Critics of Baltimore?s new master plan, the comprehensive overhaul of zoning regulations and development guidelines, said it might prevent communities from having say in what gets built in their neighborhoods.
“They?re trying to do away with urban development plans,” said City Council Member Robert Curran, D-District 3. “It will unempower the communities.”
At issue are existing urban development plans, legal guidelines that have been tailored to development concerns in specific city neighborhoods and turned into law by the City Council, that would be eliminated if the new master plan is adopted.
The plans cover a range of issues, from how many of a specific type of business can locate in an area to what sort of signs a business can use to advertise.
Curran said the plans are vital to help tailor growth to the specific needs of the neighborhood by allowing community input.
“As it stands, communities won?t have a say. I wouldn?t want to see that lost,” Curran said.
Mark Cameron, executive director of the Neighborhood Design Center, a community-based nonprofit that advises communities on design issues, said that at first glance, some neighborhoods are apprehensive about the change.
“A lot of community members think it?s scary,” Cameron said. “Urban development plans can be important if there are no other regulations or guidelines in place.”
Cameron said the city will prepare “design guidelines” for specific neighborhoods separate from the master plan, though he said he thought that at this point the idea needs “to be worked out.”
The uncertainty comes as the planning department is making final revisions to the new master plan, which is getting its first overhaul since 1971. The master plan determines citywide zoning laws, as well as sets development strategies and goals for neighborhoods. The revised plan will be submitted to the City Council as a series of ordinances for approval.
But Otis Rolley, chief of city planning, said eliminating urban renewal plans was only a recommendation in the new master plan. “We will not get rid of them until we have something better to replace them with,” he said.
Rolley explained that existing urban renewal plans are patchwork laws that help neighborhoods deal with an outdated zoning law.
“We need to get the zoning laws up to date, then communities will have a better tool to work with,” Rolley said.
