Baltimore Board of Estimates approves Johns Hopkins right-of-way agreements after community objections

The Baltimore City Board of Estimates voted to approve two related Department of Transportation items tied to Johns Hopkins University’s proposed data science and artificial intelligence complex: a developer’s agreement (developer’s agreement number 1954C) and an amendment to an existing memorandum of understanding that covers stormwater facilities in the Wyman Park Drive right-of-way. The items were approved by voice vote after presentations, board questions, and a lengthy public comment period.

Johns Hopkins lawyers and planners told the board the measures would allow the university to perform roadway and public-right-of-way stormwater work needed for construction of two new four-story academic buildings on the Homewood campus. “Importantly, it is not a data centre,” Caroline Becker of Rosenberg Martin Greenberg said, adding the buildings will house classrooms, research labs, offices and meeting space. Lee Coyle, Johns Hopkins’ senior director of planning and architecture, described replacing surface bioswales with an underground system (a trade name identified as Silva Cells), a 25-year maintenance obligation for the stormwater facilities, and commitments to install new sidewalks, trees and lighting in later agreements.

Councilmember Odette Ramos, whose 14th District includes the project area, urged the board to defer action. “I think this is a terrible project,” Ramos said, arguing the community had not been shown the latest plans and that earlier stormwater work had failed. Dozens of residents, neighborhood association leaders and environmental attorneys testified in opposition, repeatedly citing tree loss, repeated runoff and sediment reaching Stony Run, and a perceived lack of transparency during prior community engagement.

Johns Hopkins officials responded with a list of mitigation and community commitments captured on the record. They said the university will replace street trees removed for construction with substantial specimens (6-inch caliper trees, 25–30 feet tall), extend the normal 2-year tree warranty to five years, maintain the new trees in perpetuity, provide vibration monitoring and preconstruction condition surveys for nearby properties, and operate a public portal and an on-call liaison for rapid response to construction or stormwater issues. Hopkins also committed to a 20% local-business-enterprise goal for construction and to provide parking for trade contractors at Eastern High School with a shuttle to reduce neighborhood parking pressures. “We are going to plant three times more trees on our property and city property than we are removing with this project,” Lee Coyle said.

Board members pressed Hopkins on several specifics. City Solicitor Ebony Thompson asked how long sidewalks and ramps in the right-of-way would be unavailable; Johns Hopkins said closures would last about four years while accessible replacements are designed in consultation with DOT and DPW. Comptroller Henry and others asked whether the building could in practice function as a data center; Hopkins representatives said the facility’s electrical and cooling infrastructure will be consistent with academic buildings and that it will not house large-scale data storage or the water- and power-intensive cooling systems characteristic of commercial data centers.

The board’s chair summarized the university commitments on the record before a voice vote that approved first the DOT developer’s agreement (listed at $51,668.73 on the agenda for administrative fees) and then the DOT MOU amendment. The votes were taken by voice; no roll-call tallies were read aloud.

What’s next: Additional site-work, including final sidewalks, curbs and other streetscape elements, will be covered in a future developer’s agreement, the university said. Community advocates and legal representatives said they will continue to press for full disclosure of related plans filed with city agencies and for continued monitoring of Hopkins’ performance on stormwater and tree commitments.