Baltimore County Council Chair Izzy Patoka drafts bill to create mixed-use zoning districts

A new bill circulating among members of the Baltimore County Council would make it easier to build multiuse buildings in certain business or manufacturing areas, according to a draft obtained by The Baltimore Sun.

The Sun reviewed the bill a day after Council Chair Izzy Patoka and County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. said Tuesday that they had reached an agreement for the council to pass its own bill in exchange for Olszewski withdrawing a similar bill that other members had protested. Patoka and Olszewski are Democrats.

Patoka expects to introduce the new bill March 4.

It would create new districts, known as overlays, on top of existing zoned areas to allow for more uses than what’s allowed currently. It would also allow for mixed-use buildings in manufacturing and business districts if the districts are within the Urban-Rural Demarcation Line (URDL) and within a specific area identified for redevelopment in the county’s 2030 Master Plan.

Overlay districts already exist in some parts of the county, to preserve areas for parks and green spaces, and to preserve jobs in some industrial areas.

Republican Councilman Todd Crandell said he would not vote for Patoka’s bill after he previously opposed Olszewski’s bill. Another Republican councilman, Wade Kach, said via email he was still reviewing the draft but would remain in opposition if Patoka did not make any major changes.

Olszewski’s bill would have allowed some mixed-use developments — which combine multiple uses in one building, such as apartment buildings with a ground-floor grocery store — in certain county areas without needing council approval, drawing ire from Kach and Crandell, who said that provision would undermine the council’s land-use authority.

Patoka said the new zoning process created by his bill would be “totally controlled” by the council, and that the overlay districts would be allowed only once every four years, during the Comprehensive Zoning Map Process (CZMP). The yearlong 2024 CZMP ends in September.

“I haven’t done a vote tally but I feel confident it’ll pass,” Patoka said of his bill. “There will be community support for this. Council members have become the closest touch to county government that residents and communities have, and given that, they should feel confident that their member will make a sound decision that allows for community sentiment to be a part of the formula.”

Crandell, who has sparred with the administration and council Democrats in the past, had opposed Olszewski’s bill, calling it “toxic” and “completely unpopular.”

On Wednesday, he said Patoka’s creation of a new zoning overlay while in the middle of the 2024 CZMP was “completely inappropriate.”

“The deadline has passed for [council members] to submit zoning issues,” he said. “The timing to me is completely inappropriate. I would rather a developer comes to me with a proposal and we work it out legislatively.”

The council voted to delay withdrawing Olszewski’s bill until early next month when Patoka introduces the new bill, another sticking point for Crandell: “I thought the council was in agreement we’d just table it, kill it. I feel lied to.”

Olszewski told reporters Wednesday that he agreed to withdraw his bill to find “consensus” with the council, and that the new council bill would “empower” members to work with community groups and identify ideal areas within their council districts for redevelopment.

Patoka’s bill would allow the following buildings in mixed-use districts, which are already allowed by right elsewhere in the county: single-family homes, apartment buildings, community centers, office spaces, art galleries, parks, schools, and places of worship. Conference centers, hotels, outdoor live music venues, banks and parking garages would be allowable by special exception. Cannabis dispensaries, service garages, warehouses, motels, disposal facilities, and liquor stores would not be allowed.

Patoka’s bill would also require buildings to be a minimum of two stories high, but cannot exceed more than 150% of the maximum allowed height in the original area. The bill would go into effect 45 days after its passage.

The county is under a federal consent decree to produce 1,000 affordable housing units by 2027, and is running out of developable land. The council finally passed on Tuesday the 2030 Master Plan, which strategizes where housing, transit and businesses should be built.