After years of controversy and protests, there was hardly a peep on Tuesday afternoon when the County Council discussed the sale of the old fire station at York Road and Bosley Avenue. Only one person spoke about the project, and that was Nancy Hafford, executive director of the Towson Chamber of Commerce.
“That corner, they call it the gateway, but it’s one of the main entrances to Towson and it looks terrible, and it’s looked terrible for a long time,” Hafford told the council. “So I really hope, I hope you all will support this. Our hundreds and hundreds of businesses here really hope you will support this.”
The fact that the corner is the northern gateway into Towson is one of the reasons the community had so vehemently protested plans to put a Royal Farms gas station at the site. Towson’s master plan calls for walkable, pedestrian-friendly designs, which the gas station did not meet.
Proposed Royal Farms
Caves Valley Partners, the developer behind the controversial proposal for a Royal Farms gas station at the site, has reduced its bid price for the property. In 2013, Caves Valley offered $8.3 million for the property. It is now offering $6.9 million, but because the county has proposed giving the developer 10 years worth of tax credits up front, Caves Valley will only pay $5 million.
The Council is set to make a final vote on the contract Monday.
The gas station element of the project was removed under an agreement between Caves Valley and the Greater Towson Council of Community Associations (GTCCA). That agreement, signed Jan. 12, 2018, says that a new purchase price must be approved by the County Council within 90 days or the developer can revert back to its plan for a gas station. The Council’s Monday vote , however, does not meet the 90-day deadline. People involved in the deal said they think the issue of the missed deadline will not hinder the deal.
When the land was valued at $8.6 million in 2013, the zoning did not allow for a gas station, and the appraisal does not mention the possibility of a gas station. The original appraiser, citing client privacy, declined to comment on the 2013 estimate, and the county has also not commented.
The county had the parcel re-appraised in February 2018 by two firms. One valued the land at $5.03 million, and the other valued it at between between $5.8 million and $7.8 million.
One of those appraisals noted that “no development plans were proposed at the time of the [2013] appraisals,” meaning a gas station was likely not factored in to the calculated value.
Even people who think the county is letting Caves Valley get the property for too low of a price do not want to speak out against the contract, because under the terms of the agreement with the GTCCA, if the county does not approve the new price, the developer can instantly revert back to its plan to build a gas station.
That agreement
- includes a binding land covenant that prohibits a gas station at the site for 25 years
- prohibits a 24-hour business from locating at what would have been the Royal Farms gas station, unless it is a medical clinic — although the other buildings at the site don’t have the 24-hour prohibition
- prohibits many fast-food chains from locating at the site, although a Chick-fil-A would be allowed
Some in the community had hoped that Caves Valley would not only remove the gas station from the plan, but would also revise the overall project to make it adhere to Towson’s Overlay District, which calls for, among other things, buildings that have easy pedestrian access instead of being set behind large parking lots.
In addition to the question of price, there are several more layers of approval that Caves Valley needs from the county, and if those are not forthcoming, the developer still has the right to pursue the gas station as a Planned Unit Development (PUD). PUDs are a way of allowing land to be used for something not normally allowed under the zoning rules.
Caves Valley is allowed to revert back to its planned 24-hour Royal Farms gas station PUD, per the agreement, if any of the following occur:
- the new plan (without a gas station) is denied by the county
- the new plan is appealed
- the county approves a plan that is materially different than what Caves Valley submitted
- a law is passed that would prohibit the new plan from going forward
- the county fails to approve a contract amendment and/or purchase price reduction within 90 days that Caves Valley finds satisfactory.
If Caves Valley does go back to its gas-station plan, the GTCCA still has the right to fight it, according to the agreement.
Towson residents held a “Rally for Honest Government” earlier this month in honor of “treegate,” an incident last year in which Baltimore County cut down 30 trees at the site.
The trees were to be protected under a County Council resolution, and the property was to be sold “as is” — without expenditures by the county, such as tree removal. But County Executive Kevin Kamenetz’ office said they removed the trees to accelerate the sale of the land.
-Kris Henry
The Towson Flyer
More BS and chicanery from the Baltimore Old Boy’s Network. Would a dust off from the Md. Attorney General’s office help or has that office also been infected by this lice?