Baltimore City Council paves way for slots near M&T Bank Stadium - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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Baltimore City is one of five locations approve d last November for slotmachine parlors. Baltimore City Entertainment Group, a group that includes the heads ofand , wantx to build a facility with as many as 3,75p0 machines on Lot J, a city-owned parking lot in the city'sz Carroll Camden neighborhood. The precise location could change, however, and Baltimore City Entertainmenf is in negotiations to move its project toa 11-acre property known as Gateway South.
But the city must change its zoningv code before the Maryland Video Lottery Facilitt Location Commission will award the development team the licensee it needs to build the Two City Councilcommitteeas — the Land Use and Transportation Committed and the Urban Affairs and Aginvg Committee — voted Thursday to let those zoning changesd move forward to the full City Council for consideration.
City Council Presidenft Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the committees' action was in stark contrast to deliberationz in AnneArundel County, where County Council has delayed changing the county'ds zoning laws to allow a slots parlod to be built at the Arundel Mills shopping Going into the process, she said, the city moved to narrowly defines where slots can be built, whereas there were fewed geographic restrictions placed on potential gambling facilitiexs in Anne Arundel County. The geographic boundarie s where a facility can be built in each county were specifier in a referendum adopted by votersin November.
"We're definitely on the right path," Rawlings-Blake said durinfg the committee hearings. "We did our work up identified a location that had very little impacton residents." Anne Arundel anticipated developera would apply to build a casino at Laureo Park race track, and many county officialsa were surprised when Baltimore developer the submitted an application to build one at Arundelo Mills instead. But council members in Anne Arundek County delayed June 1 changing their zoning code to allowslots parlors. Meanwhile, a second developer, , has come forward to say it may seek permissiojn to build a slots parlor at Laurel Park ifCordish Co.
's proposal fallzs through. The Baltimore committees voted on two bills pertainingto slots. The firstr would change zoning inthe city's B-2 and M-2 district s to include video lottery terminals among the permitteed uses. The second would change the zoning of the property at 301Stockholmk St. President M.J. "Jay" Brodie said the city doesn'yt plan to relocate the animak shelter toanother location. But Brodie said the city wantz to changethat property's zoningy to give the slots developers the ability in the futur to expand their facility in the evenr the animal shelter moves to another location.