Baltimore County needs more apartments. One councilman may be stalling them.

One Baltimore County councilman holds the key to hundreds of apartments. And he’s been slow to open the doors.

February 11, 2026

Republican Wade Kach has not moved Lutherville Station forward or been present much in his district since August

One Baltimore County councilman holds the key to hundreds of apartments. And he’s been slow to open the doors.

As a moderate Republican, Wade Kach has built a reputation for consensus-building on the land-preservation issues his constituents in the northern part of the county care about.

But for the past seven years, as a local developer attempted to turn a largely abandoned parking lot next to the Lutherville Light Rail station into apartments, the 79-year-old’s everyone-should-be-heard approach has slow-walked a project that could alleviate a housing crunch.

Most recently, he’s rarely appeared in person for council meetings after suffering a bad fall, and he hasn’t attended many community meetings to discuss Lutherville Station. When he joins remotely, he keeps his camera off.

Kach said he regrets missing meetings, but added: “If I thought for one minute that I was shortchanging my constituents in my district, I would resign.”

Critics, like Maryland Community Development Secretary Jake Day, say it’s just another way Kach has stalled the project.

“Absolutely it hurts,” Day said of Kach’s absence. “Time is money. This is an obvious, undeniable, logical location for housing. It should have been built years ago.”

Day has worked with Gov. Wes Moore to pass laws and polices that fast-track transit-oriented development, like Lutherville Station. Near the Odenton MARC commuter train station, developers are building a $200 million project with 585 units, a quarter of which will be affordable housing.

“Meanwhile, Baltimore County Council’s downzoning Lutherville Station on the Light Rail — driven by one council member’s resistance — was a missed opportunity," wrote Mark Renbaum, principal at the Pikesville-based MLR Partners, which is behind the project, in a LinkedIn post congratulating state officials on the Odenton success.

Lutherville Station remains stalled even as more than half of Baltimore County’s renters spend at least 30% of their income on rent and utilities, making them “cost burdened.” About 1 in 4 spend half or more of their income on housing.

Rick Abbruzzese, a spokesman for Renbaum, said that delaying Lutherville Station means lost housing supply, tax revenue and economic activity.

With the state short on housing — by 96,000 units, according to the governor —experts say more inventory is urgent.

“More units mean less competition for limited housing stock,” said Adria Crutchfield, executive director of the Baltimore Regional Housing Partnership, “which helps level off costs for all renters.”

Day traces the shortage to more than a decade of outdated permitting and planning statewide. In Baltimore County, he has said, the problem may be more broken than anywhere else.

Kach has chafed at the Moore Administration’s attempts to curtail local land-use authority to push for more housing.

When told that Day criticized his pace on Lutherville Station, Kach retorted: “Who cares? I don’t care about them. Why would I care about the governor and housing secretary?”

Kach said his goal was to bring together constituents who wanted wildly different outcomes. One group was called No Apartments, No Compromise. Others, like Friends of Old Lutherville and Friends of Roland Run, sought development that didn’t overwhelm the area.

Objections include potential traffic, school overcrowding and flooding. Eight years after discussions began, “there are definitely still people who don’t want apartments under any circumstances,” said Eric Rockel, president of the Greater Timonium Community Council.

Renbaum first proposed more than 400 apartments; that’s now down to 325, which Rockel says he can work with.

Kach agreed. “I have been able to work with all sides and get them to be reasonable and get them to agree on a certain number.”

Kach was due to present a new plan at the Greater Timonium Community Council’s Jan. 14 meeting, but he wasn’t there. Instead, Rockel briefed the community.

“I’m not sure we came to any conclusions,” Rockel told the group of his discussions with Kach, “but I think we clarified a couple of things for the councilman and he will be working towards preparing some sort of planned unit development resolution that he’ll get back to us before he introduces it to the council, so we’ll have at least one, two, probably three more bites at the apple.”

Baltimore County’s seven council members wield unparalleled power over zoning.

Every four years, they decide how and where their districts will grow, occasionally overruling professional planners and the planning commission. Council members also can reverse decisions about whether or not intersections are considered too congested for further development nearby.

The council also practices councilmanic courtesy, customarily deferring to the member in whose district a project sits.

In 2023 and again in 2024, Kach found the intersection at York and Ridgely roads — the entrance to Lutherville Station — was congested, overturning county planners. In 2024, Kach removed the project’s “mobility node” status from the county master plan, which would have made it a priority.

Then, in August 2024, just as the state prioritized allowing 1,000 apartments on land zoned BL, or business local, Kach downzoned the 42-acre site, including Lutherville Station’s 13 acres.

Then, in August 2024, just as the state prioritized allowing 1,000 apartments on land zoned BL, or business local, like Lutherville Station, Kach downzoned the 42-acre site. Members of anti-apartment Facebook groups cheered their councilman.

Sharon Huber-Plano, a retired landscape architect who formed Friends of Old Lutherville, said the fits and starts make her and her landscape architect husband feel like they’re living in the movie “Groundhog Day.”

“You can’t please everyone in these processes. At some point, you just need to stand up and lead,” she said. “[Kach] should have retired. Have we just wasted five years?”

Kach mulled retiring in 2024 after previous health problems, but rebounded until his fall last summer.

A bill he introduced to require security at hookah lounges failed partly because of his absence.

Kach now plans to retire after the next election, in which Del. Nino Mangione is running to replace him. A conservative Republican, Mangione has pushed legislation banning books and gender-affirming care and recently lambasted a school walkout to protest ICE.

While northern Baltimore County trends Republican, many voters are not as conservative as Mangione. Because Mangione is from a prominent real estate family, some residents believe he will be more supportive of Renbaum’s efforts.

Mangione said Lutherville Station’s development has taken “far too long and should have been resolved years ago.” He favors the 325-apartment compromise and plans to work with the community to build consensus.

Kach attended the council in person Feb. 2 and said he plans to be back every week until his term ends. But he was absent again last night.

“People keep saying to me, ‘We need you,’” he said. “Whatever you do, don’t leave.’”

Read the article on the Baltimore Banner.