A new state bill allows such projects to bypass local opposition and requires local governments to allow denser developments if they meet certain standards. The Lutherville Station project would meet the criteria.
August 15, 2024
A company hoping to redevelop a Lutherville shopping center that has been the focus of local opposition has asked Baltimore County for a recommendation that would ease the project’s state approval process and bypass local zoning laws.
If successful, Mark Renbaum would add an extra 110 units to the Lutherville Station project, which he first proposed in 2021. According to an application he submitted Tuesday to the county Department of Planning, the project would include a 560-unit apartment and shopping complex, known as a mixed-use development, next to a light rail station on West Ridgely Road.
Renbaum’s company, MLR Partners, formally applied for a transit-oriented development (TOD) designation Tuesday. A stamp of approval acts as a county recommendation that the project be moved through the state process. The Maryland Department of Transportation has final approval.
The project must be zoned locally to receive planning approval, but if given a state designation like TOD, it could bypass that requirement via a new state law.
Renbaum said he is also continuing to work with the Greater Timonium Community Council to introduce a planned unit resolution, which would be necessary for local zoning approval if the TOD is not approved.
Renbaum previously suggested building 450 units, which sparked outcry from the surrounding community, who opposed it on the grounds that it would overwhelm the area with traffic and too many residents for public facilities to accommodate.
Councilman Wade Kach, a Timonium Republican who has opposed Lutherville Station, accused Renbaum of not acting “in good faith.”
A TOD is a development that has a mix of residential, retail, and commercial uses and is designed to encourage public transit use by being located near a transportation hub, like a light-rail station.
A new state bill, set to take effect in January, allows such projects to bypass local opposition and requires local governments to allow denser developments if they meet certain standards, like being located within three-quarters of a mile to a rail station. The Lutherville Station project would meet the criteria.
Baltimore County currently has one TOD, the Owings Mill Metro Station, according to the state Department of Transportation.
“Lutherville Station is a once in a generation opportunity for Baltimore County,” Renbaum said in a statement. “Given its location, Lutherville Station is the most obvious TOD site in the county that promises to bring new state and local tax revenue to fund critical priorities and help address the state’s housing shortage.”
In his application, Renbaum claimed the project would generate an additional $2.2 million in property taxes and create 927 jobs.
Lutherville Station has been the target of protests by nearby residents, who worry that the influx of new tenants and customers would put a strain on nearby schools and roads. Kach has cited Lutherville Station as an example of development that threatens to “urbanize the suburban parts of Baltimore County.”
Kach previously said he wants Renbaum and oppositional residents to reach a compromise. His chief of staff, Ryan Fried, said via email Wednesday that Renbaum did not inform them before submitting the application.
“This latest action by the developer, to request that the county recommend that the state approve designating Lutherville Station as a Transit Oriented Development, flies in the face of the efforts to reach an agreement on a redevelopment sensitive to this area’s uniqueness,” Kach said in an emailed statement.
“Unfortunately, this move by the developer is not surprising. In my opinion, given this development, the developer has not acted in good faith.”
Renbaum has not yet received the required local zoning via the council that would allow the project to move forward. He has requested the project be rezoned via the Comprehensive Zoning Map Process, a council-led process once every four years where residents can request a particular process be rezoned. The process ends in September, and a final decision will be made then.
Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr., a Democrat running for Congress, said he supports Lutherville Station as part of the county’s push to encourage more housing production and repurpose aging shopping centers for new uses.
The General Assembly made housing policy a priority of the last legislative session, citing the state’s shortage of 96,000 units. A third of those missing are located in the Baltimore area, according to Jake Day, the secretary of the state Department of Housing and Community Development.
Olszewski’s efforts to encourage housing have run into opposition among residents and members of the county council seeking to preserve the county’s rural and agrarian areas.
County spokesperson Sean Naron said the county Department of Planning would review the application before deciding whether to recommend to the state that it receive the TOD designation.
Read the article on The Baltimore Sun.
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