Date/Time
Date(s) - June 18, 2025
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

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Location
University of Maryland BioPark


Please join Lambda Alpha International’s Baltimore Chapter
June 18, 2025
Single Stair Entry Baltimore
Ryan Dorsey, Baltimore City Council and Julian Frost, LoraxNoon – Lunch
12:30 p.m. – Presentation
 AIA credits available

University of Maryland BioPark
801 West Baltimore Street 

Policymakers are exploring ways to increase the supply of multifamily housing in their states and localities by revising outdated building codes that require more than one stairway in small apartment buildings.  Recently proposed legislation by Mayor Brandon Scott is bringing this issue for consideration before Baltimore City Council as part of a broader effort to expand housing access across the City of Baltimore.

Join LAI Baltimore in welcoming Julian Frost with the Congress for New Urbanism Baltimore and Baltimore City 3rd District Councilman Ryan Dorsey who will present more about the history of this topic throughout the country, how similar efforts are being rolled out in other cities across the country and where they have been successful, and what the local regulatory concerns or obstacles may prove challenging at the local level.

Here are links to some articles that provide some background on the legislation:
Architectural Record
Baltimore Fishbowl
Pew Report on Safety in Single-Stair Buildings

 
TICKETS


Ryan Dorsey
Baltimore City Council District 3

Ryan Dorsey is a member of the Baltimore City Council, representing the 3rd District since 2016. He works ensure that Baltimore is accessible, affordable, attractive and inclusive, and that its government is efficient and accountable. He is the chair of the Land Use and Transportation committee.

Councilman Dorsey’s many legislative achievements include a landmark Complete Streets ordinance, a ban on source of income discrimination in housing, the creation of an independent Office of the Inspector General, and most recently the creation of a Department of Consumer Protection and Business Licensing.

In May of 2025 he introduced legislation to allow single-stair construction up to six stories as part of package of housing supply bills, including multi-family, off-street parking, and bulk and yard reforms.


Julian Frost 
Lorax
LEED AP O+M Assistant Project Manager 

Julian Frost works as an assistant project manager at Lorax Partnerships, a green building consulting firm based in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood. Since 2023, Frost has been a leading advocate for the legalization of single-stair buildings up to six stories in Baltimore City and Maryland, and has aided elected officials in drafting single-stair legislation including Maryland House Bill 489, signed into law in May 2025. Frost joined the CNU Mid-Atlantic Board of Directors in 2024 to expand urbanism-related programming to his hometown of Baltimore. His most significant contribution on the Board has been conceptualizing and leading the effort to organize the Baltimore Single-Stair Design Competition. This initiative, intended to display the potential of single-stair design in Baltimore City, attracted nine design proposals from architects across the Mid-Atlantic, paid out $6,000 of prize money to finalists, and was capped off by an in-person panel discussion and awards ceremony on May 17, 2025. Frost, a Baltimore native, graduated from Haverford College in 2023 with degrees in history and urban studies, and wrote two undergraduate theses on urban planning in Nantes, France.