BOE approves new electrical line under city streets to Hopkins’ Homewood campus
Decision was made by the board without determining whether the power line will serve the campus in general or primarily feed electricity to the DSAI complex
Above: Sketch of the single-story substation at the DSAI complex at West 31st Street. (JHU)
Baltimore’s Board of Estimates today approved Johns Hopkins University’s request to construct an electrical conduit under city streets without clarifying whether the line will be primarily used to power the university’s controversial Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Institute (DSAI).
The board’s agenda indicated that the conduit would specifically serve the power needs of the institute and terminate at a substation next to the complex now rising on the southwest side of the Homewood campus.
“The Johns Hopkins University would like to construct new conduit and roadway improvements for its new Data Science and Artificial Intelligence buildings located in the vicinity of 3100 Wyman Park Drive,” the agenda item said.
But in his presentation to the board, Lee Coyle, Hopkins’ senior director of planning and architecture, avoided any mention of the DSAI building.
Instead, he presented the project as serving the entire Homewood campus in order “to meet our own sustainability goals and also the State of Maryland’s requirements for zero carbon by the year 2045.”
Noting that 30 years had passed since the campus last upgraded its electrical system, Coyle said the conduit was needed to “decarbonize campus buildings” by using electricity in place of fossil fuels.
“Most of our buildings today are fossil fueled, so it’s a big change for us to bring in more electricity to do that,” he explained.
On its website, the university says DSAI will be a science and education hub, not an energy-consuming data center, and will require no more electricity than a typical academic building.
Description of the purpose of the new conduit system in today’s BOE agenda.
Quick Approval
The area’s representative, City Councilwoman Odette Ramos, pointed out the disconnect.
“If they are greening the campus, let’s green it,” she said. “If they are putting more power into the data center, that’s what they’re doing. The confusion here is pretty palpable.”
She called on the board to “make sure you are approving something [when] you actually know what’s happening.”
But the panel never took up the question, and the Hopkins representatives were never asked to address it.
Moments after Ramos spoke, the board approved the project.
Mayor Brandon Scott abstained (he typically abstains from votes involving the university), and City Council President Zeke Cohen was absent. Acting chair Sharon Green Middleton, Comptroller Bill Henry, City Solicitor Ebony Thompson and Public Works Director Matthew Garbark voted in favor of the Hopkins’ request.
Map of the underground conduit to be built by Johns Hopkins between the BGE substation on 23rd Street and the DSAI complex at 31st Street. BELOW: Lee Coyle speaks to the board accompanied by attorney Caroline Hecker. (JHU, CharmTV)
Hopkins Will Pay
JHU said it will pay for the conduit – estimated to cost $3.7 million – extending 12 city blocks from the Baltimore Gas & Electric substation at West 23rd Street and up Howard Street to the DSAI site at 31st Street and Wyman Park Drive.
The line will provide 13,200 volts to the university separate and apart from BGE’s current network of underground lines serving residential Remington and Charles Village. Work would start next month and proceed in increments, with completion of the conduit in January and the substation in summer 2027.
Coyle said the university has taken steps to minimize community disruptions, including limiting construction between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. so “there will be no interruption to traffic or parking during the rush hour.”
He promised that parking alternatives will be identified for residents and businesses along Howard Street, and ADA-accessible curb ramps and sidewalk bump-outs will be constructed at two intersections.
After completion, the conduit will be deeded to the city.
Letters of Opposition
The board received more than 50 letters opposed to the project from local residents, who said it would cause major traffic jams along Howard Street and potentially compromise their power supply. Most faulted the board for ramming through the project with little advance notice and urged the panel to postpone the vote.
Coyle said the university notified Ramos and Councilman Jermaine Jones of its plan in February and subsequently met with the Greater Remington Improvement Association, Charles Village Civic Association, Seawall Development and Sweet 27 restaurant.
Ramos faulted Hopkins for not contacting Wyman Park South, a hotbed of resistance to the DSAI project. “There needs to be dialogue,” she said.
The group and Sacred Parks and Waterways fought the DSAI project before the BOE in December when the university requested permission to cut down several dozen mature elm and oak trees on city property to expedite stormwater work at the complex.
The board backed Hopkins, with Council President Cohen saying AI research was the wave of the future, and it was critically important that “Baltimore be the intellectual capital of that conversation.”
Earlier this month, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation urged the city to deny a stormwater permit waiver requested for DSAI, citing the multiple violations of runoff control during the construction of the nearby SNF Agora Institute building.
Hopkins currently faces “significant penalties” by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) for the violations, which adversely impacted Stony Run, a tributary of the Jones Falls that flows near the DSAI construction site.