Baltimore’s City Council is again considering legislation that could change the way residential properties are developed and used in Bolton Hill. The proposed Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) legislation, Bill 26-0195, would allow additional residential units on property throughout the city, including the rowhouses that make up much of our neighborhood.
Local zoning is a cornerstone of Maryland housing development and preservation, ensuring orderly hyper-local land use across its diverse urban, suburban, and rural landscapes. Bolton Hill today exists as it does because of a variety of local issues, opportunities and challenges. While current law delegates zoning authority to local jurisdictions, the proposed Starter and Silver Homes Act (HB 239/SB 36), pending in the General Assembly, seeks to preempt these controls by limiting minimum lot sizes and setback requirements to increase resident density.
Several BHCA leaders were among a citywide contingent of residents who met a few days ago with City Council President Zeke Cohen over the council’s proposed bill 25-0066. That bill would eliminate zoning restrictions that limit the cutting up of large single-unit residences into as many as four apartments as a matter of right without approval from city council or the zoning commission.
City Councilmember Zac Blanchard told the January BHCA meeting that council members will be discussing changes to the bill, which he supports. As written, the bill would make it easier for investors and residential building owners to acquire and cut up single-family properties into as many as four units without neighborhood or city intervention.
There’s been much discussion in the BHCA about the Housing Options and Opportunities Act (SB 25-0066), under consideration by the city council. The bill would effectively end single-family zoning across Baltimore, allowing duplexes and other multi-family homes everywhere in Baltimore. While the full impact of this change is still unknown, I believe the bill would help address the significant quality-housing shortage we have in Baltimore by removing restrictions that have prevented densification and construction of new housing in the places where people want to live.
The City Council has passed four of the five housing bills on this year’s agenda, and the fifth is likely to pass this week or next. One of these bills doesn’t affect us, two are good, and two are likely to cause trouble in the coming years.
BHCA President Lee Tawney named Beth Brenner, Jeff Thompson, Charlie Duff, Davin Hong and Sallye Perrin to a neighborhood State Center Working Group to keep tabs on the sometimes confusing and conflicting plans for the soon-empty campus of public buildings just south of Bolton Hill.
The City Council is considering a package of five bills related to zoning for housing. The Land Use Committee of the BHCA has studied them pretty deeply, and the association board adopted a resolution that has been sent to the Baltimore City Planning Commission and our elected officials.
Let’s say you were a young Bolton Hill couple expecting a baby when plans to reconstruct Druid Lake first came into view. By now, if all went to plan, your child could be about to finish college.
A set of five city council zoning bills was introduced this spring as the Housing Options and Opportunity Act. City agencies are studying them before sharing their recommendations with city council, which will then hold public hearings this fall. City council would have to vote on the bills by the end of the year to prevent them from expiring with this year’s legislative session.
