In the glow of election victory, Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger unveiled his grand "mini-Harborplace" -- privately financed waterfront reverie that would crown the east county's revitalization.
Four years later, Ruppersberger has shoveled more than $140 million into rebuilding the eastern communities, but his dream for a four-star restaurant, a maritime museum and retail shops on Dark Head Cove, not far from the Chesapeake Bay, is a fading memory.
Critics say his administration has failed to capitalize on Baltimore County's greatest asset -- 175 miles of creeks, coves and rivers -- and push strongly for a waterfront destination that could compete with Havre de Grace, Chestertown and Rock Hall, bringing badly needed money to the area.
"They missed the boat when it came to attracting the tourist dollar to our area," said Wayne Miskiewicz, president of the Marine Trades Association, which represents waterfront businesses.
"Those of us on the water are just disappointed the county hasn't taken the bull by the horns and pushed for backers while doing the other things they had to do, like getting rid of the crime areas," Miskiewicz said.
These days, Ruppersberger is instead touting a less ambitious, privately funded endeavor known as Hopewell Pointe, where construction is expected to begin by 2000. But the shorefront housing complex and marina-restaurant on Hopkins Landing peninsula is a far cry from the executive's grand vision for Dark Head Cove, a deep-water lagoon at the head of Middle River near Martin State Airport.
"I haven't switched, but I have to be pragmatic," Ruppersberger said recently. "If someone comes in with private money to develop on Dark Head Cove, that would be great. But I don't see anybody banging on our door. Hopewell Pointe is more reality than vision."
Frustrated, Miskiewicz's organization is starting a web site and national advertising campaign touting the county's vast waterfront and its developmental promise. And a private corporation has been examining the economic feasibility of forging ahead and developing Dark Head Cove.
The proposal -- first outlined by county officials in the summer of 1995 -- called for a mini-Harborplace on 45 acres owned by Lockheed Martin Corp.
The idea was hatched by Jack Dillon, an imaginative and respected member of the county planning department who is retired. A partial conceptual drawing depicted a facility about half the size of a Harborplace pavilion and included 150 day-use boat slips, landscaping and open space for significant expansion.
Such a development would have been a boon to eastern Baltimore County communities that have suffered the loss of tens of thousands of well-paying industrial jobs.
But county officials say the project is only part of the east side revitalization. Development of the county's shoreline must be preceded by the demolition of decaying World War II-era apartment complexes. The proposed mini-Harborplace site lies across the water from Chesapeake Village, an apartment complex that the county plans to raze.
In theory, new homes, improved schools and a revamped infrastructure would attract larger investors who could bankroll Ruppersberger's shoreline Adream.
But an early feasibility study for Dark Head Cove revealed little interest by private developers
Indeed, the Hopewell Pointe project, a few miles away, underscores the importance of private involvement. A team of developers, dubbed the "Five Amigos," is investing $34 million to build a residential community and upscale restaurant marina.
That project calls for 221 semi-detached homes and waterfront condominiums on a 55-acre site, on a creek leading into Middle River.
"Obviously," said Ellwood A. Sinsky, one of the developers, "we wouldn't have put our money into the project if we didn't believe in it."
Adds Thomas Carski, one of Sinsky's partners: "We think we're in front of the development community that will awaken when state Route 43 comes over from White Marsh. This area will explode, but it won't happen overnight."
Tourist attraction
The county is hoping to help pave the way for a transformation of the east side, where former shore shacks have been converted into waterfront homes and where corporate executives are attracted by the proximity of Middle River and Bowley's Quarters to office centers in Baltimore, Hunt Valley and Owings Mills.
But the county also had envisioned parlaying its waterfront into a tourist attraction. According to a 1994 economic impact study commissioned by the marine association, the recreational marine industry on the east side accounts for $130 million annually -- from payrolls and taxes to boat repair yards, food, fuel and marina rentals.
Miskiewicz said nearly half of boaters who ply the Chesapeake Bay and the rivers and creeks off Baltimore County are from Pennsylvania, Virginia and even the Midwest.
Boat owners spent more than $1 billion on trips, new and used boats and related expenses, a University of Maryland study showed in 1993.
But a viable tourist attraction is the missing piece on the waterfront, said Ray Piechocki, an architect and boater with property on Seneca Creek.
"If I want chopped chicken liver, I have to go to Towson," he said. "We badly need a tourist destination on a quality level, with restaurants, movie theater, small shops. On my block, there are three new homes, each worth $300,000."
"CEOs live next door to plumbers on the waterfront, and that's what makes the east side so great, none of this classism," Piechocki said. "But we have to attract people who will spend the higher bucks to turn back into the community."
When Ruppersberger took office, his planners and economic development managers faced a daunting task: attracting jobs to replace blue-collar jobs, and cleaning up crime-ridden apartment complexes and deteriorated streets and alleys.
The troubled Riverdale Village apartments have been demolished, and individual middle-income housing is planned for those 68 acres on Eastern Boulevard.
Officials continue to push hard in Annapolis for the extension of Md. Route 43 connecting Eastern Boulevard with White Marsh, a key link to Interstate 95, with completion expected in six years. In addition, a $6 million chunk of Ruppersberger's revitalization package is earmarked for beautifying Eastern Boulevard from Middlesex Shopping Center to Martin Boulevard.
County planners hope the 1,100 acres of the pristine A. V. Williams tract, where a proposed auto racing speedway failed, will draw corporate development, such as light industry and a significant number of full-time jobs.
'Planned path'
Robert L. Hannon, the county director of economic development, said the steps taken toward reinvigorating the east side are part of "a deliberate and planned path." He added, "We haven't delivered on the specific idea of the mini-Harborplace because the right pieces were not in place. We have not deleted the idea. The waterfront is important to us, but we can't force it."
Officials look toward Hopewell Pointe and Fairwinds, a shoreline housing development on Frog Mortar Creek where 60 out of 90 homes have been sold for an average of $200,000, said Carski.
Such developments are establishing a new housing base on the east side, said Joseph DiCara, an Essex civic activist and candidate for the state House of Delegates. But a waterfront tourist attraction "has slipped into oblivion."
"If it could be done in Baltimore, it can be done in Baltimore County," said DiCara, vice president of an international construction firm, GOW International Inc., which has examined the possibility of developing Dark Head Cove.
"There's been no push," said DiCara. "A lack of continuing follow-through has showed the grand side of the announcement to be nothing but lip service."
For Robert Schmidt, a retired Bethlehem Steel engineer who resides on Wilson Point, the message is clear.
"We have a boat, spend about $100 when we go to dinner in places like Rock Hall and Havre de Grace, where the marinas are always crowded. I'd like to have a similar place here in Baltimore County," Schmidt said. "It's time has come."
Pub Date: 9/06/98