Think of Towson as Play-Doh.
That?s what Baltimore County officials tell Towson residents and business leaders as the community prepares for an intensive think tank that will ultimately produce a new master development plan. They?re bringing in a team of expert architects, civil engineers and planners ? known as an urban design assistance team, or UDAT ? to help residents remold Towson?s landscape.
“There might be some crazy pie-in-the-sky ideas that come out of it, but I?m hoping some normal stuff comes out of it too, like a restaurant row,” said Mike Ertel, president of the Greater Towson Council of Community Associations. “That will bring others in.”
Towson is the third county town to have a UDAT, joining Dundalk, Essex-Middle River and Randallstown. The goal is to create planning guidelines to expedite project approval for developers who follow them. Residents also brainstorm solutions to congestion, pollution, unaffordable housing and vacant storefronts.
During the week of June 7, the team will zero in on the county seat?s neighborhoods and core commercial district, from Charles Street on the west to Loch Raven Boulevard on the east, and from the Beltway in the north to the city-county line in the south. Residents are invited to a forum Thursday to pitch ideas.
“This will be a very real opportunity for people to express their ideas on how Towson should evolve,” said Jay Doyle, a county community revitalization specialist. “I say dream big, but also dream small. The larger projects can take time.”
Some said they hope the experience will bridge gaps between the business and residential communities. UDAT leader Steve Gaddis, a North Carolina-based architect, said he senses Towson residents distrust the development process, and hopes openness changes that.
“Because towns in Baltimore County aren?t incorporated, they feel they have no say in how things go,” Gaddis said. “This process is a lot of fun and any community who needs to come to grips with what it wants for itself needs to do it.”
