PlanBaltimore! : Baltimore Embarks on its First Comprehensive Plan in Twenty Years

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Charles C. Graves III
Author Info

Abstract

As Baltimore proceeds with its first comprehensive planning process in twenty years, the emphasis has been on generating citizen interest and participation as well as including kids and educating them about the planning process. To accomplish these goals, partnerships with non-profits and foundations have been formed and a public information campaign has been waged to generate interest and participation. The process is almost halfway through its fourteen-month time frame; having identified hopes and dreams for the future, participants are now turning those into strategies for the plan in the focus areas of transportation, community economic development, environment, public facilities, urban design and housing.

Introduction

Baltimore, Maryland spent its bicentennial year last year commemorating the past, celebrating the present and looking toward the future. With the City's 200th birthday falling only three years before the offing of a new century, 1997 was the ideal time to launch Baltimore's first comprehensive planning process in twenty years. Under the leadership of planning director Charles C. Graves III (also the Chair of APA's City Planning and Management Division), this process is now a little less than halfway through the projected 14-month timeframe.

Why Comprehensive Planning in Baltimore now?

A number of factors precipitated Baltimore's deciding to set off on this path. First, like many older, Eastern cities, Baltimore's population had undergone considerable change. From its high point of 949,708 in the 1950 census count, it decreased to 736,014 in the 1990 census and as recently as 1997 has been estimated closer to 675,000. In addition to being significantly smaller, the population's composition had changed; households were smaller and many of the residents were either young, educated people with no children or part of a burgeoning elderly population. Middle class families with children were moving out. These changes left a city with a housing stock which was aging, and is many cases either inappropriate to meet the needs of the housing market or vacant.

At the same time, the State of Maryland was grappling with the need to interrupt sprawl development and focus it around developed areas. The Maryland State Planning Act of 1992 required that county and municipal plans be implemented consistent with seven visions including concentrating development in suitable areas, protecting sensitive areas, directing growth in rural areas to existing population centers to protecting resources and the Chesapeake Bay, encouraging economic growth and creating funding mechanisms to achieve these visions. The act required that jurisdictions throughout the state prepare a comprehensive plan in response.

Finally, the comprehensive plan was seen as an opportunity to help the City manage its development needs in times of change and shrinking resources. In addition to articulating a vision for future development and redevelopment of Baltimore, the plan would be a tool to guide development of the capital budget and plan; to identify sites for future economic development; to provide an outline for comprehensive update of the Baltimore's outdated zoning code; to introduce innovative housing types and sizes and other ideas to Baltimore's development scheme; and to streamline permit review and other "bread and butter" processes.

The Process

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke appointed a Citizen Advisory Committee of over 90 representatives from community groups, businesses, institutions, university, the non-profit sector and a range of other backgrounds to help formulate a plan under the leadership of the Baltimore City Planning Department. And all of the citizens of Baltimore were invited to join in the process.

The project was given the name PlanBaltimore! and a bright logo and simple brochure helped to spread the word about what the plan was and how residents could be a part of it. Throughout the summer of 1997, Baltimore City Planning Department staff visited festivals to reach city residents and answer their questions while signing them up to help with the plan. City residents who visited our festival booths completed a simple survey telling us the three things they liked best and worst about Baltimore. By the time the meetings began, we had thousands of surveys to start with and as many names on our mailing lists. PlanBaltimore was off and running.

Since September, monthly meetings have attracted up to 300 residents who then broke into small groups to work on one of the six focus areas of the plan: transportation, community economic development, housing, environment, urban design and public facilities. Together, these citizens have prioritized their hopes and dreams for Baltimore over the next twenty years in each of these areas, and have gone on to begin the process of turning those dreams into strategies. A consultant team headed by the firm of Wallace, Roberts & Todd has been hired to assist with developing the plan. The process has been dynamic and those who have attended any or all of the meetings have been excited about the progress that has been made.

Partnerships Have Been Key

Partnerships have been instrumental in the growing success of the comprehensive plan process in Baltimore. Fannie Mae Foundation, in an unprecedented show of support for such a project, has contributed a grant of $145,000. In addition to providing general support for the planning process, the funds will be used to monitor impact of the citywide plan on three individual neighborhoods. Fannie Mae has pledged to work with the Baltimore City Planning Department to develop an appropriate tool to evaluate this impact.

In addition, a number of non-profit neighborhood groups have joined forces to work together for a variety of goals in Baltimore's neighborhoods. This partnership, called the Baltimore Neighborhood Collaborative, is working with the PlanBaltimore project by helping to expand outreach and providing opportunities for citizens to educate themselves in the planning process. The Collaborative is sponsoring a number of workshops throughout the project. The first of these, "What's a Plan," attracted several hundred community residents who learned why cities matter, how citizens and neighborhoods can influence the planning process, and how values drive the planning process. The series continued in November with "Baltimore's Vacant Housing; Adjusting to Undercrowding." The next workshops, "The Planning Toolkit: Terminology and Techniques," and "Introduction to Technology & Information Systems Work," will be held later this year. These workshops, and the partnership that formed them, are critical to the planning process because they engage City residents in taking an interest and making a difference in Baltimore's future.

KidsPlan Too As the comprehensive planning process took off, everyone involved was acutely aware of the importance of this process to the youth in Baltimore. It would lay the groundwork for the Baltimore that they would live in and lead in the future. With that in mind, Baltimore decided to add a youth component to the planning process. The Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation has funded this important piece of PlanBaltimore by contributing $60,000 specifically for youth activities associated with the plan. The Baltimore City Planning Department has devised a program that includes Baltimore's youth in the planning process while educating them on the fundamental components and benefits of city Planning. The KidsPlan program offers three separate opportunities for youth of varying age groups:

In addition, kids were included in the summer-long festival outreach. While their parents filled out the surveys, kids were asked to draw pictures of what they liked best about Baltimore. In addition, lego blocks were always available for kids to sit and build a city. Young adults have also been trained to assist in facilitating some of the PlanBaltimore workshops, and are always welcomed to participate in giving input.

While it's too early to begin to talk about results of the process and next steps in the plan, in a city where the process itself is thought to be almost as important as the plan, Baltimore can boast of its early successes. People of all ages are engaged in a discussion of the City and its future, and a variety of organizations as well as funding foundations are joining in the dialogue. This has generated a new sense of hope for Baltimore's future, which should continue and grow as the comprehensive planning process proceeds.

Charles C. Graves III, Director Baltimore City Planning Department