Neighbors voice concerns over proposal for affordable housing

Neighbors of a proposed affordable housing development in East Towson are voicing concerns over a range of issues, including increased traffic, what they perceive as the project’s aesthetic shortcomings and an anticipated loss of trees.

The proposed Red Maple Place project is a 56-unit affordable apartment building on a 2.5-acre plot of land between East Pennsylvania Avenue and East Joppa Road, off Fairmount Avenue.

The entrance and exit to the four-story complex would both be on Joppa Road. Project plans call for 87 parking spaces, mostly in an underground garage.

The questions about the proposed project come as Baltimore County strives to meet the requirements of a settlement with the federal government that requires it to add 1,000 units of affordable rental housing by 2027 in more prosperous neighborhoods to address past disparities. It also comes as Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. pushes for passage of controversial legislation

prohibiting landlords from refusing to accept housing vouchers commonly known as Section 8. A vote on the bill is expected at Monday’s county council meeting.

Red Maple Place is being developed by Homes for America, an Annapolis-based nonprofit that builds and preserves affordable rental properties, which hosted a community input meeting Tuesday attended by about 50 people.

Kathy Ebner, the president and CEO of Homes for America, said the organization is “not in this to make a quick buck.”

“We are in this for the long haul, because we care,” Ebner said during the meeting.

The project is bordered by East Towson, a historically black neighborhood, and Harris Hills, a complex of condominiums.

During the meeting, Michele Yendall, who sits on the Harris Hills board of directors, said that traffic in the area, especially along Joppa Road, “is already horrendous.” Adding more than 50 units there, accessible only from Joppa Road, would exacerbate traffic problems, she said.

Yendall also said Harris Hills residents would lose their view of a small wooded area to the proposed building.

“Now we get a brown siding, and you’re going to be 30 feet from their deck, which I can hardly imagine will be [a welcome view] over a glass of wine,” she said.

East Towson resident Nancy Goldring called Red Maple Place “a 50-unit obstruction” in the middle of the neighborhood.

“If this apartment were half apartment, half condo, you’d have my attention,” she said.

But because the development is for low-income renters, Goldring called it an “insincere” project. It will encourage people to move in and rent, she said, but ultimately they won’t be able to afford to purchase a home in Towson, so they’d have to leave the area.

Goldring also disapproved of the proposed design.

“I feel that if it was a genuine effort to be a hand up to lower-income families, it would look like it. It would look like a residence; it wouldn’t look like a commercial space,” she said.

The Green Towson Alliance, a local environmental advocacy group, also has voiced opposition to the Red Maple Place proposal.

Beth Miller, a longtime member of the organization and co-chair of its Downtown Towson Development work group, said she and others with Green Towson Alliance are upset about how close the project would be to a forested area and a sensitive wetland.

In May, the county Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainability awarded the project a variance to reduce its buffer requirements on the land.

“Why do we even have environmental laws if all you have to do is apply for a variance and it’s granted?” Miller asked. “Why isn’t that a priority to preserve these forest buffers?”

Miller, an architect by trade, said she thinks the building could be redesigned and

“built in a way that respects the forest buffer laws and preserves more wooded area, which obviously is going to help with absorbing stormwater, preserving the wildlife there.”

Residents in the area have said water already pools on Pennsylvania Avenue when there is heavy rain; speakers at the community input meeting said they were worried the problem would get worse if Red Maple Place is built.

Chris Mudd, an attorney with Venable who is working with the developer on the Red Maple Place project, said during the community input meeting, that project’s financing would not work if it were redesigned to be taller with a smaller footprint, which some activists have floated as a way to reduce its environmental impact.

The county is providing a $2.1 million, 40-year loan for Red Maple Place, which is planned to include 22 one-bedroom units, 17 two-bedroom units and 17 three-bedroom units .

Under county development rules, Homes for America has one year from the date of the community meeting to submit its formal development plan.

“Our dialogue will continue after this meeting tonight,” Mudd said Tuesday.

Affordable housing has been an early priority for Olszewski, who has said the county must ensure “equitable and affordable housing.”

In a statement about the Red Maple Place project, Olszewski said, “We are considering community concerns regarding the project and are committed to ensuring that Red Maple Place will be an asset to the community and the residents of our county as a high-quality, affordable housing option.”

Meanwhile, the plight of Olszewski’s housing discrimination bill remains uncertain ahead of Monday’s scheduled vote.

Just two council members have affirmed publicly they will vote for it: Julian Jones, of Woodstock, and Izzy Patoka, of Pikesville, both Democrats. Democratic Council members Tom Quirk of Oella and Cathy Bevins of Middle River have not publicly stated whether they will vote for the measure.

County Council member David Marks, who represents the Towson area, is expected to join his two Republican council colleagues in voting against the bill.

Marks said he shares the community’s concerns about Red Maple Place’s impact on transportation and traffic in East Towson. He also worries that it would mean a reduction in the size of the local tree canopy.

Marks said he’d like the county to reconsider the forest buffer variance the project received. Marks also said he thought the project would “be far more acceptable for the community” if the building were taller or if it were redesigned to have fewer units.

“But, the county executive is supportive of this project and affordable housing in general,” Marks said. “It would be helpful to have some support from him in modifying it.”