Under Armour stakes a claim to limit access to part of road

Amid the flurry of approvals city planners granted for Port Covington, there was one that members of an advisory design panel didn’t expect.

Under Armour plans eventually to limit public access to the five-lane road that runs toward Ferry Bar Park at the tip of the peninsula.

Members of the Urban Design & Architecture Review Panel pressed Under Armour in January to maintain public access to the street, since it offers a principal route to the water.

But under updated designs presented Thursday, drivers’ ability to use the road will be cut off about halfway down the street for security reasons as the campus gets developed. That portion of West Peninsula Drive is privately owned. A pedestrian path planned to run along the perimeter of the property is not affected.

The city’s Planning Department and the Planning Commission approved the decision this summer as part of the master plan for the area.

Planning Director Thomas J. Stosur conceded that there was “some divergence” between the approval and the panel’s recommendation, but said the partial access was a compromise.

That didn’t appear to satisfy panel members, who said the street, which will be redone partially using public financing, should offer public parking, as other parts of the Port Covington development are expected to do.

“If the Planning Commission has accepted that, then we don’t have a whole lot of choice,” panel member David Haresign said. “But I can tell you that the panel recommended against that. We were clear on that.”

Neil Jurgens, vice president of corporate real estate for Under Armour, said Saturday that “Under Armour intends to improve the publicly owned portion of West Peninsula Dr. in the first phase, and the public access easement in future phases, to provide continued access to the park.”

“Under the approved plan, the public will continue to have access to Ferry Bar Park via an improved West Peninsula Drive and a public access easement,” he said.