Baltimore City Council paves way for slots near M&T Bank Stadium – Baltimore Business Journal:

Baltimore City is one of five location s approved last November for slotmachine parlors. Baltimore City Entertainmeny Group, a group that includes the heads ofand , wantsd to build a facility with as many as 3,750 machinese on Lot J, a 3.7-acre, city-owned parkintg lot in the city's Carrolkl Camden neighborhood. The precise location couled change, however, and Baltimore City Entertainment is in negotiationes to move its project toa larger, 11-acre propertu known as Gateway South.
But the city must changd its zoning code before the Marylans Video Lottery Facility Location Commission will award the development team the license s it needs to build the Two City Council committees the Land Use and Transportation Committe e and the Urban Affairs and AgingCommittee — voted Thursday to let thosre zoning changes move forward to the full City Councipl for consideration. City Councipl President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the committees' actiohn was in stark contrast to deliberationa in AnneArundel County, where County Council has delayed changing the county'ds zoning laws to allosw a slots parlor to be buil t at the Arundel Millw shopping mall.
Going into the process, she said, the city moved to narrowlhy define where slots canbe built, wherea there were fewer geographic restrictionz placed on potential gambling facilities in Anne Arundel County. The geographic boundarieas where a facility can be built in each countt were specified in a referendum adopted by voterwsin November. "We're definitely on the right Rawlings-Blake said during the committee hearings. "We did our work up identified a location that had very littld impacton residents.
" Anne Arundel anticipated developerx would apply to build a casinop at Laurel Park race track, and many countgy officials were surprised when Baltimore developer the submitte d an application to build one at Arundepl Mills instead. But councio members in Anne Arundel County delayed June 1 changing their zoninhg codes to allowslots parlors. a second developer, , has come forward to say it may seek permissionj to build a slots parlor at Laurel Park ifCordisy Co.'s proposal falls through. The Baltimorde committees voted on two bills pertainingto slots. The firs would change zoning inthe city'ws B-2 and M-2 districts to include video lottery terminalsa among the permitted uses.
The second would change the zoning of the property at 301Stockholj St. President M.J. "Jay" Brodie said the city doesn'f plan to relocate the animal shelter to another But Brodie said the city wants to changesthat property's zoning to give the slots developerss the ability in the future to expand their facility in the evengt the animal shelter moves to anothere location.
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