Baltimore's planning commission approved plans Thursday evening for a major development, including a Walmart store, on the site of Anderson Automotive in Remington.
The decision followed hours of testimony from developers, city officials and community leaders for and against the project, which some believe would flood the neighborhood with traffic and reduce home values.
The proposal now goes to the City Council for further hearings and a final decision.
Rick Walker and Lawrence Cager of WV Urban Development, their attorney, Jon Laria of Ballard Spahr, planning officials and backers of the 25th Street Station project dominated the first two and a half hours of the meeting.
Laria said the project, which would include a Lowe's home improvement and garden store with a Walmart store built on an upper level, should generate $100 million in economic impact during construction and $70 to $80 million per year after completion.
The plans also call for 70 to 80 housing units and space for up to two dozen smaller retail stores.
Leaders from at least five community groups expressed qualms about the project, particularly about traffic at the site, which straddles Howard Street near 25th Street.
Megan Hamilton of the Historic Fawcett community group said the noise and lights from the planned stores could destroy her neighborhood's way of life if measures are not taken to control the project. The Lowe's store would face a strip of tidy rowhouses in the neighborhood, which is tucked away along a little-used road off Howard Street.
"We don't want to wind up being a declining neighborhood at the end of a truck route," Hamilton said. "We don't want to be collateral damage."
Michael Ball, also a member of Historic Fawcett, asked the developers to use stones from a century-old church slated for demolition to build a wall to contain noise and refuse from the stores. The group also asked that some nearby streets be turned into cul-de-sacs and that other traffic-calming measures be implemented.
Joan Floyd, president of the Remington Neighborhood Alliance, contested a traffic impact study completed by the city's Transportation Department. She requested that a "solid wall" be built around the section of the development that will face 24th Street, noting concerns about noise and odor.
Jennifer Erickson, president of the Charles Village Civic Association, read a joint letter from the Greater Remington Improvement Association and the Old Goucher Community Association asking for traffic improvements, including the rerouting of a bike lane from 25th Street to 26th Street and a dedicated left turn lane from North Avenue to Howard Street.
Members of two coalitions of business owners, residents, labor activists and religious leaders — Bmore Local and Baltimore CAN — held a rally before the hearing. The groups have asked city officials to require merchants in the development to pay employees the state's living wage and to hire local residents, among other requests.
julie.scharper@baltsun.com