housing and urban planning

A Baltimore County administrative law judge on Monday turned down a request from a community association to postpone a hearing on a proposed medical office building in Catonsville that has drawn scrutiny from state investigators.

City Hall is only interested in development if it leads to gentrification

Stanley I. Panitz, a Baltimore developer and community activist, died Monday from complications of Alzheimer's disease at Springwell Senior Living in Mount Washington. He was 88.

Annapolis public housing complex benefits from new business model that aims to put renewable energy on the roofs of public housing

W. Baltimore family moves out on deadline of eviction they blame on criminal actions of adult sons.

West Baltimore family braces for eviction Tuesday.

Baltimore's public housing agency announced Monday it has paid $3.7 million to a former public housing resident who suffered lead-paint poisoning as a young child during the 1980s, but it does nothing to resolve the larger issue of unpaid judgments troubling the agency.

Developer Steve Whalen said confusion about an eatery to be included in the development of a Catonsville medical office stems from him not being clear.

Aberdeen planning commission approves apartment units instead of condominiums

A police investigation into how the body of a Charles Village woman ended up badly decomposed in a neighbor's apartment this month will continue after a state medical examiner was unable to determine a cause of death, according to Baltimore police.

The body of a woman found in a Charles Village apartment Saturday was so decomposed that police have been unable to confirm an identity or determine whether there was foul play involved, police said Sunday.

Annapolis police seized what they are calling a "significant" amount of drugs in two simultaneous drug raids Wednesday that also netted loaded handguns and led to the arrest of two men.

A 50-year-old District of Columbia man was sentenced to more than three years in prison Wednesday for his role in a 2010 bank fraud scheme that led to the theft of almost $1.4 million from the Baltimore Housing Authority, prosecutors said.

Settlement vindicates Baltimore's effort to recover losses caused by Wells Fargo's mortgage discrimination

Under a landmark $175 million deal, Wells Fargo Bank will provide $7.5 million to the city of Baltimore to settle claims it engaged in price discrimination in its subprime mortgage lending practices.

Baltimore Housing Commissioner Paul T. Graziano met last month with an influential state lawmaker to discuss more than $8 million in unpaid court-ordered judgments against the city¿s housing authority, which have resulted from lead-paint poisoning lawsuits brought by former public housing residents.

Despite complaints, the county housing commission would do the best job of managing the Downtown Columbia Affordable Housing Trust Fund

The Howard County Council Monday passed legislation that would form a Downtown Columbia Partnership with amendments changing the partnership's leadership structure and the entity administering funds collected for affordable housing

The Howard County Zoning Board Wednesday night unanimously approved preliminary plans to redevelop the Wilde Lake Village Center with a minimum of 85,000 square feet of commercial space and a maximum of 250 residential units.

I've attended two meetings in Fallston where that district's councilman felt ethically compelled to leave while the pipeline was being discussed because Harford's rules are so unclear.

Affordable housing advocates Monday told the council they were surprised and disappointed the bill County Executive Ken Ulman introduced to set up a Downtown Columbia Partnership has the Howard County Housing Commission as the agency responsible for administering funds and ensuring requirements are met for affordable housing in downtown.

Former Howard County Housing director Stacy Spann's pending appointment to the Howard County Housing Commission is causing some minor controversy, as some believe it could be a conflict with his job as the head of Montgomery County's Housing Opportunities Commission.

"The havoc of what comp Lite created," Sigaty said, is what county Department of Planning and Zoning Director Marsha McLaughlin is trying to avoid by proposing changes to the comprehensive rezoning process that include DPZ having the authority to set a concrete deadline for when property owners can submit new rezoning requests.

Just as plans to redevelop Wilde Lake Village Center, the oldest in Columbia, have evolved over the past four years, so too have residents' opinions.

Howard County Housing announced Tuesday that it plans to indefinitely stop accepting applications for the federally-funded housing choice voucher program, as well as its public housing program, after 5 p.m. Friday, June 29.

Last year's Occupy encampments are gone, but activists continue to work for economic justice in Baltimore by focusing on the issue of foreclosures.

Last year's Occupy encampments are gone, but but activists continue to work for economic justice in Baltimore by focusing on the issue of foreclosures.

Despite financing more than $140 million city contracts in the past 12 years, donating tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic causes and being a member of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's inner circle, J.P. Grant has largely avoided the limelight.

Howard County Housing is hosting three community forums with housing professionals to discuss the growing problem of condo association loosing FHA financing because of high delinquency rates

Highland/Fulton: Reservoir High School students Chaz Atkinson, Caroline des Jardins-Park and Carl Gaytano were all winners in the Howard County Public School System "Poetry Alive" writing contest.

The team promoting Baltimore's Grand Prix — a group announced by city officials this week following the collapse of two other race organizers — has fewer than four months to hawk sponsorships, market the event, sell tickets and set up the race course and grandstands.

The County Council Monday unanimously passed a bill that will prohibit a property owner from obtaining a county rental license if they are more than 30 days behind on their condo association or homeowner association fees.

Baltimore is a city full of potential to Nancy Welsh, the founder of the rapidly expanding North Carolina nonprofit Builders of Hope Inc.

William J. Schmidt, a former department store buyer who became director of administration for the Baltimore City Housing Department, died Monday from complications of Parkinson's disease at his Bel Air home. He was 79.

Jury finds agency negligent in case brought by 17-year-old girl

Twelve 11th grade girls from Harford County high schools were honored Saturday at the 26th annual Judith Resnik Mathematics/Science Awards luncheon at Harford Community College.

Richard D. Norling of Darlington and Cordell E. Hunter Sr. of Havre de Grace were appointed to the Harford Community College Board of Trustees by Gov. Martin O'Malley this week. O'Malley also reappointed the current board chairman Bryan E. Kelly and board members Doris Carey and John Haggerty.

When Kelly Riesner tried to sell her home in Montgomery Woods, she found out the Elkridge condo community has a 23 percent delinquency rate on its association dues and thus anyone trying to buy in the community does not qualify for Federal Housing Administration financing.

A developer working to transform vacant, city-owned properties in a North Baltimore neighborhood south of Charles Village into hundreds of new and rehabbed homes got city design approval Thursday for 69 new apartments that will get under way this fall.

A $5 million lawsuit brought by a Baltimore penthouse condo owner over mold in his unit was recently dismissed by a Baltimore Circuit Court judge in favor of the waterfront property's condo association.

Newer rental homes, repairs to be regulated

At first glance, the image could be a Rohrschach inkblot, or maybe abstract art. What it doesn¿t resemble is public information ¿ because, really, how informative can a blacked-out chart be?

Manchester Valley High School hosted its first-ever Relay for Life on March 23 in the school stadium in Manchester, pulling together aspects of the high school and the greater community to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

The Abingdon Community Council is asking for feedback from residents.

An advisory committee recommends Seawall Development Corp. to rehab nine vacant, city-owned row houses in the 2800 block of Remington Avenue. Sewall, best known for converting old mills in Hampden enad Remington into affordable hpusing for young teachers, beat two other bidders for the project.

More and more Howard County residents are renting out their homes amid the slumped housing market, sometimes leaving a burden of unpaid fees to the home or condo owners association.

Del. Rosenberg "disappointed" in lack of progress, as judgments imperil $1.65 million state loan