Kamenetz To Re-Emphasize Transportation Priorities

County and state budget outlooks have not changed in the last year and because of that, County Executive Kevin Kamenetz's transportation requests will seem like a repeat.

Kamenetz is scheduled to speak to a panel of state Department of Transportation officials this afternoon in Towson and outline his priorities for the coming year.

As with last year, Kamenetz is expected to avoid pie-in-the-sky requests and wish lists and instead ask for continued focus and funding for just two projects—intersection improvements along Reisterstown Road near Painters Mill Road in Owings Mills and more transit oriented MARC development in Middle River.

"It's really a continuation of the priorities he outlined last year," said Ellen Kobler, a county spokeswoman.

Kamenetz will also ask for continued improvements to interstate highways that run through Baltimore County, Kobler said.

The requests come at the same time both areas are the focus of an effort to place recent zoning decisions approved by the County Council on the 2014 ballot.

The requested improvements could have a direct impact on the proposed redevelopment of the former Solo Cup property. Developer Greenberg Gibbons wants to build the Foundry Row shopping center and bring a Wegmans to the area.

In Middle River, any MARC improvements would have an effect on the redevelopment of the Middle River Depot. A group of New York-based developers want to redevelop the 2-million square-foot warehouse into a project called Middle River Station—a mixed-use facility that could lure a Walmart from nearby Carroll Island Shopping Center.

Developers including David S. Brown Enterprises, David Cordish and Garrison Forest Associates have in an effort to and place the 2nd and 6th Council District rezoning maps on the 2014 ballot.

David S. Brown is the developer of the Metro Centre at Owings Mills, which is near the proposed Foundry Row project. Cordish owns the Carroll Island Shopping Center and has expressed concerns the retailer will leave if Middle River Station is built.

Kamenetz, a former councilman for 16 years before being elected county executive, has not taken a position on the referendum.