A more than $17.8 million deal for Baltimore Police to lease heliport space from developer Scott Plank was unanimously approved by the city’s spending board Wednesday, despite increased costs and concerns from residents about more air traffic.

The 20-year agreement will double the cost of the police fleet’s existing space at Martin State Airport and does not include operational costs. The three-helicopter police fleet, better known as Foxtrot, has been headquartered at the state-owned airport in Baltimore County since it got off the ground in 1970.

City police officials argued Wednesday that the new location is necessary to keep Foxtrot within city lines. Martin State Airport is about nine nautical miles from Pier 7, the narrow strip south of Canton Waterfront Park where the new location sits.

Andrew Smullian, deputy chief of staff to Police Commissioner Richard Worley, presented a map showing the reduced flying times to some of the farthest points in the city. The flight time to the southwest corner of Baltimore would take seven to eight minutes, rather than 16, he said.

Baltimore Police have already cut down on the number of times per day they fly to Martin State, however. Since 2024, Foxtrot has been using the Canton pier to refuel during shifts under a contract costing roughly $420,000 a year. Jet A fuel, which is what is used by the city’s three Airbus H125s, costs more at the Canton location, but their refueling hours are better, Smullian said.

Smullian said the city would save approximately $110,000 a year on fuel and repair costs.

Residents have pushed back on the lease, accusing city officials of not being forthcoming about the tentative agreement which was first reported by The Banner in July. The Board of Estimates postponed a January vote on the deal at the request of Councilman Zeke Cohen, one of the board’s five members, who said he felt residents deserved to have input.

At a community meeting last week, residents lamented the increase in air traffic they have already seen at the site in recent years. A Banner analysis last year showed the number of flights was up 41% over the first six months of 2025 when compared to the same period in 2024.

Police flights make up only a portion of the traffic at the site. Johns Hopkins Lifeline’s medical transport helicopter is stationed at the pier, and Maryland State Police, WBAL’s news helicopter and the U.S. military are also regular users, flight records show.

Several area condominium associations filed protests against the move. The board of Beacon Condominium, situated west of Canton Waterfront Park, wrote that there was a “lack of meaningful community input” and transparency.

Smullian said Plank responded to community concerns by agreeing to add nonbinding guidance for pilots using the facility, asking them not to fly over waterfront condominiums at a low altitude unless necessary.

“All efforts are going to be made to sort of avoid that pathway,” he said.

Laura Coleman, representing the North Shore Condominium Community, urged the board on Wednesday to defer a decision until residents could review the operating procedures added to the lease. The procedures were not made public ahead of Wednesday’s vote.

“We are feeling the impact of it already,” Coleman said, noting one resident in the building said helicopter lights have been repeatedly shining into their unit in the days since the community meeting.

Comptroller Bill Henry, who oversees the Department of Real Estate that worked on the lease, pushed to move forward with the vote. Henry said the issue would be back before the board soon as the city considers a separate contract to move the police marine unit to the same Canton facility. The marine unit was defunded in the city’s fiscal year 2021 budget, and the city’s remaining police boats are currently parked nearby at the city-owned Canton Waterfront Park.

“It would be very easy for us to revisit that,” he said of the new guidelines.

Last year, Maryland lawmakers allocated $750,000 to back the heliport project at the request of Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson.

The lease requires the city to sign over all of the $750,000 to Plank for planned site improvements to accommodate the police fleet. The upgrades include demolition, concrete work and new doors and windows.

Plank has supported the campaigns of several officials involved with the deal. He has contributed $7,032 to Ferguson since 2022. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott has received $3,000 since 2021, and Plank contributed $5,000 to Cohen over the same period.

The lease calls for the city fleet to move to Canton in September, although the date could be extended as the space is built out to accommodate the fleet.

Baltimore will need to terminate a newly signed agreement with Martin State when it moves operations to the Canton heliport. That lease, approved by the board in December, called for the city to pay $386,764 in 2026. The price would increase to $435,307 by 2030.

Starting base rent for the new heliport is almost double that amount. The city will pay $665,000 in the first year. The price will escalate to $1.1 million in the final year.