One of the most damaging aspects of sprawl is that city and older suburban neighborhoods are left behind as new jobs move to the suburban fringe. Many older cities and towns have actually lost population in the last several decades. Baltimore City has gone from nearly a million people to 635,000, and Cumberland is half the size it was in 1945. Meanwhile, the population in our suburbs has risen up 67 percent in the Baltimore suburbs and by 72 percent in the Washington suburbs.
Too often, the loss of jobs and population has led to a downward economic spiral for the neighborhoods in these older cities, resulting in abandoned buildings, lowered property values, and increased crime. These neighborhoods need extra investment to turn around. But no matter where we live, all communities need the involvement of local residents to remain vital and desirable places to live.
Recycle Those Buildings
Appearances matter. Preserving historic buildings, planting street trees and turning abandoned lots into gardens can give an enormous boost to community life. Historic properties provide a unique sense of place. Cities that have kept their historic character, like Annapolis and Frederick, are often flooded with visitors who appreciate their beauty and individuality.
While many historic buildings in cities across the country were destroyed during the push for urban renewal in the 1960s, Maryland is fortunate to have kept many historic areas. A key challenge now is to bring new jobs and investment to these older areas.
One strategy is to lure a big company or institution back downtown to act as a catalyst for further investment. In Hagerstown, the University of Maryland had originally planned to locate a new campus on a farm out near I-70. It would have required extending sewer, water, and electricity to reach the site, and the only way to get there would have been to drive. Instead, the city of Hagerstown offered to donate an abandoned department store and former hotel a half-block from the main town square. This site already has utilities and public transit. More importantly, the new campus has already started to have a spinoff effect downtown, where citizens are now planning pocket parks and other pedestrian amenities.
Reusing buildings has become easier since the passage of legislation in 2000 that makes renovation simpler and more economical by providing a uniform building code statewide.
It Can Be Done
The American Can Company in the East Baltimore neighborhood of Canton, was an old can manufacturing plant for decades before it closed its doors about 15 years ago. The location was a brownfield — a site requiring special cleanup due to chemical contamination – and the building had become an eyesore. But with the foresight of Baltimore developer Struever Brothers, Eccles & Rouse and the assistance of tax incentives and special programs to encourage redevelopment, a factory rooted in the mechanical technology of the early 20th century has been transformed into a center for the information technology of the 21st. Today, the Can Company is home to 40 separate businesses, including hi-tech companies, restaurants, cafes, and bookstores that provide 700 jobs. It is the anchor development in an area that now boasts a rising rate of home ownership.
In Maryland there are 30,000 households with failing septic systems, which contaminate groundwater and threaten drinking water supplies. Directing growth to areas already served by sewers makes good environmental sense.
Just Add Green
Any neighborhood can benefit from creating or improving community property, putting in sidewalks to schools or a nearby park, and preserving places that are special to the community.
You can start with your own home, block or neighborhood park.
BayScaping, for example, is landscaping with native plants to protect the Chesapeake Bay by reducing runoff and the use of chemicals. Because they are native to Maryland, these plants generally require less care, less water, and provide better habitat for birds, butterflies and other creatures.
You can make your neighborhood more beautiful and protect your local stream and the Chesapeake Bay by using the following checklist as a starting point.
- Seed or plant patches of bare soil or eroded areas;
- Remove unneeded paved surfaces that cause erosion downstream;
- Reduce extra lawn areas by planting native plants, shrubs and trees;
- Protect existing trees and wetlands;
- Plant trees and shrubs along stream banks and drainage areas;
- Plant street trees and ensure they are maintained;
- Have your soil tested to determine needs to avoid over fertilizing.
For information on how you can help protect the Chesapeake Bay and your local stream, ask for this free publication by Maryland’s Tributary Teams. Call (410) 260-8710, or view it on the web at www.dnr.state.md.us/bay/protect/index.html Multiple copies available for classroom use.
Revitalize Main Street
Trees and landscaping make economic sense. An Arbor Day study found that trees can raise the selling price of a home by 5 to 15 percent, and that planting trees in a bare yard helps property to sell more quickly. Tree-lined streets are also frequently cited by residents as one of the things they like best about their neighborhood.
Trees cool hot city streets and reduce air conditioning and heating bills. Planting trees and shrubs is an easy first step to improving the appearance of a neighborhood.
Many downtown neighborhoods have tapped experts at state agencies and nonprofit organizations to help bring older areas back. Catonsville is seeing new life, as a result of public re-investment in an older corridor — Frederick Road. Originally settled in the 1700s with summer homes for the wealthy, the area thrived as a trolley suburb of Baltimore in the early 20th century. But since the 1950s, the business district had stagnated with the advent of the interstate highway system, shopping centers and malls.
The area was in the decline. Sidewalks and roads cracked. Businesses struggled. Then the State and a local program funded a Neighborhood Conservation Program project. The State paid for new brick and concrete sidewalks, street furniture, pedestrian lighting, tree grates, drainage improvements and a reconstruction of the roadway. Baltimore County paid for relocation of utility poles to the rear of businesses and made tax credits available to businesses improving their facades.
Activity picked up along the street. Once Catonsville resident John Spencer saw the public investment going on there, he and his wife moved their environmental consulting and web page design businesses out of a Columbia office park to Frederick Road, spending nearly $100,000 of their own money to rehabilitate a 105-year-old building. “This was a way to stop talking about what Catonsville needed and do something,”said Spencer, who now works closer to home.
Growing Smarter
Maryland’s Smart Growth law was passed in 1997 and has become a national model for states that want to manage sprawl. Smart Growth aims to:
- Save our most valuable remaining natural resources before they are lost forever;
- Support existing communities and neighborhoods; and
- Save taxpayers millions of dollars in unnecessary cost of supporting sprawl.
In October 2000, Maryland’s Smart Growth Program was chosen from 13,000 applications as one of ten most innovative programs nationwide recognized by the Harvard Innovations in Government Award, funded by the Ford Foundation. Smart Growth focuses on:
- Priority Funding Areas. State funding is now directed to growth areas including municipalities, areas inside the Baltimore and Washington Beltways, and areas designated by each county where growth is planned and infrastructure (e.g. roads, schools, water and sewer) is in place or planned. By investing only in these areas, the State will save taxpayer dollars, save open space, and strengthen existing neighborhoods. This is supported by related initiatives to redevelop brownfields, provide job creation tax credits, encourage people to live near their work, renovate schools in older neighborhoods, and assist small businesses, and provide housing assistance in growth areas.
- Rural Legacy. Through this program, Maryland aims to protect 200,000 acres of farms and open space by the year 2011. This program targets the most valuable areas to be protected with local governments and land trusts.
Be Creative!
To put a better face on the abandoned buildings in their neighborhood, a group of elementary school students in Pigtown near Camden Yards worked with a local artist and neighborhood businesses to create paintings on plywood boards in the window spaces of vacant buildings.
The boards were installed in vacant buildings in Washington Village. Because the selected vacant rowhomes back up to the football stadium, the windowboards can be viewed by stadium visitors.
Anne Erskine, community artist, commented, “This project made our community more attractive and encouraged a sense of community in the next generation of residents. It also created a bridge between the children, businesses, neighborhood activists and volunteers of the neighborhood.”
What You Can Do:
Build Community Partnerships
Of course, larger projects will require the cooperation of local or state agencies, as well as local residents. For bigger or longer- term projects:
- Talk with your neighbors and community association to explore realistic opportunities to improve the “feel” of your neighborhood, such as adding bike and walking trails, converting an empty lot to a community garden, etc.
- Find out what your county or city has planned for your neighborhood, and let them know your ideas. Find allies to start some tangible projects that will help make your vision a reality. Contact your local planning department and city or county council representative.
- When organizing the approach, make a plan and a timeline. Be realistic. Don’t expect to implement everything all at once. Some projects may take 3 to 5 years to finish.
- Work with other groups who have similar or complementary interests. Those seeking to preserve farmland and open space have allies in those working to revitalize downtowns.
Need More Info?
Maryland’s Smart Growth Program: www.mdp.state.md.us/smartgrowth
For advice and trees for neighborhood plantings: www.dnr.state.md.us/forests/treemendous
For information on “BayScaping” contact US Fish & Wildlife Service at www.fws.gov or 410.573.4500
Neighborhood revitalization: www.mdp.state.md.us/revitalization/index.html or www.dhcd.state.md.us/revit/index.htm
Main Street Maryland Program: 410.514.7256 www.dhcd.state.md.us
Main Street Baltimore Program: 410.396.5145 www.baltimorecity.gov/neighborhoods/mainst
National Main Street Center: 202.588.6219 www.mainst.org/
Maryland Revitalization Center: www.op.state.md.us/revitalization/
New Uses for Obsolete Buildings, by Urban Land Institute: 202.624.7000 www.uli.org
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