Pushback prompts developer to consider greening along Jones Falls
Sometimes problems turn into opportunities, lemons into lemonade.
Only time will tell, but that could be what’s playing out with Baltimore’s Jones Falls, the long-abused stream that flows through the heart of the city before emptying into the Inner Harbor.
Last summer, Baltimore’s public works department proposed moving a trash and recycling drop-off station from a bluff overlooking the falls in the Remington neighborhood. The new spot: even closer to the stream, just across the two-lane Falls Road.
The announcement sparked an outcry and a “Don’t Trash the Falls” campaign. Residents, environmentalists and even local businesses warned that the new site was flood prone and likely to increase pollution and litter in the stream. They feared the move would also dash community hopes to eventually transform the once-industrial Jones Falls valley into a magnet for outdoor recreation and tourism.
The uproar prompted Mayor Brandon Scott to put the move on hold and form a task force to study the issue. After several months of back and forth, the group could not agree on a suitable alternative site for the drop-off center.
Then, in March, the script flipped. The developer whose interest in acquiring the existing drop-off site had triggered the relocation plan instead struck a deal to buy the construction equipment yard on Falls Road where the city had wanted to move it.
And while developer Thibault Manekin said the firm he co-founded, Seawall, wants to build something there — maybe housing, shops or both — he sees converting most of the rough-looking tract into park-like green space.
Jones Falls advocates welcomed the news, though with some wariness borne of decades of fighting to protect and clean up the stream.
Sandy Sparks, president of the Friends of Jones Falls, calls the potential development a “fantastic opportunity.”
“We’re pushing very hard that it have as much green space as possible,” she said. “It should be a very active and attractive greenway.”
Although Seawall had reportedly been interested in redeveloping the site of the current recycling drop-off station, Manekin said it wasn’t his idea to move the facility to the larger lot closer to the stream, which is now used as a storage yard by a construction contractor.
Amid the uproar over the proposed relocation, Manekin said he learned of the efforts of community activists to reimagine a greener, more attractive future for the Jones Falls valley. He sensed an opportunity to develop the old construction yard in a way that could be in harmony with the community’s vision.
“I’m confident we’ll be able to find the right cadence of how much open space and how much thoughtful development could go down there,” he said. But to make much of it a park, he cautioned, “we’re going to have to get creative on how that gets paid for” with public as well as private investment.
His firm has yet to complete the purchase of the Potts & Callahan storage yard, and there’s still the possibility the deal may fall through if hurdles turn up.
He acknowledged that “it’s going to be a heavy lift,” but said, “we’re really excited.”
Leanna Frick of the environmental nonprofit Blue Water Baltimore thinks Seawall’s acquisition could benefit Jones Falls, but she points out that’s not the only problem confronting the beleaguered stream. Her organization had alerted the public and helped rally opposition to the trash facility’s relocation.
Frick said she hopes any new development of the old storage yard will prominently feature a linear park, which would help buffer Jones Falls from stormwater runoff and pollution.
“I think there’s some lemonade in progress,” she said, but added, “I think there’s some bigger lemons on the horizon, actually.”
If the city simply closes the recycling drop-off center rather than relocating it, as officials have indicated is their plan, she worries that littering and illegal dumping could become much worse along Falls Road. An unsanctioned mound of debris had already formed on the site of an old railroad roundhouse nearby, which the city’s transportation department uses as a parking lot.
“There’s always been rampant illegal dumping in our stream valleys and our marginalized neighborhoods,” Frick said. “We are worried that would get worse without a safe and accessible site to bring trash.”
In a recently released final report, the mayor’s task force recommended closing the Remington drop-off station only after other recycling and bulk trash sites are upgraded and other steps taken. That could take several years.
Meanwhile, Frick pointed out, Jones Falls faces a more immediate threat: orange-and-white lead paint chips flaking off the 28th Street bridge, which spans the stream valley. It is one of four city bridges where the toxic paint, applied decades ago, is now deteriorating, dropping dust and chips on the ground and in streams.
“The ground there is covered with it,” Frick said, referring to the Jones Falls Trail running along Falls Road near the construction storage yard. “It looks like it snowed. It’s wild.”
First spotted by the local news outlet Baltimore Brew, the chips prompted Blue Water Baltimore to file a complaint with the Maryland Department of the Environment. MDE issued a violation notice to the city, ordering it to clean up the chips and safely remove the deteriorating bridge paint.
Meanwhile, with Seawall mulling its plans, Sparks of the friends group is hoping to broaden the discussion. With the help of a $150,000 grant from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, the group is developing a strategic plan for the entire Jones Falls watershed, from its headwaters in semi-rural northern Baltimore County to the Inner Harbor downtown.
The planning effort, which got under way with a series of public meetings in February, aims to promote environmental equity, responsible development, climate resilience, public access and habitat restoration.
“We’re looking to re-envision the whole watershed,” Sparks said.