Challenge to Harborplace ballot question filed on eve of ballot printing
A petition for legal review of a proposed ballot question needed to rezone Baltimore’s Harborplace was filed Thursday by a coalition of city residents, a move that comes just hours before the scheduled start of ballot printing.
The group, which includes a former city councilman, a known architect and the son of the original Harborplace developer, is challenging the wording of the question, which would expand the allowable uses along the Inner Harbor to include residential development as well as commercial uses.
The ballot question, now known as Question F, is needed to clear the way for an ambitious proposal from Baltimore developer MCB Real Estate to replace the beleaguered shopping and dining pavilions on the city’s waterfront. Led by Baltimore-native P. David Bramble, the group hopes to build four taller, mixed-use buildings, including a conjoined tower stretching 32 stories. MCB’s plan calls for 900 apartments and office space on the site along with a large new park space, a two-tier promenade and realigned roadways.
The Baltimore City Council placed the question on the ballot with the support of the majority of its members in March despite protests from some city residents who argued the plan would essentially privatize the public Inner Harbor shoreline, much of which was preserved as parkland by charter amendments in the late 1970s. Residents have objected to the proposed density, the removal of height limits, the inclusion of apartments and the road-narrowing plan.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/09/05/challenge-to-harborplace-ballot-question-filed-on-eve-of-ballot-printing/