Baltimore County leaders start 'charrette' development program at

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Jun 8, 2005 by James Mosher

Baltimore County leaders have started what they call a housing revolution. Although their first shot is currently one big hole, officials and residents are looking to the future.

County Executive James T. Smith Jr., County Council members and others gathered yesterday at the site of the former Kingsley Park Apartments in Essex to celebrate what they said will be a community- driven revitalization of the decrepit neighborhood.

This is a dream come true, said Smith, backed by nightmarish piles of ruins and hip-tall grass. We are breaking new ground in Baltimore County and nationally. This process is something that will be used repeatedly in our communities.

The process is a pilot development program featuring a charrette, a community-intensive effort that involves public meetings and week- long design sessions run by professionals. It's a revolutionary approach that democratizes development decisions, turning residents into stakeholders, officials said.

Donald Mohler, chief spokesman for Smith, predicted Kingsley Park will become a state and national model for suburban renewal.

Such a ripple effect would be desirable, Smith and others said. We're hopeful this project will spark a renaissance in this corridor, said John Olszewski, a county councilman who represents Essex.

The council has designated at least six zones as renaissance opportunity areas. Projects in these areas are eligible to be developed using the charrette program, although property owners aren't compelled to do so.

A development plan for Kingsley Park that includes 79 to 86 units of senior housing, 73 single-family detached homes, and 43 townhouses was approved Monday by a vote of 57-1, Smith said. I think that's consensus, the county executive said with a grin. I'm glad we've achieved consensus.

Plans put together by Baltimore-based architectural and planning firm Design Collective Inc. with input from residents will now be assembled into a pattern book, said Mary Harvey, the county's community conservation director. The pattern book should be ready by the end of August, she said.

The pattern book will then be presented at a community meeting in September. The county's Planning Board will vote in October on whether to certify the pattern book. The project will then go on offer to developers interested in building according to the pattern book, Harvey said. A number of developers have expressed interest. She declined to give names.

We're confident a number of reputable firms will be bidding, Harvey said.

The county purchased the 18-acre property located at the intersection of Back River Neck Road and Old Eastern Avenue in September, and decided to redevelop it using the pilot program legislation adopted by the council in December. The redevelopment process began May 3 with a meeting attended by 140 people.

Development issues have become contentious in recent years with residents and officials alarmed by the growth of suburban sprawl. Smith and council members have collaborated on a strategy of concentrating growth in previously developed neighborhoods like Essex and Dundalk and keeping the northern part of the county mostly rural.

Neighbors of old Kingsley Park, former home to drug dealers and criminals, yesterday praised this vision.

I've been advocating lower-density zoning for a long time, said Nellie Grinage, president of the East Hopewell Avenue Community Association. It encourages people to take care of what they're blessed with.

Grinage, through her job at Martin State Airport, plans on a recruiting community-minded people from other states to settle in the area, she said.