Most Little Italy residents who responded to a survey taken this fall don’t want a parking lot at 301 S. President St. rezoned to permit construction of an apartment tower with no height limit.
According to Baltimore City Council member Jermaine Jones, about 90 percent of the respondents in the survey said they don’t want the land rezoned to the C-5-DC zoning district, a category that puts no height limit on new construction. Jones said on Monday that “almost 300” people participated in the survey, which was announced in September and closed Oct. 8.
The survey was conducted on behalf of two community organizations, the Little Italy Neighborhood Association (LINA) and The Original Little Italy Community Organization (TOLICO). The original deadline of Oct. 1 was extended one week to give residents additional time to vote.
The two choices were: ‘Yes – I support a change to unlimited height zoning,’ and “No – I wish to keep the current zoning of approximately 12 stories.”
The final tally, announced at LINA’s meeting on Tuesday, was 297 ballots, or 92 percent, supporting current zoning, and 26 ballots, or eight percent, in favor of rezoning.
Of the 323 “valid ballots” received, 295 ballots, or 92 percent, came from voters who said they were residents of Little Italy; 17 ballots, or five percent, came from voters who said they own a business in Little Italy and live in Little Italy, and 11 ballots, or three percent, came from voters who said they own a business in Little Italy and live outside Little Italy.
Jones, who is in his first term representing Little Italy, had asked for a survey to get a sense of what his constituents think about a plan by developer Lou Madigan to construct a high-rise apartment building on the President Street parcel.
The land is zoned C-5-DE, which allows construction of a building up to 125 feet in height without any zoning waivers. In 2023, before Jones was elected to the City Council, the developer had proposed building a 32-story apartment tower if the council would change zoning to C-5-DC, which would permit the taller structure. Zeke Cohen, who represented Little Italy at the time and is now Council president, introduced legislation to rezone the land but it never passed due to lack of strong support from the community.
In 2023 and 2024, Madigan’s rezoning request drew opposition from community members who said a 32-story apartment building would be out of scale for the mostly low-rise community. They warned that it would cast shadows on the rowhouses to the east, have a “wind tunnel effect,” and lead to traffic and parking problems in the area. Proponents said a 32-story building would add to the city’s tax base and help the local economy by bringing in more residents who would support the shops, restaurants and other businesses in Little Italy.
Madigan’s high-rise proposal was the subject of two separate votes in 2023 – one by LINA members, who voted 32 to 20 to oppose a zoning change, and one by TOLICO members, who voted 18 to 0 to support a change.
After Jones was elected last fall to replace Cohen as Little Italy’s representative, the developer came back with revised plans for an apartment tower and still requesting that the land be rezoned to the C-5-DC category. LINA president Lisa Regnante said at a community meeting in September that his latest plans call for a building that would rise about 24 stories and that he is still seeking the rezoning legislation, this time with Jones as Little Italy’s representative.
Jones said on Monday that the survey results help show the way certain Little Italy residents feel about the developer’s rezoning request but he wished it had been worded differently and he is still deciding how to proceed.
He said he wished the survey had been more specific about the apartment building in question, giving a definite height sought by the developer instead of asking people to vote on the concept of changing zoning to permit a building with “unlimited height.” He said the concept of a building with “unlimited limit” may be scary to some residents who took part in the survey and that may have influenced the way they voted.
“I asked them why they worded it that way, and they said that’s the way we worded it the last time,” he said. “I would have rather done the survey after the developer had a plan to actually vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on…. I said before I introduce anything, I need you to have an agreement on how high you’re going to make this thing and talk to the community, but that was still up in the air.”
Jones added that some residents may have been reluctant to participate because they had to give their name and address in order to vote. He also said he wished a third party had conducted the survey to make sure it wasn’t rigged. He said he was concerned that the people who orchestrated the survey had already come out against the project and that they “had the opportunity to look at the numbers before they came in and figure out who you could reach out to, who you didn’t want to reach out to, would they be favorable?”
Given the way the survey was conducted, “I have questions,” he said. “I wanted to make the results as valid as possible…. I really wanted to get a clear poll.”
Regnante did not respond to a request for comment.
The Little Italy survey is on the agenda for discussion at LINA’s monthly meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. at the Sons and Daughters of Little Italy Lodge, 905 E. Pratt St. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
As a resident of Little Italy I am disappointed by Councilman Jones’ comments. The leadership of the Little Italy Neighborhood Association (LINA) has worked tirelessly for several years to increase the organization, transparency and professionalism of our neighborhood association. With regards to this survey; written notice was hand delivered to every residence and business and electronic notices were sent to all who have previously provided an email address. The survey was also heavily promoted on social media and on multiple local news channels. Contact information was required to discourage individuals from casting multiple votes. The results, which were tabulated by an independent 3rd party, are that an overwhelming majority of residents and business owners want to retain existing zoning for 301 S. Exeter Street. I thank LINA leadership for their continued efforts to improve our little corner of Baltimore.
Quite the slanted article, Ed. As a long time “architecture” writer, you should know what a tower of that scale can do to a community that has existed at this scale since the civil war. Perhaps looking at this from more angles would offer you readers greater context.
It’s refreshing to see small local publications look at land-use issues objectively rather than adopting the viewpoint of a small minority of change-resistant people.