A legal challenge to the wording of a ballot question needed for the redevelopment of Harborplace will be heard by an Anne Arundel County judge this week.

A hearing has been scheduled today before Circuit Court Judge Cathleen Vitale to consider the challenge, filed by former mayoral candidate Thiru Vignarajah on behalf of a group of 20 city residents. The group argues the wording of the question, which will appear on ballots for Baltimore voters in November, is confusing and misleading.

The ballot question, known as Question F, is needed to clear the way for an ambitious proposal from Baltimore developer MCB Real Estate to replace the aging shopping and dining pavilions on the city’s waterfront. Led by Baltimore native P. David Bramble, the group hopes to build four taller, mixed-use buildings, including a conjoined tower stretching 32 stories. MCB’s plan calls for 900 apartments and office space on the site along with a large new park space, a two-tier promenade and realigned roadways.

Vignarajah has been a vocal opponent of the plan, speaking out about it from the campaign trail and leading the charge for a competing ballot question this summer that failed to garner the necessary signatures to appear on ballots.

His latest challenge was filed just hours before the state was slated to begin printing ballots to be used by voters across Maryland for the November election. Maryland State Board of Elections Director Jared DeMarinis said ballot printing has begun and has not been disrupted by the court challenge. Ballots will be sent to overseas voters beginning Saturday and distribution to voters in Maryland will begin Sept. 23.

“Unless a delay is required by a court order, we print,” DeMarinis said.

A court can decide to invalidate the results of a ballot question even if it appears on the ballot.

In a memo filed last week, Vignarajah called the wording of Question F “gibberish” and “incoherent.” He also argued the wording does not satisfy a requirement for reasonable clarity, accuracy and completeness of ballot questions.

Currently the question gives a detailed geographical description of the Inner Harbor area and states that it will be amended to allow “for eating places, commercial uses, multifamily residential development and off-street parking with the areas used for multifamily dwellings and off-street parking as excluded from the area dedicated as a public park or for public benefit.”

The Baltimore City Council placed the question on the ballot by a commanding vote in March despite protests from some city residents who argued the plan would essentially privatize the public Inner Harbor shoreline, much of which was preserved as parkland by charter amendments in the late 1970s. Residents have objected to the proposed density, the removal of height limits, the inclusion of apartments and the road-narrowing plan.

Maryland election law offers a short window for people to seek judicial review once sample ballots have been published. DeMarinis said previously that such a review can be sought for “content and arrangement or to correct any administrative error.”

The 20 petitioners behind the challenge include former Councilman Tony Ambridge, architect Leon Bridges, and Ted Rouse, son of James Rouse who developed Harborplace in the 1970s.