The Mississippi-based company that wants to build a $25 million senior living facility in North Roland Park cleared a key hurdle Tuesday when Baltimore’s zoning board approved two variances needed for construction to begin.
Despite opposition voiced by three neighbors of the proposed construction site, the Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals voted 4 to 0 in a virtual hearing to approve variances for a 110-unit, three-story assisted living and memory care facility called The Claiborne at Roland Park, proposed by an arm of Claiborne Senior Living of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
The site is a sloping 12-acre parcel near the intersection of Falls Road and Northern Parkway, just east of the nine-story Falls at Roland Park apartment building at 1190 Falls Road. Claiborne has a contract to purchase the wooded property from Blue Ocean Realty, which proposed a $40 million, six-level, 148-unit apartment project but ran into opposition from neighboring community groups.
Although the proposed living facility is half as tall as Blue Ocean’s development and would contain fewer units, Claiborne needed a conditional use variance that would permit a “residential care” facility and a height variance that would permit a structure slightly taller than 35 feet above Northern Parkway, the height allowed by current zoning. That is what the zoning board granted.
The decision is subject to an appeal from property owner Hunter Cochrane, who told the board that he wouldn’t oppose a project that doesn’t need waivers but won’t support a project that does.
“Very simple: I want the developer to comply with the current zoning,” Cochrane told the board. “I’m not opposed to ‘a’ development. I’m opposed to a variant to facilitate what I would consider to be an overdevelopment. If it complies with the zoning, I don’t get to have an opinion about the development. You just apply for a construction permit and build. That’s basically my position and it has never varied.”
If filed with the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, an appeal of the zoning board’s decision wouldn’t automatically delay construction, but a court case could drag on for years and make it difficult for the developer to obtain financing.
Cochrane’s attorney, Carroll Holzer, argued that the zoning board doesn’t have legal authority to rule on Claiborne’s application, in part because Maryland’s Court of Special Appeals hasn’t yet ruled on a case involving Blue Ocean’s project, and Blue Ocean hasn’t withdrawn its previous proposal from consideration. He brought up the limitations of a virtual hearing and not being able to address the board in person. He questioned how the developers obtained photos supposedly showing the future view from Cochrane’s property, when Cochrane didn’t give permission for anyone to come onto his land.
Claiborne’s representatives, attorney Elliott Engel and planning consultant Al Barry, said the assisted living project is completely different from Blue Ocean’s and should be considered on its own merits. Barry said the photos were taken from the edges of Blue Ocean’s land and did not involve trespassing onto the Cochrane property.
Holzer also raised questions about the practicality of constructing a facility for senior citizens on a wooded hillside, asking how ambulances would get to the building in an emergency and how elderly people would be able to walk on the sloping terrain. He asked why the developers couldn’t excavate the hillside to make the building lower. He asked if Claiborne plans to add a fourth floor at some future date.
The board received letters of opposition from two other property owners, who also testified at the hearing. Betsy Boykin, one of the neighbors, told the board that Cochrane isn’t the only resident who opposes Claiborne’s project.
“I just want to make it very clear that the neighborhood boards that have been working with this development group do not represent the entire neighborhood and there are many people who do not agree with this development,” she said.
Claiborne representatives said digging deeper would require blasting into the rocky hillside and they didn’t think the neighbors would want to put up with that. They said Claiborne will provide assistance, including transportation, for residents who need help getting around.
The representatives added that they won’t build a fourth floor. They said the site, once landscaped, will be a safe and protected enclave for seniors and their market research indicates there is a strong demand for the high-end facility they want to build.
“A two-mile radius in north Baltimore, specifically the North Roland Park and Poplar Hill area, by our metrics was the top spot in the United States” to build a senior living facility, said Claiborne principal Cliff Bates. And the site, despite the “challenging” terrain, is “really ideal for senior living,” he said.
Because much of the 12-acre property won’t be disturbed, “we’ve got a really large undeveloped tract of land that is going to remain undeveloped forever, that really creates kind of a limited forested setting for the residents, which is, as you can imagine, perfect for this use,” Bates said. “Our proposed use seemed like a logical fit for this site, given the relatively low density [required by] the zoning, and we create minimal traffic.”
Speaking in favor of Claiborne’s application were representatives of two community groups, the Lehr Stream Neighborhood Association and the North Roland Park Improvement Association, who told the zoning board their members support the project, and John Murphy, an attorney who represented groups that previously challenged the Blue Ocean project. The city’s planning department also recommended approval of the zoning variances.
The community representatives said five neighborhood organizations in all have worked with Claiborne to hammer out a set of agreements covering what it will and won’t build, and they’re satisfied those agreements will protect the neighboring communities from unwanted development.
Claiborne has agreed not to build on six of the 12 acres it is purchasing; not to have any direct access to its development from Cliffhurst Road or Saint Georges Road; not to build taller than The Falls building (not counting its mechanical penthouse); to restrict use to assisted living and memory care; to make the design compatible with the “character of the community”; and to maintain communications with the neighboring groups during and after construction. Claiborne representatives said their building would be 44 to 45 feet above Northern Parkway, still lower than The Falls.
Besides the Lehr Stream and the North Roland Park associations, the other community groups that worked to forge an agreement with Claiborne were the Poplar Hill Association; the Sabina Mattfeldt Association and the Roland Park Civic League.
Bob Williams, president of the Lehr Stream association, said residents acknowledge that whoever owns the land has a right to build on it, and that it can’t stay undeveloped forever. Given the alternatives and how they might affect the surrounding areas, he said, “when we look at this proposal, we think this is the best likely outcome for developing this particular parcel.”
Williams said the community groups have had extensive conversations with Claiborne’s team, like that the project will be “owner-built and owner-operated,” and that it will be a steel structure rather than a wood-framed structure. In terms of scale and use, it “appears to have half the mass of the prior proposal,” he said. “It’s a quiet use. It’s a much smaller building.”
The agreements with Claiborne address community concerns about issues such as conservation easements, screening of views, traffic patterns, lighting, stormwater runoff and architectural design, said Doug Schmidt, president of the North Roland Park Improvement Association. “We appreciate Mr. Bates and his team working with us, and we are in support of the project.”
A set of three detailed agreements with Claiborne went through about 10 drafts before the neighborhoods were satisfied, Murphy said. “I am confident that, to the extent you can achieve perfection, we have achieved a very strong protection for the neighborhood with these agreements.”
The 110 residences are expected to house 120 people because a few of them will be two-bedroom units. Monthly rents will range from $6,500 to $7,500 for one-bedroom units, and from $8,500 to $9,000 for memory care and two-bedroom units. Claiborne’s timetable calls for construction to begin in early 2022 and be complete in the second quarter of 2023. This will be the company’s first project in Maryland.
