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Connecting a rich history to an innovative future for the Bare Hills community and Lake Roland.

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Locally
Developed

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Enviromentally
Friendly

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Community
Focused

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Innovatively
Designed

Bluestem is a proposed mixed-use project that will include retail, dining and a multi-family residential building on six acres at 6241 through 6247 Falls Road in the Bare Hills community.

The primary design objective of this development is to promote an interconnected village concept with a distinctive town character. 

Bluestem is adjacent to Lake Roland, a tremendous natural resource for the region and a source of shared interest for the surrounding communities. The proposed plan includes a point of entry to the park, meeting the community’s demand for the creation of a mixed-use village with a focus on the park.

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Locally Developed

Through the input of local stakeholders and professionals, the development has been designed to improve sustainability and usability for Lake Roland. The developers have engaged local community holders and teamed with experts familiar both with the park itself as well as the specific type of redevelopment.

Updates to the proposed plan for Bluestem include:

  • No development within the forest buffer.
  • No parking on park property.
  • Approximately one acre of green space included in the current plan.
  • Better and closer access to Lake Roland Park’s Orange Trail.
  • Residential building relocated away from Lake Roland Park’s Purple Connector Trail.
  • Retail “Main Street” created.
  • Retail on first floor with residential above for the mixed-use portion of the project.
  • Number of drive-thru’s allowed reduced from 3 to 2.
  • Maximum permitted building height lowered from 8 to 6 floors.

Read More About The Development

Locally Developed

The developers of the Bluestem project in the Bare Hills community seek to improve the usability and functionality of Lake Roland by maintaining open communication with community stakeholders and professionals…

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The “Looming Tower” in Lake Roland

While concerns have been raised that the Bluestem development will consist of a large block tower looming over Lake Roland Park, the Bluestem development team have gone to great lengths…

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Spotlight: Plusen Landscape Architects

Plusen Landscape Architects is a landscape architecture firm based in Catonsville, Maryland. Known for elegant and timeless designs, the firm works on projects that range from commercial and institutional to…

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Land Development and Good Stewardship

How Should Stewardship Apply to Land Development? To be a good steward is to be a careful and responsible manager of something within your care. When land is purchased for…

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Environmentally Friendly

The development has been planned in an environmentally conscious effort to improve the property and benefit the park. It will improve the watershed, protect the local ecosystem, and support the conservation of the open space through modern improvements and redevelopment of outdated infrastructure.

Clean Air, Walkable Lifestyle

Bluestem would replace several outdated commercial structures as well as a large mulch operation and equipment storage yard that abuts the park. The mulch facility produces a perpetual noxious odor and other negative environmental impacts. Further, it is not compatible with the concept of a walkable village and is inconsistent with the economic revitalization currently underway in Bare Hills.

Read More About The Environmental Impact

Protecting The Environmental Integrity of Lake Roland

The developers and designers of the Bluestem development in the Bare Hills community have gone to great lengths to ensure the project will exist harmoniously on the boundary of the…

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Restoring the serpentine – Lake Roland Nature Council

This article was originally written by, and published on, the Lake Roland Nature Council website. To view the original article, please click here.  This past winter, volunteers from Lake Roland Nature…

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Conservation Through Redevelopment

The developers and designers of the Bluestem development in the Bare Hills Community have planned construction in the most environmentally-friendly way possible—upholding the health of the park is of utmost…

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Land Development and Good Stewardship

How Should Stewardship Apply to Land Development? To be a good steward is to be a careful and responsible manager of something within your care. When land is purchased for…

Read More

Community Focused

The developers of Bluestem have extensively engaged local community members and stakeholders to understand what is important to neighbors, businesses and park-goers. The developers have taken exceptional measures to design the project in a way that lends the resources of the property to improve functionality and accessibility to the park. It will produce an amenity for housing aligned with the community for which there is no existing supply.  

Connecting to Community Master Plans

"A major theme of the 2010 Community Plan is creating ‘connections’. This important planning principle is not just about obvious connections relating to pedestrian and other transportation needs. Rather, the goal is to think about the community’s relationship to its surrounding communities and the region. The Park is a central part of what binds and connects the surrounding communities, and more broadly has the potential to be an important regional asset. Consequently, a significant part of the 2010 Community Plan focuses on the Park and the creation of a mixed-use village in the Bare Hills community on Falls Road." (RRLR Plan, p. 4).

"In addition, new multi-family residential uses can transform this area into a complete neighborhood similar to the Village of Cross Keys located farther south on Falls Road." (RRLR Plan, p. 6)

The RRLR Plan also recommends support for "a mix of uses throughout the Bare Hills Village area…and where appropriate, rezoning parcels, which would provide the impetus for revitalizing and upgrading the uses for the Bare Hills area to become a more community-oriented retail, office and residential village." (RRLR Plan, p. 9)

Entrance of Lake Roland Park in the spring. Green trees behind wooden bridge, and signs about trail information.

Aligning with Baltimore County Master Plan 2020

Bluestem is in conformance with the goals, objectives and recommendations of the Baltimore County Master Plan 2020 (“BCMP 2020”). Specifically, the BCMP 2020 has adopted different transect zones which are designed to provide the basis for real neighborhood structure, which relies upon compact, walkable streets, mixed-use, transportation options and housing diversity. The village of Lake Roland is classified as T-5 (Urban Center) transect zone, which is intended to include higher density mixed-use buildings that accommodate retail, offices, townhouses and apartments. (BCMP 2020, p. 29)

Read More About The Community Impact

Community Focused

In years past, the term “development” has perhaps left a less-than-pleasant taste in the mouths of community members. This hesitation toward development was not unreasonable, considering some of the environmental…

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The Rise of “Surban” Living

What is “Surban” Living? The term “surban,” which was coined by John Burns Real Estate Consulting, refers to a suburban community that offers the amenities and conveniences that urban areas…

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Parking and Accessibility Still a Challenge for Lake Roland Park-Goers

According to the Lake Roland Nature Council (LRNC), park attendance has skyrocketed in the last decade— in the early 2000s, approximately 40,000 people visited the park each year, compared to…

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Spotlight: The Traffic Group

The Traffic Group is a leading national traffic engineering and transportation planning firm with headquarters located in Baltimore, Maryland. Established in 1985, The Traffic Group specializes in projects that concern…

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Innovatively Designed

The development has implored state-of-the-art techniques for landscape architecture, engineering, and construction in order to provide modern facilities both to current neighbors and future residents. It will be built under modern codes and building requirements with a vision for future needs of the surrounding community.

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Read More About The Design

Local Economic Development in Baltimore County Requires Smart Developments

Recent development of mixed-use spaces in Baltimore City and the Washington metropolitan area have helped jumpstart necessary revitalization in previously dormant areas. Such development projects have provided new and modern…

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Around The Park, Not In It

A major point of opposition voiced by residents in the Lake Roland area regarding the Bluestem development is concerned with the multi-use housing project’s impact on the park. While construction…

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Innovatively Designed

The Bluestem development team is keenly aware of the importance of smart and thoughtful construction, and as such they have chosen to create a multi-use development, in the vein of…

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But How Will The Project Affect...

The planned development falls within a Business, Major-Commercial, Community Core (“BM-CCC”) zone.

Bluestem will be served by public water and sewer. According to the 2017 Basic Services Maps, the property is not located within a deficient area or an area of special concern for either water or sewer. The public water and sewer is sufficiently sized to accommodate the project.