Construction to begin on Dundalk Avenue on or about Monday, December 10,2012

Conduit work will begin at Eastern Avenue and move southeast towards Gusryan Street .  While traveling in the area please be aware of lane closures.  Contained work zones will be used to minimize long term closures or wide spread traffic disruptions.  At least one lane of traffic will remain open in both directions throughout construction.

August 15, 4:30-7:30 pm-NEC Future Public Scoping Open House: An integrated passenger rail transportation solution for the Northeast Corridor (NEC)

NEC FUTURE (www.necfuture.com) is major initiative of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (U.S. DOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to develop an integrated passenger rail transportation solution for the Northeast Corridor (NEC).

The Baltimore City Department of Transportation (DOT) Planning Division has been working in partnership with representatives from NEC FUTURE for the FRA to host one of the nine Public Scoping Meetings on the east coast here in Baltimore City.  The entire scoping packet can be reviewed at (http://www.necfuture.com/pdfs/scoping_package_0612.pdf).

The Public Scoping Open House for the NEC FUTURE

in the Maryland region

will be hosted in Baltimore City:

Wednesday, August 15 from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

University of Baltimore, Thumel Conference Facilities

11 W. Mount Royal Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201

More information regarding the August 2012 Scoping Meetings can be viewed online at: http://www.necfuture.com/get_engaged/public_meetings.aspx

Residents with questions about the upcoming Baltimore meeting are directed to please contact Mary Colleen Buettner, DOT Planning Division, Special Project Liaison, mary.buettner@baltimorecity.gov or 443-984-4095

East North Avenue Before and After

Click on the picture for a street-level view of the beautification improvements along East North Avenue

Council Bill 11-658 – Baltimore Traffic Mitigation Zones Overview

Here is an overview of the Baltimore Traffic Mitigation Zones Bill:

Establishing Traffic-Mitigation Zones

On January 6, 2007, Ordinance 06-345 took effect, requiring nearly every significant development project in the City to undergo a third-party Traffic Impact Study (TIS) and requiring developers to mitigate the adverse traffic impact of the proposed development.  While the TIS Ordinance provided a good starting point for the City to better manage congestion and assign responsibility to the developments which create it, a number of concerns have arisen about implementation of the law:

• The Ordinance is well-suited to a more suburban environment where the impacts of any one development upon the roadway network is clear; however, in a dynamic urban environment, with a well-developed road network and various alternative forms of transportation, the Ordinance does not work quite as well.

• In a built-out urban environment, mitigating adverse traffic impacts typically requires major investments often beyond the means of any one developer; however, no mechanism is in place to pool the resources of multiple developers to achieve far-reaching mitigation strategies (the construction of a rail line or a new bridge, operating transit services, etc).

• The Ordinance requires only a negotiation regarding how the adverse traffic impact is to be mitigated; concerns have been raised that an unconstitutional taking may occur if the City does not ultimately permit a development otherwise allowed by law because of traffic issues.  As many developments enter the TIS process once they have already been through other reviews or are well-along in terms of their financing and ownership structures, the TIS Ordinance brings about a measure of uncertainty to the development process that is potentially harmful to the City’s growth.

• While the Ordinance makes provision for examining multiple projects within a single development (i.e. a Planned Unit Development), it does not permit flexibility with regard to multiple projects not in a PUD but otherwise closely related in time, scope, scale, etc.

While DOT, in consultation with the Department of Planning and the Baltimore Development Corporation, have issued regulations that deal with some of these issues, other issues require a legislative fix in order to achieve the purpose originally intended by the City Council.  Therefore DOT, after extensive consultation w/ BDC, Housing and Planning, other stakeholders has proposed to create “traffic mitigation zones” in certain parts of the City which are considered “high-growth areas.”  The bill proposes the following framework to revise and streamline Ordinance 06-345 and increase the certainty of the development process:

Traffic Mitigation Zones are established and implemented as follows:

• At the recommendation of the Director of Transportation, the City Council would establish one or more “Traffic Mitigation Zones” where significant development is occurring or is likely to occur, thus requiring a more comprehensive transportation planning approach.  Districts included in the proposed Ordinance are Southeast Baltimore, Downtown/Midtown, South Baltimore/Middle Branch Master Plan, East Baltimore near Hopkins and EBDI, and West Baltimore near the UMBiopark and State Center.

• Not less than every five years, DOT would develop a comprehensive transportation management plan for the area, based on the development known to be “in the pipeline” and otherwise possible based on current zoning status (i.e. holding capacity).  The plan would identify operational and capital improvements which need to be implemented in order to accommodate the projected growth.  A required public hearing on the plan would assure that both the communities and developers had input into the plan.

• The Board of Estimates would establish a “per trip” fee schedule for which can be pooled and shall remain available for use within the Traffic Mitigation Zone to implement the plan.  It is anticipated that the fees would represent only a portion of the total cost of the transportation plan.

• Each proposed development in Traffic Mitigation Zone would provide basic development data (type of use(s), square footage, # of units, etc.) and the number of trips would be calculated based on the most recent Trip Generation Manual of the Institute for Traffic Engineers.

• Credits would be allowed for affordable housing (subject to HCD certification) and adjustments to the total # of trips would based on urban land use/development (i.e. proximity to transit, walkability, etc.).  Total credits are capped at 50% of total fee due.

• Developments within the Transportation Management District would not be subject to a project-specific Traffic Impact Study; for all other developments, the existing rules would apply.

Other Provisions

• Requires public hearings at each stage of process:  adoption of rules and regulations, adoption of transportation management plans, adoption of fees.

• Creates a conflict-of-interest policy for developers and traffic engineers when an “out-of-zone” study is conducted.

• Reduces the threshold for number of dwelling units subject to a TIS or mitigation from 100 units to 50 units; and, reduces warehouse threshold from 150,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet.

• Fees collected are held in separate revenue accounts and may only be used to benefit the zone of origin

• Exempts publicly-owned buildings (but not buildings leased by City) and substantial rehabilitation of buildings vacant for less than one year.

• Up to 33% of fee may be used for direct site access improvements.

• Until such time as Board approves a fee for each zone, the existing TIS process remains in place.