David Marks
The Comprehensive Zoning Map Process, or CZMP, is the most difficult exercise undertaken by the Baltimore County Council. Every four years, the County Council receives hundreds of requests from landowners and other parties to change the zoning that allows what can be built.
In the 2012 rezoning cycle, I supported—and the County Council approved—a historic downzoning of land in Towson’s neighborhoods. About 66 acres was downzoning to protect scenic areas like the Cromwell Valley and limit infill development. By downzoning the city-owned water site on Burke Avenue, for example, we prevented more apartments from being built at that location, which was a wise decision now that the land is up for sale. By downzoning the Mount Pleasant Golf Course, we eliminated hundreds of homes from ever being constructed off Loch Raven Boulevard.
This year’s rezoning cycle will have both big and small impacts in Towson. I have long been concerned about the sensitivity of the Cromwell Valley, which is why we changed 167 acres along the Cromwell Valley to the lowest rate allowed for development.
I have also been concerned about the encroachment of development in Downtown Towson on surrounding neighborhoods, which is why we restricted more intense development to the traditional borders of Downtown Towson, such as Bosley Avenue. In the Towson Triangle, I agreed with community leaders that the 101 York project should not be rezoned to allow for a higher structure, and that the large parcel owned by the American Legion should keep its current zoning.
Much of our rezoning was forward-looking. In 2012, the Kamenetz administration considered building a fire station at Towson Manor Park. I disagreed with that move, and used this rezoning process to apply Neighborhood Commons to many public properties throughout Greater Towson.
This open space zoning protects the land from being developed if it is ever sold off for other purposes. Towson Manor Park, the Rodgers Forge tot lot, and the open space north of Campus Hills are now protected through Neighborhood Commons. The beautiful lawn at Greenwood Mansion has been designated as Neighborhood Commons. All told, more than 95 acres in Greater Towson now has this protective designation.
As we have seen with the Presbyterian Home of Maryland, there are many longtime institutions that have very intense zoning; if they ever close, surrounding neighborhoods are at risk of overdevelopment. That is why I recommended to downzone the Newman Center along York Road, the woods behind the Towson Y, and Mount Moriah lodge in Southland Hills.
I would like to thank all those contacted my office during this rezoning process. The steps we took will focus redevelopment in the Towson core, as recommended by the Master Plan, while lightening the impact of growth throughout Towson’s neighborhoods.
David Marks is the councilman for Baltimore County’s Fifth District
He can be reached at dmarks@baltimorecountymd.gov
Towsongate residents thank our councilman David Marks for helping us support development of the Goucher property on Dulaney Valley Road in a way that minimizes our neighborhood traffic impact and is beautifully designed. Goucher’s design passively reduces concentrated stormwater flows while passively cooling the whole development project with almost 10 times the minimum impervious & green space required by the new DT code and by planting native canopy trees throughout. Goucher’s leadership with this exceptional design, and their collaboration with the neighborhoods, was a process other developers might find beneficial. Reaching prompt consensus in a sincere collaborative manner, as opposed to the usually adversarial attitudes developers are known to employ locally, benefitted everyone. That’s smart development we all need. Thank you Goucher College. Though he has neither boasted nor sought praise, we all owe David Marks a big thank you for an outcome our neighborhoods embrace.