Camiros worked closely with City staff and stakeholders to update the Baltimore’s outdated Zoning Code.

The primary goal of the Code update was to effectively implement the City’s adopted Comprehensive Plan, with a focus on managing growth, preserving the City’s historic form and character, protecting key industrial sites, and facilitating redevelopment of commercial areas.

The Zoning Code for Baltimore worked to foreground a number of key City policy priorities, including sustainability, public health, quality design and form, and predictability + consistency in Code application.

The following elements were included in Baltimore’s updated Code:

• Form-based zoning controls for rowhouse developments.

• A new Downtown district reflecting the form and intensity of key character areas, crafted through a charrette process.

• New districts for specific large-scale development types including transit-oriented development, a variety of mixed-use districts, and flexible campus districts for institutional uses (medical and educational).

• Provisions for the adaptive reuse of historic structures, and allowances for corner stores.

• Protection of the City’s waterfront, including industrial port facilities, waterfront recreation, public access permissions, and waterfront promenade and viewshed protections.

• Protections for existing industrial sites and new industrial mixed-use development permissions for those in transition.

• New regulations for renewable energy technologies, including solar, wind, and geothermal at private, community, and utility levels.

• Accommodation for all modes of transportation within new development, including pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users.

• New transit-oriented development (TOD) districts for current and anticipated public transit routes.

• Incorporation of public health policies into the code, working with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health to create positive public health benefits.