(8/6, 11:40 am – UPDATED with additional speaker testimony)

There’s nothing quite like ending a hot and swampy August day in Baltimore with a four-plus hour, standing-room-only Planning Commission hearing about a controversial mixed-use development project. (One woman made significant progress on a yellow scarf she was knitting).

In spite of the heat, and as a testament to the magnitude of support or concern for the 25th Street Station project, the city’s residents and political representatives attended in droves – over 200 people – to hear the Planning Department staff give its report and recommendation for the project — an 11.5-acre commercial and residential development that includes the controversial retailer Wal-Mart.

The crowd was hot, anxious and fairly equally mixed between blue “MoreCityJobs.com” t-shirts and “Not this PUD” buttons. Planning Commission chair Bill Cunningham reminded the crowd of the role of the Planning Commission and asked that the meeting focus on land use concerns rather than the social and public policy issues like Living Wage and local hiring percentages that have been heavily debated since the PUD was introduced to legislation in April.

“I think you know what [those issues] are,” Cunningham told the crowd. “Personally I think they should be heard,” but at a later date “by the Mayor and City Council,” he said.

The driving sentiment behind the presentations and testimonies seemed to be how — not if — the project would be built .(Developer Rick Walker opened his testimony by mentioning that his wife was in town not for the meeting but to house hunt, because they like Baltimore and have decided to relocate here.)

After the Planning Department reviewed the project’s specs, the hearing also included a long and mixed series of testimonials from the Planning Department, City Council members, the developer, neighborhood groups, and residents from throughout the city.

A snapshot of the speakers’ testimonies:

– Planning Department Design Planner Anthony Cataldo gave a factual overview of the physical and logistical properties of the site including acreage, percentages of retail versus residential usage, and the location of exits and entrances, traffic flow.

– Jay Brodie, President of the Baltimore Development Corporation: “This retail would add to the options” for Baltimore, said Brodie, who said that he “will still go to Falkenhan’s [Hardware].” He also pointed out that the “human cost” of the site was low and rare, because there are no people living or working on it now. (Anderson Automotive is leaving the site for financial reasons independent of the proposed development, he noted.)he said, but happy that he feels he’s living up to a responsibility to the community and his family legacy to “leave it [the site] in better shape than [his family] found it.”

– Council Member Belinda Conaway of the 7th District, where the site is located. Conaway noted that to have the support of the seller as in the case of Mortimer is rare, and praised developer Rick Walker’s “openness to negotiation” with the community. She announced plans for a job fair that will allow people to take advantage of hiring opportunities now. “I’m here to listen to all the input and information from everyone,” said Conaway.

– Council Member Mary Pat Clarke: Clarke praised Walker for working “endlessly with the community.” “I have some issues,” she said, but noted that “they do not retard the development, which I am supportive of.” Cheerfully ignoring the request to limit testimony to land use issues, she said, “We need assurances of local hiring and that we have living wages. …Those are very knotty issues that are entwined with this proposal.” “No one’s done anything wrong yet,” she added, producing a few laughs. “It’s a big development and it’s a big deal for Baltimore.”

– Joan Floyd from the Remington Neighborhood Association (RNA): “Good fences make good neighbors,” said Floyd, who proceeded to list the RNA’s specific “fences,” which include various requests for noise and light mitigation on the 400 block of West 24th Street. Her other main issue was the Department of Transportation’s traffic impact report. She said she was “stunned” to have heard the Deputy of Transportation use the word “consensus” in regard to report.  “The paper trail speaks for itself,” she said.

– Judith Kunst from the Greater Remington Improvement Association (GRIA): GRIA was one of the most vocal neighborhood groups in support of the development. GRIA President Judith Kunst read from a statement that said that the organization is excited about the project’s prospective new jobs and “economic impact.” Kunst cited the developer’s “resolution of outstanding” requests, and said they were pleased to be able to give “a positive report” in response to the development. Along with Charles Village and Old Goucher, GRIA has involved in the development process since the beginning.  “GRIA, CVCA, and OGCA have been working as a team from the very beginning of this process to try to extract as many constructive concessions from the developer as possible,” GRIA Vice-President Chris Merriam told the Brew Friday morning after the hearing.

– Megan Hamilton, co-founder of the Historic Fawcett Community Association: “ We recognize that this is a great development,” said Hamilton, but “We are at the butt end of this project,” she said of not moving forward on what she considered to be simple mitigations such as including the stones from the historic Royer’s Church, which will be demolished, into a traffic wall. “If we are not perfectly protected, we will go down…We don’t want to be a declining neighborhood at the end of a truck route,” she said. “This is a very dear and precious neighborhood and we’re not asking for much,” she said.

– Jennifer Erickson from the Charles Village Civic Association (CVCA) read a joint statement  from CVCA, the Old Goucher Community Associaton, and the Greater Remington Improvement Association that expressed conditional support dependent on certain land use and traffic mitigations such as using parallel parking instead of angle parking in specific locations. 

– Brendan Coyne, President of Bmore Local was the most vocal in his opposition to the developer’s methods: Though privately funded, he said the developers still ultimately want to make money and that the community “deserves to get something back.” He asked that the commission give the city council “an unfavorable report,” and force the developer to commit to Bmore Local’s 13 points in a “legally binding form.”

– Benn Ray, Remington resident, owner of Atomic Books in Hampden, head of the Hampden Merchant’s Association: Ray said he thinks the development is based on “exciting ideas” but suggested the site’s close proximity to Target and the Port Covington Wal-Mart made the current retail plan unnecessary and asked Walker and his team to “reconsider the size and scope of the retail” being planned in order to make it “fit in, but not dominate” the existing area.

Benn Ray Raises Concerns about Wal-Mart Project from William Hughes on Vimeo.

– Johns Hopkins from Baltimore Heritage: Hopkins asked that the development team preserve the historic Royer’s Hill Methodist Church “in some form.”

– Many other members of the community spoke, including Peter Duvall from the Old Goucher Community Association, Rick Walker’s attorney Jon Laria, Lawrence Cager of WV Urban Development, and Transportation Deputy Director Jamie Kendrick. The commission also acknowledged letters of support from Senator Catherine E. Pugh, the President of Johns Hopkins and Baltimore University, among others.

The voting process was the last and quickest portion of the long night. After all voting “yes,” many council members expressed their appreciation and shared concern for the community’s requests for changes to the proposed development, said they wanted to keep working on them, and that they decided to approve the project because it’s such a great economic and employment opportunity for Baltimore, and an opportunity to build something new in a place that, if it sits empty, is at risk of joining the long list of the city’s blighted communities.

Bill Cunningham concluded the meeting by noting that after over a decade in city government, it was rare if ever that he had seen the same combination of “a willing seller” (Anderson Automotive), “a willing buyer” (Rick Walker and WV Urban Developments), a parcel of land this large (11.5 acres), and no need for public subsidy (the developer is financing the project himself), that comprises the 25th Street development project.

“I’ve never been to a Wal-Mart in my life,” said Cunningham, producing an equal number of laughs and gasps. He went on to explain that while he’d rather see a hundred small Mom and Pop shops built on the site, that “that’s not what’s being presented to us.”

The date for the next legislative step, which is the City Council hearing, will be announced on August 9th.