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Baltimore County Planning Board approves Small Area Plan 11, adds EchoPark and site-specific amendments
Summary
The Baltimore County Planning Board voted to approve Small Area Plan 11 with a package of amendments addressing the EchoPark overlay, Lafarge Quarry background, safety improvements, and added implementation partners; the plan will be forwarded to County Council to amend Master Plan 2030.
The Baltimore County Planning Board on Nov. 20 approved Small Area Plan 11 and forwarded the amended plan to County Council for review and adoption as an amendment to Master Plan 2030. The board approved a series of text and graphic edits, added references to the county's EchoPark overlay district and language describing the Lafarge Quarry site, and inserted several community-driven implementation partners and analysis items.
The board began consideration after staff reminded members that the plan was introduced Oct. 16 and that a public hearing occurred Nov. 6. During discussion, Department of Planning staff said a proposed revision (amendment motion 5) that would have explicitly recommended a roadway connection between Earl’s Road and Maryland 43 was withdrawn at the request of surrounding community leaders who asked for the language to be more judicious because of potential impacts on property owners. Staff said property-level economic studies were beyond the small-area plan’s scope, although local retail gap analyses informed recommendations in parts of Essex.
Board members moved and approved a slate of edits that ranged from sentence-level grammar and graphic fixes to more substantive insertions. Approved amendments added text noting that the EchoPark overlay could serve as a complementary planning tool for redeveloping decommissioned industrial sites, and inserted background on the former Lafarge Quarry — including its roughly 75-year operational history, the 2022 planned-unit-development approval for portions of the site that was later revoked in 2023 amid community opposition, and the master-plan guidance calling for an East–West road connection and a comprehensive vision for large quarry redevelopment.
Other approved changes included safety-assessment language for the Earl’s Road and Ebenezer Road intersection, visual material for the White Marsh Town Center concept, adaptive-reuse references for the Essex library site and Carroll Island Shopping Center, and the addition of local organizations — including the Essex Middle River Civic Council, the Chesapeake Gateway Chamber of Commerce and the Essex CDC — to the plan’s implementation matrix.
On a roll-call vote the board approved the overall plan and amendments; chair Scott Alupka announced the motion carried and the plan will now be forwarded to County Council for consideration.
The board also received brief reports on recent actions by the Landmarks Preservation Commission and on County Council legislation updating open-space fee-in-lieu structures; those items were informational and did not require further board action that night.
The board adjourned the planning-meeting portion of the evening before proceeding to a separate public hearing on updates to the Comprehensive Manual of Development Policies.
