Urban Design Committee News Update, July 2001

Open Lines with the New City Administration

During our invited discussion, Mayor O’Malley promised as a candidate to keep an open dialogue with AIABaltimore on matters of urban design and architecture. The Urban Design Committee, executive director Karen Lewand, and president Alan Reed have taken him up on his promise and conducted a series of top level meetings with the heads of the Planning Department, Charles Graves; the Baltimore Development Corporation, Jay Brodie, FAIA; and the new head of Housing and Community Development and Housing Commissioner, Paul Graziano.

Participating architects have found that the new administration recognizes that the Mayor’s emphasis on safety has a link to economic development, new housing and urban design. The administration has declined a “Do Something Everywhere” strategy based on “Wish-List Thinking” in favor of a more focused approach that compares the available means with the possible results. We AIABaltimore members have presented ourselves as a resource in terms of knowledge about the city, as comprehensive thinkers who can assist in overcoming the traditional boundaries between City agencies, and as agents for more integrated solutions.

We have requested, and there is an agreement to continue planning meetings four times a year with all three agencies in one room at the same time. At the moment we are engaged in the following topics:

We agreed to assist the Planning Department in organizing a conference on Baltimore City Zoning to exchange information about current zoning problems and best practices with new zoning in other cities. This will be held on October 25 and will be modeled after the Smart Code Conference also co-sponsored by AIABaltimore two years ago.

We will cooperate with HCD to further streamline the development approval and process, and the plan review process for building permits. (See action proposals below)

We will continue to be a resource for the Westside Redevelopment effort and to promote quality solutions particularly for the following issues:

Redesign of Lexington Street,

Camden Plaza: obtaining a good urban open space in front of the historic Camden Station and an active use for the historic train station,

Integration of transportation issues with the redevelopment projects.

For all these efforts, the Urban Design Committee needs more volunteers. Please contact me, 410.685.2002 or kphilipsen@archplan.com to volunteer as workshop facilitator or recorder for October 25, contact Karen Lewand, 410.625.2585 or klewand@aiabalt.com. Help us keep these initiatives going.

Klaus Philipsen, AIA co-chair Urban Design Committee

West Side Redevelopment Update conference a success!

As part of our engagement on the Westside redevelopment, AIA and CSI conducted a large conference in which 11 major Westside projects were presented over the course of an afternoon. Over 200 people attended this event on May 8 at the new auditorium at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. Secretary David S. Iannucci of the MD Department of Business and Economic Development gave the keynote address emphasizing the important link between the State and the City for this vital undertaking.