencies have not developed adequate procedures and
guidelines for implementation, and that the public has been shut out of
the decision making process.
See website for full report: http://www.cbf.org/gmla_report/gmla_frames.htm.
To order a printed copy of the report, contact the Lands Program,
Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 410-268-8816, or 1000 Friends of Maryland,
410-385-2910.
Congestion Relief: Commuter Choice Programs can Reduce Highway
Stress and Pollution
For more information on Maryland Commuter Choice, contact: Scot
Spencer, Environmental Defense Fund, Phone: 202-387-3500, Email: scot_spencer@edf.org
Maryland has joined a growing list of states that offer complementary tax
breaks to the federal Commuter Choice Program. Commuter Choice -- didn't
think you had one?
In 1998, as part of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century
(TEA-21), the Internal Revenue Code was modified to permit transit users
to realize tax savings -- or for an employer to provide a tax-free
transportation fringe benefit -- it is commonly referred to as Commuter
Choice. In the 1999 legislative session, Maryland inaugurated a similar
tax credit for employers who support the cost of employee transit.
HB636 provides an employer with a 50-percent tax credit up to $30 per
month per employee. The credit can be taken against State income tax, the
financial institution franchise tax or the insurance premium tax. The
credit can be taken beginning January 1, 2000.
The Commuter Choice provisions can inspire increased transit use, which in
turn can ease highway congestion and reduce ozone-depleting emissions.
With more entry-level employment in the transit-sparse suburbs, creative
applications of Commuter Choice strategies can increase mobility and
proximity for the transit-dependent and work-ready.
Commuter Choice is a transportation alternative, an environmentally savvy
solution, an economic development tool, an employee morale booster and
savings to the bottom line. It is smart locally, regionally, state-wide
and nationally, so why not have it as an option at your workplace?
The State of Maryland is finalizing the guidelines for businesses to take
advantage of Maryland Commuter Choice.
For information on the federal Commuter Choice provisions, log on to: http://www.fta.dot.gov.
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ABOUT THE BALTIMORE REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP AND NEWSLETTER
The Baltimore Regional Partnership is an alliance of five community and
environmental groups: Baltimore Urban League, Chesapeake Bay Foundation,
Citizens Planning & Housing Association, Environmental Defense Fund,
1000 Friends of Maryland.
This newsletter investigates recent actions and ongoing policy decisions,
and announces upcoming events related to transportation, economic
development and land use actions that affect the region's quality of life.
We hope to link citizens in the region who are working to fight sprawl,
promote clean, efficient transportation, protect valuable farm and forest
lands, and revitalize older suburbs, the city and historic towns.
Send us information: Let us know about your work on land-use and
transportation policy decisions that are affecting the Baltimore region.
E-mail information to: MichelleW@CPHAbaltimore.org
Visit the Baltimore Regional Partnership website at: www.balto-region-partners.org/.
