The battle between residents and Johns Hopkins University over tree cutting for its planned data science complex on the southwest side of campus will be flaring in City Hall this morning, as the university seeks approval  to remove trees for stormwater work.

The Board of Estimates is considering an amendment to a 2015 Memorandum of Understanding that will allow Hopkins to do stormwater management upgrades in Wyman Park Drive that the university says will include the removal of 21 elm trees.

The tree cutting will harm the Stony Run watershed with more runoff, worsen air quality, threaten wildlife and remove cherished shade-giving trees, say neighborhood activists, who have placed protest signs and red X’s on trees there and on Remington Avenue, where the project is set to claim nine mature oaks.

“Our city’s urban canopy is shrinking and our stormwater infrastructure is already under strain. Let’s not remove the natural system that’s still working – our trees,” said Hillary Gonzalez, a leader of the group that has opposed Hopkins’ Data Science and AI Institute (DSAI).

The group wants the university to “reconsider, relocate or reconfigure” the project, currently conceived as two academic buildings on either side of Wyman Park Drive linked by a skybridge.

It will take 50 years for the new trees to reach the same level of maturity and environmental benefits as the current trees, says resident Hillary Gonzalez.

Hopkins, meanwhile, points to what it promises will be major tree replacement for an academic center that will do innovative research about the perils and potential of AI and also be an economic boon to the city.

In an email, JHU spokesman Doug Donovan said the replanting will include 11 new trees on Remington Avenue and 19 new trees on Wyman Park Drive, “each of which will be at least 25 feet tall at the time of planting.”

In addition, 17 new trees will be planted along 31st Street where there are none today, and 10 new trees will be planted at locations to be determined by the city.

“In total, Johns Hopkins will plant more than 300 new trees as part of the project, including 57 new trees on city property,” Donovan said. “When the project is complete, there will be over 200 more trees on the project site and the adjacent city streets than there are today.”

Gonzalez and fellow community members aren’t impressed.

“Every arborist we’ve spoken with hasn’t wavered in their stance,” she said. “The trees Hopkins wants to plant in place of the over 90 trees they want to cut down will take 50 years to reach the same level of maturity and environmental benefits the current trees are already providing.”

The university’s promise of replanting amounts to “buzzwords to gaslight us” and “greenwashing,” said Gonzalez.

The Age of AI

The tree-cutting issue has been a lightning rod for a project that has prompted general opposition from residents in the Remington, Wyman Park and Hampden neighborhoods. The City Council representative, 14th District’s Odette Ramos, has clashed with university officials over the scope of the project, calling it at one point, “a monstrosity.”

The bad blood has persisted despite Hopkins saying it is committed to being a good neighbor and has met with the community “more than 15 times.”

DSAI will house classrooms, laboratories, faculty offices, and collaborative workspaces for an interdisciplinary effort bringing together experts from across the university to conduct research in engineering, medicine, public health, and other fields, the university said when it unveiled the plan in 2023.

At the time, Hopkins said 80 new faculty were projected to join the Whiting School of Engineering to support the institute, in addition to 30 Bloomberg distinguished professors with cross-disciplinary appointments.

In August, the institute announced the arrival of 22 new faculty members, with expertise including computer vision and medical image analysis, robotics and machine learning, large language models, generative AI, neural modeling and quantum mechanics.

Construction of the two buildings will begin early next year and is expected to be done in 2029, Hopkins says.

“I welcome this unique opportunity to transform the university for the age of AI, which necessitates building a strong core as well as partnerships throughout the institution,” Professor Mark Dredze said in October when he was announced as DSAI director. “We need to develop fundamental methods and explore new applications to meet the critical societal challenges of the future.”

Construction of the two buildings will begin in early 2026 and will conclude in 2029, Donovan told The Brew. The SNF Agora building, adjacent to the DSAI site, will be open for classes in the spring semester, he said.

Persistent Runoff Problem

Runoff from the Agora building has been an ongoing issue for the community, with muddy runoff pouring off the site repeatedly during heavy rains cascading downhill along Wyman Park Drive toward the Stony Run streambed.

Residents have complained about the runoff and Hopkins has made changes to try to redirect the flow, but some photos and videos by residents have shown they have not been effective.

Donovan said the planned stormwater upgrades on Remington Avenue and Wyman Park Drive are aimed at helping the neighborhood “to handle heavier rainfall and to ensure safe access to the construction site.”

Under the MOU to be before the board today, Hopkins must maintain the stormwater system and other improvements in the Wyman Park Drive right-of-way for 25 years.

Also on the agenda is a developer’s agreement specifying that Hopkins will comply with the Baltimore City Sediment Erosion Control Manual.

A $574,097 letter of credit has been issued to JHU, and the university will pay the city a 9% non-refundable fee of $51,689.