As members of Baltimore’s Planning Commission reminded the audience, the request before them was limited:

Johns Hopkins University wants some of the airspace above, and some of the land below, Wyman Park Drive to build a skybridge and a tunnel to connect the two buildings it plans for its Data Science and AI Institute. (It was unclear how long the road would be closed for that part of the work to be completed.)

Approved unanimously by the commission yesterday, the closure was a procedural first step toward an ordinance of sale.

But the request drew a slew of opponents, including nearby residents and their City Council representative who came to denounce the project behind it.

“These two buildings together are going to be big – bigger than the Convention Center,” said 14th District Councilwoman Odette Ramos, who led off by criticizing Hopkins for not involving the community in the decisionmaking.

“In order to fit the entirety of their monstrosity of a building they needed to split it into two places,” she said, acknowledging that an ordinance to sell portions of the road will eventually come before the Council, then notably remarking, “I will not be sponsoring it.”

Resident Hillary Gonzalez called the design “anti-urban,” the buildings “a fortress,” and the project “wildly unpopular” to people who have lived in the neighborhood for decades.

“I understand we’re talking about the subterranean and air rights, but obviously that facilitates the larger project at hand,” Gonzalez said.

“Not a data center”

Speaking for Hopkins, attorney Caroline Hecker reiterated the project’s purpose.

“It is dedicated to the application, understanding, collection, and risks of data and the development of machine learning and artificial intelligence systems,” she said. “This is a collegiate academic space that will include lab space classrooms and an auditorium. Importantly, it’s not a data center.”

Arguing that the air and underground rights of Wyman Park Drive have never been needed for public use, Hecker said the public will benefit from Hopkins’ planned use for them, particularly the construction of an underground service connector between the two buildings.

“This will allow all of the building loading and trash removal to be accommodated from a private service road owned by Johns Hopkins, located attached to the north building,” she said. “That reduces noise disruption and eliminates a lot of truck activity on Wyman Park Drive, and it also eliminates the need for an additional external loading facility in the South building.”

She also noted that the skybridge would help students, faculty and staff navigate a busy intersection and city streets that are not ADA compliant.

Remington’s Jed Weeks, one of the speakers, seized on this admission. “If this moves forward, the city should at least make one of the conditions of the closing that Hopkins has to make all of that adjacent pedestrian infrastructure accessible,” he said.

“It’s not rocket science. These guys should be able to deliver a concise duration for such a defined part of the project”  – Commissioner Douglas McCoach.

Another part of her testimony that drew scrutiny came when Hecker was asked “is there an estimate as to how long construction might be?”

“We don’t have permits yet,” she answered. “It’s hard to say at this point, but it won’t be forever. It’ll take a little while to build it. I don’t yet know exactly how long it’s going to take.”

This got the attention of Planning Commissioner Douglas McCoach, who remarked, “I’m curious why Hopkins has not been able to define the duration of the project.”

“To dig a trench halfway across the street while maintaining traffic, and then build it up, cover it up, pave it and then do the other half. It’s not rocket science,” he said. “These guys should be able to deliver a concise duration for such a defined part of the project.”

Hopkins has estimated the entire construction will take at minimum five years.

In granting approval for the closure, the commission added a condition – that the university provide a timeline for the overall project and the detour and make an effort to limit the time that the right of way is closed.

“Even if these buildings do take five years to build, there’s certainly no reason to close that road for the entirety of construction,” remarked Eric Stephenson, who chaired yesterday’s meeting. (Chairman Jon Laria, who has represented Hopkins in other matters, recused himself.)

“Gridlock every day”

The panel’s action came at the end of a meeting that was mostly taken up with witnesses protesting the overall DSAI plan, which has angered area residents, despite the multiple community meetings Hopkins has held.

Two individuals wrote letters of support for the road closure agenda item, while more than 60 sent messages of opposition, Stephenson said.

Several mentioned the mature trees to be cut down for the project on Remington Avenue and the rivers of runoff that have flowed during heavy rainstorms from a nearby Hopkins project, the Agora building.

Residents decried what they said would be the project’s many negative impacts on the neighborhood, among them the closure of Wyman Park Drive during years of construction.

“Wyman Park Drive is a public street and a primary east-west route for pedestrians, bicyclists, cars, delivery trucks and emergency vehicles,” said longtime resident Rick Shelley, expressing concern the closure would slow response times for fire trucks.

Pointing to Seawall’s planned mixed use development nearby on Sisson Street, Gonzalez predicted “the combination of the two projects will put both Hampden and Remington in a gridlock every day during morning and evening rush hour.”

Jessica Hudson introduced herself as the Wyman Park resident whose house, with the cat mural, sits across the street from the project. She criticized Hopkins for positioning one of the planned DSAI structures close to the steep slope leading down to Stony Run, instead of using the area where a building sits on land it owns closer to 31st Street.

“The building over there is rotting and they’re not doing anything about it,” Hudson said. “They’re saving that because they’re going to build more.”