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East Baltimore garages granted zoning approval despite poor track record

Neighbors near the garages on Fayette Street and Esther Place say the tenants perform work on the streets – and have been doing so for years

Above: A garage bay at 3305 East Fayette Street in Baltimore Highlands.

For years, Patterson Park-area residents have been having words with the owner of the small garages on Fayette Street and Esther Place.

They allege that the people who rent the small garages work on cars in the public right of way, and that the property owner allows this to occur despite many complaints and citations.

“Someone has to come out of the garage to direct traffic,” said Alicia Porter, who lives on Esther Place near the garages.

“That’s every single day on my block,” Porter told the Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals (BMZA) on Tuesday.

She and others described towed cars parked in the street waiting for repairs, and vehicles and vehicle parts regularly being repaired on the sidewalks.

When owner Daniel Smelkinson came before the zoning board asking for conditional-use approval for the garages, the community association, armed with photos and copies of the garages’ various citations, came to City Hall to make its case.

The residents did not get far.

The BMZA voted to grant conditional-use approval of the garages for the “storage, repair and servicing of motor vehicles not over 1.5 tons capacity, including body repair, painting and engine rebuilding,” while prohibiting the use of the street for repair work.

Lack of Communication Blamed

BMZA chairman Geoffrey Washington told the residents that zoning disputes often center on “a lack of communication between parties” and encouraged everybody to come to a resolution.

Alicia Porter told the BMZA that cars and car parts constantly spill out of the Esther Place garages. (Photo by Danielle Sweeney)

Alicia Porter told the zoning board about the impact the garages have on her neighborhood. (Photo by Danielle Sweeney)

David Leibensberger, safety chair for the Patterson Park Neighborhood Association, said residents and his group have been communicating with Smelkinson for three years – to no avail.

In a letter of support for the neighborhood association, First District Councilman James B. Kraft said that BMZA approval of conditional use for the garages “would reward the owner for having operated his business in a harmful manner to his neighbors for years.”

Kraft said that his office has attempted “to get the owner of this property to comply with the existing zoning and use requirements for his property. He has continually failed to do so.”

The councilman also noted that the Housing Department’s code enforcement section has issued “numerous citations” to the owner.

Martin French, of the Planning Department, told the BMZA that  “there have been blockages to the sidewalk and curb lane without a minor privilege permit” by the garage properties.

“I’m not an Absentee Landlord”

Smelkinson maintained that he knows what goes on at his garages.

Daniel Smelkinson said he took an active interest in the East Baltimroe garages, visiting them almost every day. (Photo by Danielle Sweeney)

Daniel Smelkinson said he takes an active interest in the East Baltimore garages, visiting them almost daily. (Photo by Danielle Sweeney)

“I am not an absentee landlord. I visit my garages on an almost daily basis. All of my tenants have been there a long time,” he said, adding that after the citations all his tenants have “changed their behavior.”

Two letters of support for the garages were read into the record at the hearing.

The letter writers said they thought the garages provided an affordable and convenient service and the operators were hard working.

Smelkinson’s attorney, Jason Vettori, said his client was “amenable” to conditions set by the Planning Department, which would include not performing work or storing or staging vehicles in the public right of way and would require that all work be performed indoors.

BMZA chairman Washington called the conditions “an important avenue of enforcement,” but Leibensperger said he doubts that the garages will be able to honor the terms because their space is so small.

He said yesterday that he felt the community got “short shrift” by the zoning board, but said its ruling could be used as a mechanism for enforcement in the future.

“We are also looking into an appeal,” he said.

What disappointed Pat Lundberg, of the Patterson Park Neighborhood Association, about Tuesday’s decision was the zoning board’s apparent lack of concern for local residents.

“We have a responsibility to hold the BMZA accountable,” he said, noting that the city’s other quasi-judicial body, the Baltimore Liquor Board, has made great strides under board chairman Thomas Ward in taking the interests of the community into consideration.

“We also need to hold businesses accountable. The BMZA does not seem to be doing that,” Lundberg said.

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