Whirring past community objections, the Board of Estimates inked a 20-year deal with developer J. Scott Plank to lease space at his Canton heliport for use by the Baltimore Police Department’s three-helicopter Airbus fleet.

It was a lucrative transaction for Plank: the price of the lease will total $17.9 million, not including operating costs to be determined by the owner.

Ahead of the Board’s unanimous approval yesterday, Canton residents reiterated their objections: that no meaningful assessments were done regarding safety, noise, pollution or how increased flight activity near high-rise homes could impact the area.

Less well-known: the scope of the campaign contributions Plank made to key Democrats who backed the arrangement, including by allocating $750,000 in state funds to Plank for heliport improvements.

• Last August 5, for example, Plank wrote a $15,000 check to the Democratic Senate Caucus Committee under the name of “John Plank.” Previously, in 2022, he gave $5,000 to the committee.

• This is in addition to the $7,032 he gave directly to Senate President Bill Ferguson’s campaign committee over the last two election cycles.

• During the same time, the developer (who is the older brother of Under Armour founder Kevin Plank) gave $3,000 to Mayor Brandon Scott and $5,000 to now City Council President Cohen, who both voted yesterday to approve the heliport lease.

• Other Plank donations, totaling $1,774, went to Mark Parker when he ran for the 1st District city council seat. Parker won and now represents the Canton community.

Residents: “We feel blindsided”

Yesterday’s vote was a setback for residents, who said the lease came as a surprise.

“We feel blindsided by this development,” Jeffrey Penza, president of Beacon Condominium, said in a letter to the board

Noting that the first public outreach session wasn’t held until last week – and then for informational purposes only – Nick Christopoulos, president of The Moorings near Lighthouse Point, complained that “the tone was set that the community’s opinions and concerns did not matter.”

They and Laura Coleman, of North Shore condos on Boston Street, asked the board to postpone a decision until residents could review late-minute operating procedures added to the lease.

According to Andrew Smullian, deputy chief of staff to Police Commissioner Richard Worley, the city cannot mandate where helicopters fly. He noted that Plank’s Clinton Street Marina LLC did agree to a nonbinding guidance that “encourages” pilots not to fly over waterfront residences unless necessary.

Currently, there is a voluntary 1,000-foot height guidance, which Christopoulos said is commonly violated by helicopters using the facility, as are restrictions against shining bright lights into residential buildings at night.

Johns Hopkins Lifeline transport helicopter is stationed at the pier. There has also been a sharp spike in traffic from private craft, the Maryland State Police and U.S. military Black Hawks, according to an analysis by The Baltimore Banner, which broke the heliport story last July.

BOE member and Comptroller Bill Henry said there was plenty of time to address the protester’s worries when the panel considers a future contract to move BPD’s underwater recovery team to the Plank facility. The new operating procedures cited by Smullian were not made public ahead of the vote.

Cost Savings: $110,000 a Year

The Plank lease is nearly double the aviation unit’s existing lease at Martin State Airport, its home since aerial surveillance was started in 1970.

Moving the fleet from Middle River to the Canton waterfront will save valuable minutes as the helicopters circle the city on their daily missions to track suspects on foot, chase cars and dirt bikes, and monitor crowds, Smullian said.

The helicopters already use the waterfront pier for refueling, especially at night because Martin’s fueling operations close around 6 p.m. A permanent move to Plank’s facility will save an estimated $110,000 a year in fuel and repair costs, he said.

Asked by Council President Cohen if the city was boxing itself in with a long-term contract when manned helicopters may be replaced by drones and other advanced technology, Col. Ryan Lee, chief of patrol, said:

“In my conversations with other aviation units and experts, whether it’s police or fire operations, the roles and capabilities of helicopters are not expected to change within the life of this lease. We are not seeing drone capability at that level.”

City Administrator Faith Leach then stepped in to add a caveat. The 10-year plan her office is developing anticipates a shift to drone technology. “We actually have a drone team within the police department,” she said, “but we don’t believe it will take over our entire helicopter system.”

$750,000 from Legislature

Plank acquired the helipad in 2017 as part of larger a $24 million purchase of various Canton properties.

As early as 2019, he approached the police department about switching from Martin Airport. “The concept was interesting, but rejected for two basic reasons: operational and legal,” Smullian said without elaboration.

But when the city’s aging four-chopper fleet was replaced by three Airbus H125s in 2023, the Scott administration and Senate President Ferguson, whose 46th district includes Canton, began to think about the advantages of relocating the aviation unit at a more central location.

At the time, Plank’s facility was mostly used for boat storage and docking, but Plank told Ferguson a hangar could be constructed to house the city’s helicopters.

In 2025, the Maryland legislature allocated $750,000 to Baltimore City to be signed over to Plank as part of the multi-million-dollar private improvements he has promised for the heliport.

Yesterday’s contract envisions those upgrades to be made over the next eight months, and the city’s lease with Plank to begin on or about October 1.

To reach a reporter: reutermark@yahoo.com