Planning Assistance in Action

The Maryland Department of Planning (Planning) is partnering with the City of Baltimore (City) and the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) on the North Avenue Rising Project. The City and communities making up North Avenue have come together and expressed the shared vision of revitalizing the corridor to its full potential. Already, significant investments in the corridor have been and are being made in redevelopment and quality of life by institutions, NGOs, and private sector parties. The $27.3 million of improvements under North Avenue Rising includes $10 million from the U.S. DOT Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program. This funding is supporting the realization of the locally generated vision, and will go towards transportation improvements along the corridor; including dedicated bus lanes, new bike facilities, renovations to the MTA Metro Station, access improvements to the Light Rail Station, improvements to major bus stops, streetscaping, and targeted re-paving..

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An interdisciplinary team of Planning staff is providing extensive technical assistance by compiling and analyzing data, mapping the corridor and its features using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) (see below), engaging stakeholders, and assessing potential increases in property values, tax revenues, jobs, and housing resulting from the improvements of North Avenue Rising. Studies from around the United States demonstrate the economic benefits of multi-modal transportation enhancements, and the Baltimore Development Corporation estimated considerable potential indirect and induced economic impacts of the infrastructure improvements proposed for the project. Planning understands that transportation and land use are intricately linked and is uniquely positioned to assist MTA and the City with maximizing this link in one of Baltimore’s most important corridors.

Planning is currently forming a stakeholder group (City, State, and Community Officials) with expertise in the study area. This group will guide Planning’s analysis of the corridor’s redevelopment potential. The analysis will benefit the larger North Avenue Rising Project by modeling the economic benefits of the tangible improvements funded through the project, and will include the following.

• Finalizing a list of potential redevelopment sites
• Creating one or more redevelopment scenarios for the selected sites
• Identifying model sites and applying their assessed values per acre and/or per square foot (of commercial and residential space) to the building envisioned for the redevelopment sites
• Estimating potential future real property values and taxes generated by redevelopment scenarios for individual and collective sites
• Estimating employment and payroll potential

Resulting from this work, Planning will write a final report of its findings. To learn more about the North Avenue Rising Project, please visit mta.maryland.gov/tiger-viii