When Mayor Brandon Scott announced his choice of Jon M. Laria as the next chairman of the Planning Commission, some, like Bikemore and Councilman Ryan Dorsey, applauded his land use knowledge and pro-transportation funding credentials.

But others were left troubled about the ability of the veteran development attorney to remain neutral.

“I worry that he has a conflict of interest on some issues,” said architect David Benn, reacting to Laria’s selection, announced last Thursday and subject to City Council confirmation.

He was speaking mildly compared to the reaction on the Facebook page where debate has raged about the plan – pushed by Laria – to build high-rise waterfront apartments on the site of Baltimore’s Harborplace.

“This places a fox in charge of the chickens,” one commenter on the Harborplace Forum wrote.

“So who will draft the letter that details [Laria’s] conflicts and post it here?” another wondered.

Laria is arguably Baltimore’s best known land-use and commercial real estate lawyer, the go-to consigliere for private developers with big projects who need the approval of the Planning Commission and others.

He’s been a ubiquitous presence in business circles, serving as chair of the Maryland Building Industry Association’s Baltimore Chapter, founder of the Baltimore Development Workgroup and chair of the Greater Baltimore Committee’s Transportation and Mobility Committee.

And he’s frequently ventured into local politics. He raised campaign cash for former Governor Martin O’Malley and oversaw fundraising for Pugh’s inaugural committee, acknowledging during the height of the Healthy Holly scandal that he had failed to file required 990 forms to the IRS.

Over those same years, he has represented a roll call of development projects for Kevin Plank, his brother Scott Plank, Michael Beatty, Lexington Square Partners, Rick Walker’s WV Urban Development, State Center LLC, Stephen Gorn’s 414 Light Street building and Topgolf Baltimore, among others.

“The great thing about development projects and practicing real estate law is that you can get to the end and everyone can be happy,” he told the Baltimore Business Journal in 2020.

Beatty’s Harbor Point project is now nearing completion, aided by over $150 million in public tax financing. But other projects that Laria helped shape and promote – for example, to rebuild the “Superblock” along Howard and Lexington streets and establish a Walmart on 25th Street – have been failures.

TIF Money for Plank

By far his biggest success was representing Under Armour and Kevin Plank’s development company as the latter secured a $660 million in Tax Increment (TIF) Financing for the Port Covington project, since rebranded as Baltimore Peninsula.

The record-breaking subsidy was approved by the City Council in 2016, despite critics calling it financially risky and faith groups warning the project would “create a white, wealthy enclave that leaves most of Baltimore out.”

More recently, Laria was the registered City Hall lobbyist on land use matters for P. David Bramble’s MCB Real Estate, which purchased Harborplace out of receivership and secured Mayor Scott’s support for its plan to build private apartments on waterfront land enshrined in the City Charter as a public park.

Last year during the run-up to the November general election, Laria performed a new role for Bramble.

He chaired the ballot issue committee supporting “Question F,” which would amend the City Charter so that Bramble’s apartment towers could be sited along Light and Pratt streets.

Fueled by more than $400,000 from MCB, “Baltimore for a New Harborplace” mounted a public relations campaign that cast the project as a way to make the waterfront greener and more park-like, with little mention of the 1,000-unit twin apartment towers.

Critics lobbied against Question F, which voters ultimately approved, as a potential waste of public funds and a developer land grab that would privatize cherished public space.

Architect Benn was one of those critics.

Speaking with The Brew this week, Benn pointed to some of Laria’s other civic endeavors, saying “he’s done good work in terms of hiking, biking and mass transit” on various government committees.

But Benn said he has serious concerns about how Laria, as chairman of the Planning Commission, would handle Harborplace matters going forward, including his call for MCB to hold off on demolishing the old pavilions until funding for new construction is guaranteed.

“That’s the kind of thing the Planning Commission could help with,” Benn said. “But it’s what Jon would probably have a problem with because it might affect some of his clients.”

“He’ll be smooth and respectful to citizens. But that’s not going to change what happens. He’s pro-development. Period.”

A lawyer who specializes in land use issues expressed similar qualms. Asking for anonymity in return for candor, he said:

“Jon is a highly connected guy who has always wrapped himself in the blanket of championing the public welfare. But when you looked at it, he was just representing his clients.

“As chairman of the Planning Commission, he’ll be smooth and respectful to citizens [appearing before the board]. But that’s not going to change what happens. He’s pro-development. Period. What I don’t know is whether his loyalty will lie with Scott or with the many developers he’s represented.”

A former city official, who also requested anonymity, offered a similar appraisal, saying, “He’s nice, he’s smart, but he’s into everything. Not just representing individual developers, but in being intimately involved in legislation, tax credits and other city policy.”

Defers Answering Questions

With Laria’s nomination placed this week before the City Council for confirmation, The Brew asked him some questions, including:

• Could he serve as Planning Commission chairman without conflict after representing so many businesses and developers over his 30-year career at Ballard Spahr, 12 of them as managing partner of the Baltimore office?

• Would he recuse himself from voting – or from sitting as chair – if MCB or other Ballard Spahr clients came before the commission?

• Does he still represent MCB and other developer clients in his current role as “special council” at Ballard Spahr?

The law firm’s website describes Laria as a member of its senior leadership team and notes that he “represents owners, developers, investors and lenders in all types of commercial real estate transactions, including development, finance, acquisition and leasing.”

“Out of deference to the Council, I don’t want to get into detailed discussions about the Commission prior to my confirmation hearing”  – Statement from Jon Laria.

In addition, Laria “has a leading land use, zoning, and entitlements practice and has provided counsel for some of Baltimore’s most prominent development projects,” according to his webpage. His law office phone number is still operational.

Responding to The Brew’s questions, Laria provided this statement, asking that it be published in full:

“Out of deference to the Council, I don’t want to get into detailed discussions about the Commission prior to my confirmation hearing. But to reassure you and others, I am consulting with the Ethics Board and will follow the Board’s advice on these potential issues.”

“An ideal leader,” Scott says

In announcing his choice of Laria, Mayor Scott pointed to his land use background, saying it makes Laria “an ideal leader for the Planning Commission as Baltimore continues to build the renaissance underway.”

Lauding Laria’s work on “initiatives that promote economic vibrancy, community inclusion and environmental stewardship,” Scott’s office links to the law firm bio that lists his civic involvement.

But Laria’s representation of companies with real estate matters before city government is what he is chiefly known for.

City lobbying disclosure records indicate his clients in recent years include Comcast Cable, Scott Plank’s War Horse Cities and University of Maryland Baltimore Health Sciences Research Park Corp.

Filings indicate that he has continued to work – as recently as December 2024 – on behalf of Baltimore Urban Revitalization LLC, developers of Baltimore Peninsula, while officially retired as managing partner of Ballard Spahr’s Baltimore office.

In the News

Laria’s efforts to actively promote the positions of his clients are chronicled in media coverage.

As part of his work for the ultimately aborted 25th Street Walmart project, he testified against Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke’s living wage bill, warning “it imperils the future of the project.” Her bill was subsequently killed in the Council.

During the debate over allowing large digital billboards on downtown buildings, it was Laria who defended the Downtown Partnership’s refusal to release its profit-sharing agreement with unnamed media companies.

And as the lawyer for a nonprofit seeking approval to raze the historic Hendler Creamery building in East Baltimore, he took umbrage at media reporting on a never-explained one-hour gap in the video of a public meeting about the request.

The nine-member Planning Commission is no stranger to members with development ties.

Its most recent chairman, Sean D. Davis, is a principal at Morris & Ritchie Associates, an architectural and landscape firm with many government and private contracts that also employs another Planning Commission member, Doug McCoach.

Also sitting on the commission is Scott’s deputy mayor for development, Justin Williams, a former land use attorney at Rosenberg Martin Greenberg and Venable LLP.

Tom Prevas, an environmental lawyer who served on the Planning Commission between 2017 and 2023, said he had no problem with Scott’s decision to nominate Laria.

“I think Jon’s knowledge about how development really works in Baltimore will be a benefit to the commission and the city. My personal view is that the city violates the law a lot of times regarding private property rights. Someone like Jon would at least be tuned into what’s occurring and, hopefully, address it.”