John Waters weighs in about Harborplace; Mayor Brandon Scott signs bills enabling the area’s redevelopment

Add filmmaker John Waters to the list of Baltimoreans who aren’t enthusiastic about the redevelopment plans for Harborplace.

“I liked when the Inner Harbor was scary the first time,” Waters said in a statement. “Before Harbor Place. Before gentrification. Sailors. Lesbian bars. The Block. Then it went good upscale, now it’s scary boring but the scariest of all would be if it went faux Harbor East for rich wanna-be types without any edge, a closet Annapolis when we already have a good one.”

Waters is one of numerous Baltimoreans who have expressed reservations about MCB Real Estate’s $500 million plan to replace the two Harborplace pavilions at Pratt and Light streets with a mixed-use development including two apartment towers containing 900 apartments in all, offices, shops, restaurants and public space.

Mayor Brandon Scott on Wednesday signed into law a package of City Council bills that were passed to modify existing controls on the land so MCB can move ahead with its project. The legislation removes a previous height limit on the land now occupied by the pavilions and adds housing as a permitted use, among other changes.

The development still can’t proceed unless voters approve a City Charter amendment that would expand from 3.2 acres to 4.5 acres the amount of city-owned land that a private development group can control at Pratt and Light streets. One of the three bills that Scott signed authorizes a Harborplace-related referendum to be placed on the city ballot in November to amend the City Charter.

Opponents of the plan, led by a citizens’ group called the Inner Harbor Coalition, say they’re against it for a variety of reasons, but primarily because they don’t believe property designated as city parkland should be used to build high-rise residences. They’ve also raised questions about the proposed development’s potential impact on traffic; parking; harbor views from neighboring buildings; public access to the waterfront during and after construction; the length of construction; the proposed use of $400 million in public funds to support the private development; and other considerations.

Members of the coalition have videotaped interviews with prominent Baltimoreans who have reservations about the redevelopment plans and posted them on the Harborplace Forum Facebook page to show that a wide range of city residents question the project. Interviewees have included economist Anirban Basu; former City Council member Carl Stokes; developers David Tufaro and Marty Bement; educator Kim Thomas Brooks; and architects Klaus Philipsen, John Mariani and Jim Shetler.

The statement from Waters, who has not testified in public about the project and is not part of the Inner Harbor Coalition, was solicited earlier this year as part of a similar effort. M. Jay Brodie, a former city housing commissioner and former Baltimore Development Corporation president, also released a statement questioning the development and calling for “a pause and reflection” in the rezoning process. Instead of comparing MCB’s project to Harbor East, as Waters did, Brodie said “the designs suggest the high-rise aspects of Houston, Dallas or Atlanta arbitrarily injected into our most sensitive Inner Harbor setting.”

MCB Real Estate has created its own Facebook page, Our Harborplace, and website, ourharborplace.com, to provide details about its plans, answer questions and correct misinformation. Team members say they believe major changes are needed, including the introduction of housing on the site, to create an economically viable project that will help revitalize the heart of the city.

The developers and opponents say they’ll continue to promote their respective positions as Election Day nears.