Foreign Car Dealership May Enter Rezoned Shopping Center

A shopping center in Broadneck that has fallen on hard times may be redeveloped into a car dealership.

Jemal's Bay 50 Shopping Center is located just off U.S. Route 50, next to Whitehall Road. Most of the parcels in the center are vacant, and little has changed in that regard for several years.

At least one business there has found success. Caroline’s Cakes operates out of several buildings in the center, serving local customers as well as operating a shipping center, which mails her baked creations all across the country.

But other businesses have struggled, or moved away. Wooden boards cover up the windows in some spaces and the massive parking lot remains mostly empty throughout the day. A barbershop recently moved out, though its signs and advertisements are still posted on the doors.

That’s why County Councilman Dick Ladd (R-Broadneck) said he supported the property owner’s request to up-zone the center to the highest commercial classification—one that allows, among other things, car dealerships.

Ladd said he wanted to see that area revitalized, and a zoning change might give that shopping center a second chance.

“That place has remained largely the same for 15 years,” Ladd said. “To me the issue is. ‘What do we need to put down there to make it successful?’”

Ladd said he was approached by the property’s owner, Douglas Jemal, of the Douglas Development Corporation. Jemal informed him there was interest from a foreign car dealer in occupying a large part of the shopping center. Ladd said his hope was that an upscale dealership would be an attraction for newer businesses to take root in the struggling area.

The zoning was officially changed from C3 to C4 during the comprehensive rezoning process for District 5 in December.

Broadneck Council of Communities President Pat Lynch said she would have tried to rally support against the zoning change, but it all happened too quickly. She was critical of the comprehensive rezoning process, saying it’s a way for “high rollers to get things done quick.”

“It’s got to change,” Lynch said. “It’s one of our missions right now to work to effect the same notification rules for comprehensive rezoning that they have for normal requests for rezoning and variances.”

Ultimately, Lynch said she was concerned about what would happen to the existing business owners at Jemal’s if the car dealership plan pans out over the next few years.

“I’ve interviewed retailers there. They want to stay,” she said. “If the premise is that they’ll remove the south side (of the shopping center), where are these businesses going to go?”

Ladd said he feels everything was done above board. He said he contacted Lynch and sought advice from her and other community leaders before making a decision. He said his choice to allow the zoning change was based on a desire to give the shopping center a chance for growth.

Lynch said that she doesn’t feel enough people were made aware of the change before it was voted on. She would like more public notice to be given on such items in the future.

“The communities that gather together to fight something like this, in many cases they’re heard,” she said. “But when they don’t do anything to fight something, things change, and years later they wonder, ‘How could this have happened?’”