Turner Station

Our Moment

Turner Station is a community with a powerful historical identity and extraordinary potential. For more than twenty years, the Turner Station Conservation Teams have worked toward a vision of the area becoming a cultural hub and a vital housing resource for the greater Dundalk region. That vision remains both worthy and unfinished.

Turner Station was born from the injustice of racism and segregation. In the early twentieth century, it became home to Black workers who labored at Bethlehem Steel at Sparrows Point. Their work fueled the industrial rise of Baltimore County and strengthened the American economy. They built ships, forged steel and created generational opportunity not only for their own families, but for this entire region.

Yet while their labor powered the County’s prosperity, their neighborhood did not receive the same investment. Ongoing and systemic inequities have limited the community’s ability to reach its full potential. Today, approximately 75% of households are renters, limiting pathways to generational wealth in a community that earned the right to build it. The area is routinely impacted by flooding and has gone nearly a decade without a proper grocery store. These are not minor shortcomings. They are signs of long-term neglect.

Turner Station stands as a reminder that progress in Baltimore County has not always been shared equally. It represents both the strength of a community and the consequences of promises deferred. It is time to turn the page. Turner Station deserves respect that is tangible, dignity that is visible and a future that reflects the legacy of the people who built it.

Our Mission

There are three critical investments we must make in Turner Station, and we must make them together.

First, we must move urgently on flood mitigation. The plan already exists. It has been studied, designed and prepared. What it has lacked is the sustained commitment to see it through. A Stewart administration will work with local partners, state and federal agencies and the County Council to ensure the funding and coordination necessary to complete these projects. No community should continue to live with chronic flooding because of delay, bureaucracy or neglect. The plan is in place. We will execute it.

Second, we must confront the inequity of homeownership in Turner Station. A community built by working families deserves pathways to build generational wealth. We will pursue a small area plan, similar in ambition to neighboring Dundalk, that encourages mixed-use development, affordable housing options and pre-fabricated starter homes. We will explore opportunities to rehabilitate and modernize existing housing stock while creating thoughtfully designed mixed-income housing. Turner Station should not be locked out of the ownership opportunity any longer.

We must also think creatively about expanding access to ownership. That includes establishing a development authority capable of offering fractional equity models, enforcing income-based protections and providing specialized down payment assistance. These tools are working in communities across the country. Turner Station’s history of limited access to homeownership should not discourage us. It should compel us to act with urgency and innovation.

Finally, we must end Turner Station’s status as an amenity desert. A full-service grocery store must return to the neighborhood. The Turner Station Conservation Teams have spent years crafting a vision for this distinct community, and they must be partners in this effort. We will support preservation and conservation initiatives that protect the neighborhood’s history while expanding access to amenities, community spaces and small businesses. At the same time, we must invest in infrastructure improvements that address traffic flow, strengthen connectivity and preserve the area’s natural beauty, including walkable access to the waterfront and renewed recreational spaces.

Together, we can write a new chapter for Turner Station, one defined by prosperity, community and opportunity. The past does not have to determine the future. It is time for action. It is time for equity. It is time for Turner Station to rise.