Baltimore County property owners have a new arrow in their quiver for large scale redevelopment in older communities.

With the adoption of the Renaissance Redevelopment Pilot Program, by Bill 120-04 effective for five years beginning December 19, 2004, the County Council tweaked the collaborative design process that had been advanced by the County Executive as an alternative to the usual zoning and development review and approval processes (and an alternative to the County’s new PUD process).

The new process is actually initiated by the County Council in that Renaissance Pilot Projects can only be commenced in Renaissance Opportunity Areas designated by a legislative act of the Council. Opportunity Areas must be within the URDL and be at least five acres, but “may be amended at any time to include or exclude additional properties.” Irrespective of the underlying zoning, all residential, office, and business uses are permitted in an Opportunity Area, unless limited in the legislation designating the Area.

A Project is commenced with an application submitted to the Director of Planning. The, not yet designed, application will include not only information about the proposed Pilot Project, but also financial and other information about the experience of the developer so that the Director of the Department of Permits and Development Management (PDM) can determine if the developer “is qualified.” A team comprised of County Department heads and a County Council representative, from the district where the Project is located, is empowered to “approve or reject the application.”

Any financial incentive provided by the County to benefit a Project is separately subject to review and approval by the County Council.

Within 60 days of an application being approved, PDM schedules a public information meeting, and the developer with the County develops “the initial charrette plan [a conceptual site plan] to be used in the collaborative design process.” The County designates a Facilitator, to be paid by the developer, who shall conduct the collaborative design process.

The collaborative design process that is the crux of this review and approval process that supersedes zoning and existing development regulations is a “charrette,” a term not defined, except to refer to charrettes created by the private National Charrette Institute. A charrette is a series of intense work sessions with public workshops and open houses.

The initial charrette is advertised at least 45 days prior to commencement and must include at least four meetings with Community Participants over not less than a seven day period. A Community Participant “owns property, resides or operates a business within a five-mile radius of a proposed Renaissance Pilot Project.” Approval of a final charrette plan means Consensus on the plan (including uses permitted) by “not less than 80% of the Community Participants” who attend two or more meetings during the process.

Within 48 hours after the collaborative design process ends, the Facilitator will forward a report to the Planning Board indicating whether a Consensus was reached. At its next regularly scheduled meeting, the Planning Board is to conduct a public hearing and “make a determination as to whether a consensus was reached.” If no Consensus was reached, the developer may initiate another collaborative design process.

If the Planning Board determines that Consensus was reached, the developer may move forward and prepare a Pattern Book consisting of a Regulating Plan and a “form based code” that will govern the Plan. Within 30 days after receipt of the Pattern Book, the Facilitator “confirms its consistency with the consensus reached on the charrette plan” and thereafter conducts a public meeting to solicit comments. The Planning Board conducts a public hearing on the Facilitator approved Pattern Book and upon finding that it is “consistent with the approved final charrette plan” the Pattern Book “shall be adopted as a regulation.”

Following enactment of the Pattern Book, the developer is to submit an engineered Final Redevelopment Plan, meeting all of the requirements of a development plan (under the subdivision regulations) to PDM. Following a review by County agencies, the Director of PDM “may approve the Final Redevelopment Plan.” Material amendments to a Plan are to be approved by the Planning Board.

Following Redevelopment Plan approval, a developer may proceed to permit the Project.

Without specific times, in many instances, by which government must act, it is not possible to know with any certainty how long it will take for a developer to traverse the Pilot Program. That said, for large scale redevelopment, the freedom from the conscripts of current zoning and development regulations, will far outweigh the uncertainties of this Program, including the approximately nine month timeline.

The Renaissance Redevelopment Pilot Program not only elevates land use control in Baltimore County to the status of a national model, but also presents a real opportunity for those considering a large scale redevelopment in one of the County’s older communities.