Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. is withdrawing a development bill that he proposed last month that council members had criticized for usurping their authority over the future of development and zoning.
On Tuesday, Olszewski and Baltimore County Council Chair Izzy Patoka, both Democrats, said they had brokered an agreement for the council to introduce legislation in the coming weeks that will create new zoning districts to promote mixed-use development in certain areas.
In exchange, Olszewski said he will withdraw his original bill, which would have allowed some mixed-use developments to bypass council approval if they underwent planning and other agency processes.
In a statement, the county executive said he “applauded” Patoka’s willingness to work with other council members to draft their own bill.
“Baltimore County needs to act now and with urgency to revitalize aging communities, support housing creation and cultivate thoughtful, more transit and pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods,” Olszewski said.
Details of the new plan were not disclosed Tuesday.
Council members, including Todd Crandell of Dundalk and Wade Kach of Timonium, both Republicans, had criticized Olszewski’s bill, arguing that it would undermine the council’s ability to control zoning and planning projects. Neither Kach nor Councilman Pat Young, a Catonsville Democrat who said he supported Olszewski’s bill, responded Tuesday to requests for comment.
Ryan Coleman, the president of the Randallstown NAACP, which brought the federal lawsuit that resulted in the 2016 consent decree that requires the county to build more affordable housing, said he was “disappointed” in the bill’s withdrawal.
“It at least started the conversation of” building more affordable housing in Baltimore County, he said. “We are hoping that we can have a seat at the table. There was so much back and forth that it felt like people lost sight of its purpose.”
Crandell called Olszewski’s bill “unpopular” and “completely toxic,” and said the relationship between the council and county administration was currently “tenuous.”
“This has been a concerted effort to circumvent the county council’s land use authority and it didn’t work,” Crandell said of Olszewski’s bill Tuesday.
Authority over zoning and development has become a point of contention between the council and county administration in recent months.
While the county is poised to run out of developable land within 20 years, the consent decree it agreed to with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development mandates that the county produce 1,000 units of affordable housing by 2027.
The county is also four years late on passing its 2030 Master Plan, a charter-required process that guides where development should take place in the county every 10 years. The process was initially set to take place in 2020, but the county delayed it due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Master Plan, a draft of which Olszewski’s administration introduced last year, is set for a council vote Tuesday night, months after the legislative body delayed taking action because of concerns about its format and the inclusion of specific areas that would promote mixed-use development. County officials refused to help council staff amend the plan, according to emails obtained by The Baltimore Sun.
Nearby residents have opposed one such proposed mixed-use development, Lutherville Station, where developer Mark Renbaum wants to build 450 housing units and office space between a light rail station and a shopping center. Olszewski said he supports Lutherville Station, calling it “the kind of development we need to see more of across the region.”
The new plan, brokered by Patoka and Olszewski, is expected to be shared in the next few weeks.
“This new mixed-use zoning overlay district can serve to promote community revitalization and spur economic development as an implementation tool,” Patoka said of the impending legislation. “Combining data driven analysis with community sentiment is the right approach.”
