Baltimore City will spend as much as $500,000 toward a $1.4 million sewer conduit necessary for future development at Harbor Point.
The city’s board of estimates approved a deal Wednesday that will have it paying for a portion of a sewer force main along Caroline Street that falls outside of Harbor Point’s tax increment financing district. Force mains are key conduits that move fluid using pumps instead of gravity.
Construction on the Harbor Point main must start this spring to prevent traffic congestion on Caroline Street, according to Board of Estimates documents. Exelon Corp.’s new Harbor Point headquarters tower opens for occupancy in September, and Caroline Street is expected to provide the only access to the area until a Central Avenue bridge is constructed over two years.
Under the approved deal, the city will enter a memorandum of understanding that will allow it to use wastewater utility funds to pay for the portion of the force main to be built in Caroline Street’s right-of-way outside of Harbor Point’s tax increment financing district. Tax increment funds will be used to pay for construction of the main inside the district.