Bill 107-20, Building Height in RAE2 zones near Downtown Towson
Sponsor: Marks
Benefits: Citizens
This bill would establish an additional criteria for multifamily building height of 30ft in RAE2 if within 500 ft of the Downtown Towson (DT) District. At present, there are only a few parcels that meet this criteria - the south corner of Fairmount Ave/Bosley Ave (already fully developed) and the se corner of E Joppa Rd/Fairmount Ave (available for development).
It is puzzling, since BCZR 259.16 states that "Building height [is] not restricted" inside the District so it would not make sense to restrict it just outside the district based on its proximity to the District. The restriction should be placed on all RAE2-zoned parcels. Again, this leads to the conclusion that this is intended to affect a specific property.
This is the Red Maple Place apartment development for 56 apartments at 407 E Joppa Rd (2.98a), which also includes the parcel at 413 Pennsylvania Ave (which is DR10.5). That parcel at 413 Pennsylvania Ave has single-family residences on both sides and across Pennsylvania Ave. The parcel at 407 Joppa Rd has single family residences across Joppa Rd, who probably thought they were protected from nearby high-rises.
See Article about how this would kill this project, and the developer will probably take this to court.
See also Zoning/Development Plan case 2020-0267-A.
The Bill failed at the Nov 16 Council meeting.
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