The Scott administration is moving ahead with plans to close a portion of Light Street near Pratt Street so the roadbed can become part of the Harborplace development.
At the request of the Scott administration, Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen on Monday introduced legislation that would condemn and close portions of Light Street, Calvert Street and Pratt Street near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
Cohen’s action triggers a council committee hearing about the traffic changes proposed for the Inner Harbor. It comes one week after a group of citizens filed a lawsuit to block a developer’s plan to tear down the Harborplace pavilions and replace them with a $900 million mixed-use project. The public hearing will give residents and business owners an opportunity to ask questions and express their views pro and con.
A city planner told members of the Baltimore Tourism Association in May that work to close portions of Light Street may begin as early as November, but the introduction of the council bill and the requirement of a public hearing means the timetable likely will be pushed back.
The portion of Light Street that would be closed is the five-lane Light Street-to-Calvert Street “spur” that northbound drivers use to get to Calvert Street or Pratt Street from Light Street.
The curving road separates the Harborplace pavilions and the Inner Harbor amphitheater from McKeldin Square, the one-acre open space created after Baltimore’s McKeldin Fountain was demolished 10 years ago. The spur was created to streamline the flow of traffic around Pratt and Light streets and save drivers time even though it means pedestrians have to cross five lanes of traffic.
$900 million development
MCB Real Estate, the owner of the Harborplace pavilions, is seeking to gain control of the roadbed and make it part of the footprint for a $900 million mixed-use development it has proposed to build where the pavilions now stand. The city would retain ownership of the land and lease it to MCB. Construction is expected to take five years or more to complete.
Gaining control of the roadbed and McKeldin Square would give MCB 4.5 acres to develop, compared to the 3.2 acres occupied by the Harborplace pavilions. MCB’s proposed development includes two residential towers containing 900 apartments, offices, shops, restaurants and open space.
If the road is closed as spelled out in the council bill, the number of northbound lanes on Light Street would be reduced where the spur begins and drivers would have to make a right turn at Pratt Street in order to get to Calvert Street or other points to the east.
In conjunction with the road closure, traffic planners have suggested realigning Light Street, which is currently one-way southbound north of Pratt Street, so it becomes a two-way street between Pratt and Baltimore streets. That would give drivers heading north on Light Street the option of continuing north past Pratt Street and then turning right on Baltimore Street if they want to reach Calvert Street.
“Nostalgia for a few”
On Sept. 21, seven city residents filed suit against the city and an MCB affiliate, asking the Circuit Court for Baltimore City to declare MCB’s development plan null and void and to block any plans to demolish Harborplace. An MCB spokesperson responded by saying the plaintiffs value “nostalgia for a few” more than “progress for all” and vowing to move ahead with their plans.
Residents of Federal Hill and other areas of south Baltimore have raised questions about the proposed road closure, warning it will create a bottleneck at Pratt and Light streets and slow down travel times between downtown Baltimore and south Baltimore. They’ve also asked how eliminating the traffic spur will affect the response times of emergency vehicles such as fire trucks and ambulances.
The city planner who addressed the Baltimore Tourism Association in May suggested that people who need to travel between south Baltimore and areas such as Fells Point and Canton may want to consider using the Baltimore water taxi system as an alternative to cars.
No hearing date set
City officials said earlier this year they didn’t believe a separate City Council bill was necessary because Baltimore’s Planning Commission had already approved the road closure as part of Mayor Brandon Scott’s Downtown Rise! master plan, but they would double check with the city’s law department.
Under city law, council legislation is required for even the smallest alley closures in the city. At Monday’s meeting, three other bills involving street closures were on the agenda.
“As part of the legal process of closing a street, a street closure ordinance is…required prior to issuance of the permit to perform the actual closure,” city planning department spokesperson Jasmine Johnson wrote in an email message in May.
Council Bill 06-0256 was referred to the council’s Land Use and Transportation Committee, which is chaired by Council member Ryan Dorsey. Dorsey said on Monday he doesn’t yet have a date for when his committee will hold a hearing on the bill.
