Contentious Lutherville Station Redevelopment Faces Key Hearing

The developer pursuing a $225M mixed-use redevelopment of Lutherville Station has been scheduled for a critical hearing next week, the first step forward since the proposal sparked protests early last year from residents using the slogan "no apartments, no compromise."

The Baltimore County Planning Board has scheduled a hearing Feb. 13 to review arguments regarding Lutherville Station LLC's request to rezone the shopping center via the quadrennial Comprehensive Zoning Map Process. A spokesperson for developer Mark Renbaum said he "looks forward" to the public hearing regarding the plan to build 400 apartments and office space at the shopping center adjacent to the Lutherville Light Rail Station.

"We are also grateful for the opportunity to address the misinformation being spread about the project," the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

"The zoning approval does not provide a blank check for development as some have stated, and the project would still need to be approved through the County’s full development plan process, which includes a community input meeting run by the county’s department of permits approvals and inspections and a public hearing before the county administrative law judge."

Renbaum, operating as Lutherville Station LLC, asked Maryland to grant the project transit-oriented development status in September 2022. The state defines a TOD as "a place of relatively higher density that includes a mix of residential, employment, shopping and civic uses designed to encourage multi-modal access to the station area," and the designation gives the developer additional access to financing tools and tax breaks.

"The mixed-use proposal will have a significant economic impact on [the] county and surrounding community, provide ample open space for community gatherings, and put a dilapidated property back into productive use," the developer’s spokesman wrote.

However, some residents have strongly objected to the planned transformation of Lutherville Station. The Greater Timonium Community Council represents about 50 neighborhood groups and is one of the project’s chief opponents. 

Members of the council contend that the development will overburden nearby roads, sewer systems and schools. They have lobbied county officials, such as Councilman Wade Kach, to withhold support for the project. 

Opponents have also protested near Lutherville Station, waving signs at passing traffic that read "no apartments, no compromise."

Eric Rockel, vice president of the Greater Timonium Community Council, said his organization remains concerned about the project's impact on infrastructure and schools. The organization intends to at least provide the Planning Board with its objections in writing, he said. 

Rockel said community members asked Renbaum several times over the last two years to propose a project with fewer apartments, but the developer refused to budge on the number of apartments in the development proposal.   

"There were some discussions in the early part of last year, but [Renbaum] didn't seem too interested in compromising," Rockel said. 

Despite community opposition, Lutherville Station's development team argues that the proposed development fits county and state goals to promote denser development and insists that the new building won't overburden surrounding sewers, roads and schools.  

Baltimore County's Bureau of Engineering and Construction has no concerns about the project's impact on area water services, according to a Jan. 4 inter-office letter to the Department of Public Works obtained by Bisnow. 

Additionally, the letter states the county has several sewer projects being designed or under construction that will "eventually allow the elimination of the areas of special concern."

Baltimore County also improved the grade of the intersection of Ridgely and York roads, where traffic flows in and out of Lutherville Station, from failing to passing, according to a second inter-office correspondence obtained by Bisnow. That letter was sent in December from the county's Bureau of Transportation to the Department of Public Works and Transportation. 

"We would welcome an open and transparent dialogue to address issues such as stormwater management, traffic, and sewer capacity; and believe the project should be judged on the facts presented in the County’s basic services maps,"  Renbaum's spokesperson said in a statement.