Councilman Marks Creates Community Task Force To Examine White Marsh Town Center

PERRY HALL - Baltimore County Councilman David Marks announced the creation of a task force that will handle the future of White Marsh Town Center.

The 15-member committee includes a blend of residents and community leaders, planners, and business owners. It will be chaired by Pat Keller, former head of the Baltimore County Office of Planning and president of the Perry Hall Improvement Association.

Patch spoke with Keller about the task force and his vision for the White Marsh Mall. He says there have always been issues regarding development around the mall, and he sees the task force as a way of helping the county make a plan acceptable to residents.

“We thought maybe we could jumpstart something and be of assistance to the county in terms of generating ideas, gathering some basic information, forming a work group, and getting the whole process started.”

In a statement released by David Marks, he said he acted quickly to make plans for the mall and subtly referenced community reactions to the proposed apartment complex at the White Marsh Town Center.

“With the inauguration of the new County Council yesterday, district lines changed, and the White Marsh Town Center has been unified within the Fifth District that I represent,” Councilman Marks commented. “Today, I am acting quickly to create a process for developing a vision for this commercial area. The debate over apartments at the mall, which I inherited, has demonstrated a need to engage the public about what the town center will look like and what infrastructure and community improvements are needed here.”

Councilman Marks is pressing the county to complete a formal study on the town center and hopes that the task force can be the first step in that process.

The task force’s initial meetings will be focused on conversation and gathering community input on what should be done with the space.

Keller believes the task force is a “savvy” group of community representatives.

“It’s a pretty savvy group of people, I would say. You can imagine sitting around a table with 15 people; how much stuff would pop into their mind?”

Members of the task force will include the following:

• Pat Keller, Chair, Perry Hall Improvement Association

• Rob Bavar, Bavar Properties Group LLC

• Bob Bendler, former county planner, Essex Middle River Civic Council

• Bill Blocher, Red Brick Station

• Marc Cohen, CFI Management

• Lisa Geiger, Federal Realty Investment Trust

• Gregory Paszkiewicz, Blakefield Development

• Kevin Palmer, White Marsh Volunteer Fire Company

• Heather Patti, White Marsh-Cowenton Community Association

• Lynn Richardson, Perry Hall/White Marsh Business Association

• Bernadine Seymour, South Perry Hall Improvement Association

• Josh Sharon, Morris & Ritchie Associates

• Geoffrey Sharpe, Federal Realty Investment Trust

• Cathy Ward, South Perry Hall Boulevard Improvement Association

• Peggy Winchester, South Perry Hall Improvement Association

Councilman Marks has asked that the group issue recommendations by the end of February.

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