The Baltimore County Council Tuesday night flexed its muscles and unanimously passed zoning legislation that County Executive Johnny Olszewski had threatened to veto.
It is the latest round in an ongoing battle between the executive and the council over zoning in Baltimore County.
Democratic Councilman Julian Jones, the sponsor of the legislation, said he discussed with the administration about possibly amending the bill but in the end got Olszewski’s support without having to do that.
“The administration is on board and decided to not move forward with the proposed amendments,” Jones said.
In a March 20 letter to the County Council, Olszewski said he will allow the bill to become law without his signature.
In a February 29 letter to the County Council, Olszewski threatened to veto Jones’ legislation. In that same letter, he announced he vetoed another zoning bill, sponsored by Republican Wade Kach.
In each case Olszewski said the bill would “give the developer too much of a blank slate, disregarding standards that every other developer must follow.”
In an interview March 4 Olszewski went further.
“We should never be giving blank checks to redevelop or develop anything,” Olszewski said. “We should always be at the table with the community, with standards.”
The council brushed aside Olszewski and overrode his veto of Kach’s bill which allows for a development of nearly 300 apartments in Hunt Valley to go forward.
A veto of Jones’ legislation likely would suffer the same fate. The County Council approved it unanimously Tuesday night despite Olszewski’s earlier warnings.
Jones said the property at Liberty Road and Owings Mills Boulevard was already approved for apartments, but he worked out a deal with the developer to have it rezoned so affordable homes could be built there.
Part of that deal, according to Jones, includes waiving the impact fee the developer would have to pay.
“When I approached him to say ‘I want to have affordable housing, some units that people could buy and be a reasonable price,’ he said he would look into it,” Jones said. “He came back with some things he needed to do to make that happen.”
In his March 20 letter to the council, Olszewski said the county has collected little in impact fees from developers since the law took effect in 2019 because of similar exemptions.
Olszewski said he supports the intent of the legislation to create more housing and promote homeownership.
Even though he is not vetoing the legislation, Olszewski said he still has concerns, including that it removes “the opportunity for a community input meeting.”
Olszewski wrote, “While we acknowledge that similar laws have been enacted in the past, we believe it is time for Baltimore County to curb such practices.”
Jones said he is willing to try to find compromises with Olszewski when they disagree over zoning, but that at the end of the day it’s the council’s call.
“Clearly the county code puts land use squarely, 100% in the hands of the county council,” Jones said.
The Council drove that point home when it dashed Olszewski’s proposal to take some zoning authority away.
It would have allowed mixed-use development to happen in parts of the county without the Council’s approval.
Olszewski said the legislation would have helped revive communities that are economically dying on the vine. Council members countered it would cut them and their constituents out.
Olszewski and Council Chairman Izzy Patoka replaced that rejected legislation with a proposal which would keep mixed use zones but would give the Council the authority to create them in certain areas of the county that are targeted for development.
That legislation goes to a county council public hearing March 26.
Opponents of the replacement legislation said it will do nothing to address Baltimore County’s housing crisis and its need to redevelop old commercial properties.
