The Supreme Court of Maryland ruled Thursday that the vote of Baltimore residents on the future of Harborplace will count after all.
When voters decide “yes” or “no” on Question F in November or during early voting, that vote will be counted and certified.
It reverses a decision made by Anne Arundel County Judge Cathleen Vitale that ruled the question would not be certified by the Baltimore City Board of Elections. In September, Vitale ruled with former city councilman Anthony Ambridge and a dozen other Baltimore City residents, represented by attorney Thiru Vignarajah, who challenged the language and constitutionality of ballot Question F.
That argument didn’t hold for the seven justices of the state’s highest court who sat through an hourlong appeal on Wednesday afternoon. In addition to arguments from Vignarajah, the court heard from Michael Redmond, the city chief solicitor, and Daniel Kobrin, an attorney with the Maryland Attorney General representing the State Board of Elections, who both appealed the lower court decision to be overturned.
By the time of the challenge, and Vitale’s ruling, ballots had already gone out for printing. As of the supreme court decision, Marylanders had already begun to submit mail-in ballots. Kobrin argued that the decision undermined voters’ “confidence” in their ballot and Redmond argued it went against their “right to self-determination.”
The six-page decision released by the court on Thursday did not contain reasoning as to the ruling, the court wrote those will come “in an opinion to be filed.”
“We’re certainly disappointed but of course respect the Court’s decision. We’ll now shift our focus for the next month to educate and encourage voters to Vote F — No,” Vignarjah wrote in a statement to WYPR, calling the question a measure that will “strip away public parkland to make way for luxury apartments and public garages.”
Question F asks city voters if they want to make amends to the city charter regarding the public park area at the Inner Harbor. Specifically it asks if voters would allow multi-family housing and off-street parking in the space. Additionally, it asks if they would expand the area for development to 4.5 acres up from the current 3.2 acres, essentially taking McKeldin Plaza into Harborplace.
MCB Real Estate, led by Baltimorean P. David Bramble, proposed a $900 million redevelopment of Harborplace last year– about half of that is expected to be paid for in public funds. The designs include a restructured waterfront promenade, more greenspace, mixed-retail, and most controversy, about 900 apartment units spread throughout the space.
The buildings would be privately owned and MCB holds full development rights but the Inner Harbor is a public city park and the spaces allowable for public use are outlined in the current city charter, hence, the city believes voters must decide if they’ll allow private apartment buildings to be used in that space.
The project has enjoyed heavy support from the city council all the way up through Governor Wes Moore, however, few have been more enthusiastic about the plan than Mayor Brandon Scott.
“We’re thrilled that the Maryland Supreme Court saw through this charade of opposition-at-any-cost and ruled that Baltimore’s residents were capable of making their voices heard on the future of Harborplace,” said Scott in a statement. “This revitalization is long-overdue, and we are looking forward to this ballot question passing so we can ensure the future of one of our City’s best assets remains bright.”
"We gave always been confident that the Court would side with allowing the voters to have their voices heard on the future of Baltimore's waterfront," said Bramble, of MCB Real Estate, in a statement.
In his statement to WYPR, Vignarajah, on behalf of the Baltimore residents who oppose the redevelopment, wrote that he doesn’t expect to be done with legal challenges in this matter.
“I expect we’ll push for a ballot measure to protect our parks and repeal this pro-developer amendment in 2026. We lost a legal battle today but the war to protect our city’s parks from private developers is far from over.”
Maryland State Board of Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis said he was "thankful" to the court for the expedited ruling.