To: Honorable Members, Anne Arundel County Council
November 5, 2001

Re: Parole Urban Design Criteria

The Baltimore Regional Partnership, a coalition of land use, transportation, and smart growth groups including 1000 Friends of Maryland, the Baltimore Urban League, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Citizens Planning and Housing Association, and Environmental Defense, strongly supports the adoption of the urban design criteria developed for the Parole Growth Management Committee. The Partnership believes that these criteria, if adopted, will be an important step towards convincing the State of Maryland to invest substantial transportation funds in Parole with confidence that these funds will generate a statewide and nationwide model for Smart Growth.

The Partnership and its member organizations applaud the Committee for a citizen-led, inclusive process that has developed an innovative and smart vision for the future of Parole. We urge the Council to move forward with this citizen-led vision. Especially considering that the PGMC has brought together planners, landowners, environmentalists, and developers to speak in unison, the Council would be wise to adopt the recommendations of this hard-working group. Without seeing many hours of hard work turned into real progress, citizens will be discouraged from participating in county processes in the future.

The PGMC and Anne Arundel County foresee major state investments in highway and transit infrastructure in Parole. The Partnership believes that such investments in highway and transit projects that support Smart Growth are fully justified because they are repaid by the fiscal, social, and environmental benefits of redeveloping existing areas instead of generating more suburban sprawl.

However, such investment is only justified in Parole if the redevelopment there is, in fact, Smart Growth. By setting standards for active street frontage, urban street design, and maximum setback requirements, the proposed urban design standards would help make Parole Town Center a model for Smart Growth that the state would be well advised to foster through transportation spending. Without such standards, the redevelopment of Parole could be a messy jumble of parking lots, service alleys, and strip mall shopping.

It seems extremely unlikely that the State of Maryland would invest Smart Growth transportation dollars in an area without any guarantees that the area will, in fact, end up being a model for Smart Growth. Therefore, a move to implement urban design standards in Parole not only will help fulfill the committee’s vision, but also is a critical step that is needed in order to bring in the state funding needed to make Parole a true town center.