Baltimore County inspection official waived project fees, received favors: IG report

The former director of the Department of Permits, Approvals, and Inspections in Baltimore County, Maryland, improperly waived tens of millions of pounds in charges on a massive blended-use growth in between 2011 and 2018, with the exercise continuing right after he remaining, according to a new report by the county’s inspector basic.

The 109-website page report facts how Arnold Jablon, in his capability as director of the inspections division for Baltimore County, allegedly waived at least $3 million in securities and expenses for the $220 million Metro Centre at Owings Mills job, in violation of Baltimore County code and opposite to all lawful agreements with regards to the task, in accordance to an OIG push launch shared with Development Dive.

The report statements that Jablon, who retired in 2018, obtained poor gains from the project’s developer, David S. Brown Enterprises, these types of as accessibility to basketball tickets to NCAA Massive 10 Convention game titles and a totally free parking place at just one of the company’s residential developments for an extended interval.

Prior to his tenure as permits director starting in 2011, Jablon labored as a attorney at Venable LLP in 2003, the very same company that signifies David S. Brown Enterprises in its Metro Centre function, in accordance to the Baltimore Sunshine.

Each Jablon and David S. Brown Enterprises declined to comment when contacted by Development Dive.

The Metro Centre at Owings Mills (pictured above) consists of residential units, office environment and retail place, a resort, parking garages, a department of the Baltimore County General public Library and a constructing for the Local community University of Baltimore County. Building begun on the challenge in 2011, and it is expected to be wholly constructed out by 2028. 

The venture has benefited from condition laws to incentivize building, this sort of as the creation of a special tax district and designating the Centre as a transit-oriented improvement, which experienced it for tax-increment financing, according to the report.

Hunting forward

The OIG report estimates that thanks to the size and scope of the job, the total of the waived fees climbed into the tens of millions. Even though Jablon’s successor objected, the cost waivers ongoing even immediately after Jablon experienced still left place of work.

In September, the county explained to the developer that it intended to honor Jablon’s waiver. Nevertheless, the OIG located no proof that the Baltimore County Council was ever notified of this conclusion, according to the report.

The county has considering the fact that agreed to uphold the charge waiver, and stated that it supposed to fulfill all past agreements designed by the former administration.