Project Spotlight: 2009 NDC Baltimore Project of the Year
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Butchers Hill Master Plan and Greening Project

Each year the Neighborhood Design Center chooses a project that exemplifies civic engagement, quality of design, and positive impact on the community.  This year we are proud to honor the Butchers Hill Master Plan in Baltimore (click HERE to view the plan).

The neighborhood of Butchers Hill is a 12 block area in East Baltimore, located approximately one mile from the Inner Harbor, and bordered by Fayette and Pratt Streets to the North and South, and Patterson Park Avenue and Washington Street to the East and West, respectively.  Containing about 1,000 buildings, primarily residential rowhouses, Butchers Hill is home to a diverse group of citizens including many artisans, families, and young professionals.

In June of 2008 the Butchers Hill Association approached NDC to assist them in developing a master plan for the neighborhood.  In meeting with community leaders, and walking the neighborhood, it became clear that what was needed was not a traditional land use plan but a plan that focused on the public spaces of the neighborhood - the streets, sidewalks, and building facades.  Additionally, the community had just gotten an agreement from Baltimore City to install angled parking on several of its wide, north-south streets.  Residents were concerned that the angled parking would look too much like a parking lot and detract from the quality of the neighborhood.

Volunteers Keith Sullivan and Will Story of Design Collective (2009 Volunteers of the Year) worked with the community association to develop three goals of the plan:

1. Propose streetscape improvements including the integration of diagonal parking, traffic calming devices, and green techniques that will serve as a model for other neighborhoods throughout the city of Baltimore.

2. Develop a system of streetscape and architectural guidelines that help the residents’ monitor and uphold the environmental quality of the Butchers Hill neighborhood.

3. Preserve and further enhance the identity of the neighborhood by creating a sense of place.


       Existing conditions                                                Proposed streetscape

A key part of the plan was the recommendation to create a series of "green streets" (above). The idea is borrowed from a program in Portland that incorporates street greening and storm water management.  Recommendations included a phasing plan that incorporated planting strips, planted bump-outs, and other measures that would capture and filter storm water runoff while also increasing the tree canopy and provided places for community-managed gardens.  The plan also included recommendations for exterior facade improvements, signage, and recommendations for small-scaled greening in the fronts of private houses (below).

The project was chosen because of its innovative approach in combining urban design, new storm water management techniques, and public space improvements that not only met the needs of the neighborhood but also might serve as a model for other neighborhoods in Baltimore and for the City's Sustainability Plan.  As a follow-up to the work of our volunteers, Baltimore City DPW hired a local engineering firm to do a more detailed feasibility study of incorporating these measures in the neighborhood, and is working with the Butchers Hill Association to locate funding for implementation.

We would like to congratulate the entire Butchers Hill community, and especially Barry Glassman, on this well-deserved award.  We also want to recognize the work of Keith, Will and their colleagues at Design Collective, who donated nearly $60,000 in pro-bono services on this project.