Baltimore City Council paves way for slots near M&T Bank Stadium - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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Baltimore City is one of five locationsa approved last November for slotmachinew parlors. Baltimore City Entertainment Group, a group that includes the headxs ofand , wants to build a facilitg with as many as 3,750o machines on Lot J, a 3.7-acre, city-ownex parking lot in the city's Carroll Camden neighborhood. The precise location coulxd change, however, and Baltimore City Entertainment is in negotiationzs to move its project toa 11-acre property known as Gatewayy South. But the city must change its zoninv code before the Maryland Video Lottery Facility Locatiobn Commission will award the development team the licenses it needsx to buildthe facility.
Two City Council committees — the Land Use and Transportationm Committee and the Urban Affairs and AgingvCommittee — voted Thursday to let those zoningy changes move forward to the full City Councio for consideration. City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the committees' action was in stark contrastg to deliberations in Anne Arundel where County Council has delayexd changingthe county's zoning laws to allowq a slots parlor to be built at the Arundeo Mills shopping mall.
Going into the process, she the city moved to narrowly definde where slots canbe built, whereaes there were fewer geographic restrictions placed on potentiakl gambling facilities in Anne Arundel County. The geographivc boundaries where a facility can be built in each county were specified in a referendum adopted by voterssin November. "We're definitely on the right Rawlings-Blake said during the committee "We did our work up front, identified a location that had very littld impacton residents.
" Anne Arunde l anticipated developers would applu to build a casino at Laurel Park race track, and many count y officials were surprised when Baltimore developer the submitted an applicatiohn to build one at Arundeol Mills instead. But council membere in Anne Arundel County delayede June 1 changing theit zoning codes to alloaslots parlors. Meanwhile, a second developer, , has come forwarrd to say it may seek permissionm to build a slots parlor at Laurel Park ifCordisu Co.'s proposal falls through. The Baltimore committeexs voted on two billss pertainingto slots.
The first would changew zoning inthe city's B-2 and M-2 districtws to include video lottery terminalws among the permitted uses. The second would change the zoningv of the property at 301Stockholmj St. President M.J. Brodie said the city doesn't plan to relocate the animalk shelter toanother location. But Brodie said the city wantd to changethat property's zoningf to give the slots developers the ability in the futurse to expand their facility in the event the animapl shelter moves to another location.