Baltimore County officials appear poised to give a developer an 18-acre site plus a $2 million county subsidy to ensure County Executive JimSmith?s pilot “renaissance” initiative for aging Beltway communities is a success.
Members of the County Council will vote Monday on a contract with Enterprise Homes and Mark Building Co. to redevelop the once-blighted Kingsley Park apartments in Essex. County officials said the deal required the subsidy ? $4 million including federal funds ? plus expected tax incentives because the companies could not design a profitable model under stringent federal regulations.
“This is going to help a community that was dysfunctional at one point, and stabilize it,” said Councilman John Olszewski, a Dundalk Democrat.
County officials said Enterprise and Mark were the only team to submit a complete proposal for the project, considered a test of Smith?s “renaissance” goals. The deal comes more than 43 months after the county purchased the blighted complex for $2.8 million, displacing about 300 families.
Project costs now total nearly $21 million ? not including demolition, architectural costs, tax help and expenses associated with a county park that will adjoin the site ? and at least one councilman said it?s far more than he anticipated.
Councilman Bryan McIntire, a Republican representing much of the county?s rural northern parts, said he plans to publicly raise additional questions before Monday?s vote.
“There is some qualified developer, somewhere, who will develop the site without taxpayer gratuities,” he said. “It?s ludicrous.”
The community completed a brainstorming process known as a charette to draft redevelopment guidelines last year. McIntire said costs for that process escalated from $10,000 to $94,000.
Federal regulations requiring nearly 75 percent of the 200 replacement units to remain work force housing discouraged greater interest from developers, officials said.
About half of the total units will be available to families with annual incomes at or below an estimated $46,600.
About 26 percent of the total units can be unrestricted, market-rate housing.
