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Baltimore County Planning Board approves Small Area Plan 11, adds EchoPark and Lafarge Quarry language
Summary
On Nov. 20 the Baltimore County Planning Board approved Small Area Plan 11 with a series of member amendments — including EchoPark overlay references, expanded context on the Lafarge Quarry site, new implementation partners and maps — and forwarded the plan to County Council for review as an amendment to Master Plan 2030.
The Baltimore County Planning Board voted Nov. 20 to approve Small Area Plan 11, incorporating a series of amendments adopted during the meeting, and recommended the plan be forwarded to the County Council for review and adoption as an amendment to Master Plan 2030.
The board’s changes included editorial corrections, added graphics and several substantive insertions. Members added language referencing the county’s EchoPark overlay district as a supporting tool for future changes on decommissioned industrial sites and for expanding public green space. The board also approved expanded text describing the former Lafarge Quarry — noting its roughly 75-year mining history, cessation of operations in 2021, a revoked planned-unit development approval in 2023 after community opposition, and that the EchoPark overlay was applied to part of the site.
Board members and staff said the quarry’s scale warrants a separate, site-specific planning effort and additional traffic and impact studies before redevelopment moves forward. A staff member explained that some community stakeholders asked that an amendment explicitly referencing a roadway connection between Earl’s Road and Maryland 43 be withdrawn from the night’s votes; the amendment was withdrawn at their request.
The board added the Essex Middle River Civic Council, the Chesapeake Gateway Chamber of Commerce and the Essex CDC to the plan’s implementation matrix as support partners for multiple action items. Members also approved adding the White Marsh Town Center Task Force report to the list of adopted community plans and inserting a school-capacity map into the appendix.
The motion to approve the plan as amended was adopted by roll-call vote and the board forwarded the package to County Council for consideration as an amendment to Master Plan 2030. The board’s formal votes on individual amendments were taken one at a time during the meeting and recorded in the minutes.
What happens next: County staff will transmit the amended Small Area Plan 11 to County Council for their review and any subsequent legislative action.
