In two separate councilmanic acts on Monday, Sept. 19, 1st District Councilman Tom Quirk threw his support behind both the development and preservation of land in Baltimore County.
Both moves, which came during a legislative session, concern planned unit developments, a source of recent controversy for the first-term councilman.
In terms of development, Quirk introduced – and thus formalized his support for – Catonsville developer Steve Whalen's planned unit development proposal to build an 85,000-square-foot, four-story medical complex. The complex would be built on top of a three-story parking garage on a 2-acre parcel just north of Wilkens Avenue in Catonsville, between the Baltimore Beltway and Kenwood Avenue.
Currently, a PUD proposal can only be approved if it shows it will help the community by providing an environmental benefit, a land-use benefit, a capital improvement to a nearby county-owned facility or volunteer fire department, new economic development opportunities or new senior or workforce housing.
The benefits are essentially offered by the developer in exchange for the zoning exceptions requested in the PUD.
Quirk, along with 5th District Councilman David Marks, introduced a bill that would add donations to NeighborSpace, a local nonprofit focused on preserving green space in the county's most urbanized communities, to the list of possible project benefits.
The two efforts, said Quirk, whose district includes Catonsville and Arbutus, will help strike the balance needed in the county between smart growth and green preservation.
"For proper planning to truly work, I think you do need a balance," Quirk said. "Where you're going to have more density, it's nice also to have more open space, like pocket parks."
Marks, who is also in his first term and whose district includes the Parkville, Perry Hall, Towson, Loch Raven and White Marsh areas, agreed, saying PUDs have their place, but so does green space.
"The county has done a very good job of preserving land in the rural northern part of the county, but it hasn't done enough to preserve land in the more urbanized areas," Marks said. "There's very little money left in the budget, so we're trying to find many different ways of protecting the land, and this is one way we can do it."
'Truly smart growth'
Quirk said his decision to support Whalen's project was a difficult one, but one that was aided by input from community groups and county planning agencies.
The council revised the rules for PUD proposals in July, after a squabble over another Catonsville PUD for a residential development on Thistle Road. Rules now require such input before a councilman can introduce a PUD to the rest of the council.
In the end, Quirk said a variety of factors convinced him that the Kenwood Avenue PUD was worthwhile.
First, the land there has been zoned for offices since the early 1980s, and what Whalen wants to build is not too much different from what he would already be allowed to build by right, Quirk said.
"This is an office building on an office-building-designated site that's had that designation for more than 20 years," Quirk said.
Second, the land has been specifically targeted by county planners for development because of its location along the Beltway and within existing infrastructure, and Whalen's proposal has received positive reviews from county agencies.
"This is truly smart growth," Quirk said.
Lastly, the project is of a high quality, both aesthetically and environmentally, and will bring community benefits with it, including traffic mitigation, and improved walkability in the area. This, in part through an additional $50,000 donation Whalen has promised to make to Catonsville Rails to Trails.
"I think it's obvious this PUD is loaded with public benefits," Quirk said.
Both Quirk and Marks said they expect the bill to add NeighborSpace to the list of recipients for donations to easily pass.
Quirk said he has also spoken with the rest of the council about Whalen's project, and that he expects the tradition of councilmanic courtesy -- in which council members defer to a colleague for development decisions in his or her own district -- to prevail.
Moving forward, Quirk said he hopes NeighborSpace will see more funding through PUD proposals and be able to preserve more land – even as the PUDs continue a trend of smart growth in the area.
"Open space and density have to balance each other," he said.
Barbara Hopkins, executive director of NeighborSpace, said additional funding would be a "shot in the arm" for the organization as it works to purchase, preserve and improve on green spaces in the county.
A current law in the county that requires developers to either include a certain amount of green space in each new development or pay for a waiver provides a large portion of the organization's current funding, but that amount has dropped in recent years, said Hopkins, a Parkville resident.
"We had a pretty good income stream for a few years, but when development stopped, sort of when the economy stalled, that source of funding more or less dried up," Hopkins said.
Because the organization has to purchase liability insurance for its land and pay property taxes, among other costs, it is in constant need of funding, making the prospect of funding from PUD developers an exciting one, Hopkins said.
"We really see ourselves as a partner to the county, to the community groups, and anything that would help to strengthen that partnership is really important," she said.
This story has been updated.