Goodbye Janet Marie Smith and hello Fenway Park high-rise district?

The departure of the remarkable architect who saved Fenway Park from the wrecking ball is likely to reignite the debate over the future of the colorful neighborhood around the antique ballpark.

The Red Sox and their long-time development chief have quietly parted ways after a remarkable seven-year stint that saw the resurrection of a ballpark many thought was on its last legs.

Under Smith’s guidance, the Red Sox were able to add thousands of seats, as well as new concourses, restrooms and myriad new concession options to Major League Baseball’s smallest stadium.

But the Baltimore architect and preservationist also fought hard to save from demolition the low-slung, old fashioned character of the neighborhood around the park as well.

Amid an influx of developers with dreams of building megaprojects near one of Boston’s best-known landmarks, Smith pushed back, campaigning for a protective zone around the ballpark that would ensure it would not be surrounded by a ring of steel towers.

But with Smith gone, the balance of power around the ballpark appears to be tipping toward the tower developers, not the preservationists.

A big question mark is what direction the Red Sox will take in their own development policy, with the team having amassed a significant portfolio of property over the past few years around Fenway Park.

Under Smith, the moves were seen as a protective move to buffer the ballpark from new development. But under new management, so to speak, the team’s property holdings could provide a launch pad for some aggressive development by the Red Sox themselves.

At stake is whether the Fenway Park neighborhood continues to mature into a Harvard Square for sports fans or instead becomes a high-rise satellite of the increasingly tower-packed Back Bay.

“Keeping that low-slung scale is very important,” notes Dan Wilson, head of Save Fenway Park!, a local nonprofit formed earlier in the decade to save the ballpark from demolition.

Smith came to Boston back in 2002 after John Henry’s new ownership group won a $700 million-plus bidding war for the team.

She had helped make Baltimore’s elegantly retro Camden Yards ballpark a success, working closely with Larry Lucchino when he ran the Orioles.

But she faced a daunting challenge when she arrived at Fenway.

Under John Harrington, the previous regime had wanted to tear down the old ballpark and build a new one next door on land to be bought – or, if need be, seized by eminent domain – from Fenway’s neighbors.

There was an engineering report kicking around that claimed saving the ballpark was all but impossible.

Smith went to work dispelling these myths and then plotting the ballpark’s remarkable comeback, with a series of steady improvements rolled out during the off-seasons over the next several years.

“Many people said, ‘Gee, you can surely add seats to Fenway, but how can you add more space?’” Smith recalled. “I think that is what I am most proud of.”

A Perfect Game

But under Smith’s guidance, the Red Sox also became active players in the neighborhood’s soon red-hot real estate market.

Surging real estate values during the boom years sparked a frenzy of real estate activity around the antique ballpark.

A number of developers started to snap up the parking lots and fast-food joints that surrounded the park and lay plans for new, high-rise housing.

The new Sox owners soon faced the possibility the ballpark they were spending tens of millions to restore would someday be surrounded by a ring of towers.

Smith and the team’s owners fought back, buying properties around Fenway’s perimeter and forcing one developer, John Rosenthal, to shift his high-rise plans away from the ballpark.

Smith championed the idea of protecting the gorgeous skyline view that now surrounds the ballpark, from the Citgo sign to Back Bay’s towers.

New development around the ballpark, argued Smith, should be of a similar size and scale.

“It would nice for Fenway that the buildings on each side were similar in character and scale,” Smith said. “I think the most important thing is that Fenway itself is preserved,” she said.

Yet despite this success, Smith leaves amid worrying signs that the balance is shifting back toward large-scale development.

Smith herself pushed hard but failed to convince City Hall to create a protective zone around the ballpark where heights would be capped.

That idea did not prove popular among nearby property owners, who likely viewed it as limiting the value of their holdings.

Smith downplayed the demise of the ballpark zone, arguing at the end of the day, she is betting on the goodwill of neighboring property owners – and some strategic property acquisitions – to do the job.

“It gives the Red Sox a little piece of turf on each side of Fenway in which to have a real stake in the future on both sides of the street, not just on the Fenway side,” Smith said.

Still, other signs are not as encouraging.

Smith lost a key ally recently, when the longtime head of the Fenway Community Development Corp., Carl Nagy-Koechlin, left to take a new job.

Koechlin was a big proponent of the “urban village” concept that envisioned a redevelopment of the neighborhood around the ballpark, but with a mix of housing and other uses on a scale in keeping with Fenway.

Runners At The Corners

Meanwhile, developers and longtime property owners around the ballpark continue to craft plans for major projects.

Steve Samuels is a prolific Hub developer who has already built two high-rise residences on Boylston Street near the ballpark.

He recently gained control of the Mobil Station across from the ballpark in what may be the foundation of yet another major new development.

The Sage family, longtime owners of the Howard Johnson hotel next to Fenway, are looking at teaming up with a developer to build big on their property as well.

And John Rosenthal recently won a pledge from state officials to help pay for a deck over the Turnpike near Fenway, a key step in moving his long-stalled highway air-rights project forward.

And a big question mark is what the team itself does now with its sizeable holdings around the ballpark with Smith, chief preservationist, gone.

Team officials insist there will be no major changes, with Smith’s role to be filled by one of her lieutenants and a contractor who has spent years working on restoring Fenway.

Well, let’s hope that’s the case

I am generally a tower fan, but sometimes less is more, especially when dealing with a district with some intrinsic historic charm.

Harvard Square certainly is one of those places. Towers and mega-developments would only spoil the charm.

So is Copley Square, though that landmark is fast becoming encroached upon by various high-rise schemes.

Smith may not have gotten her ballpark protective zone that she wanted, but maybe it’s time to add a Fenway Park historic district to that list of special Boston landmarks worthy of extra protection.