Citizen Groups Begin Formulating Responses to Columbia Redevelopment Plan

By George Berkheimer, STAFF WRITER

Supporters and opponents of the Columbia Town Center redevelopment plan, unanimously approved by the Howard County Council on Feb. 1, are wasting no time regrouping for the next phase of their respective campaigns.
New City Alliance was first out of the gate only hours after the late-night vote, staging a next-morning press conference along Columbia's Lakefront that was joined by a handful of other pro-development groups that included Bring Back the Vision, Columbia 2.0 and Columbia Tomorrow.
"This is the first day in an exciting new future for Howard County and Columbia," said David Yungman, a New City Alliance co-founder.
Jud Malone, president of Columbia Tomorrow, provided some historical perspective for the legislation, noting that it was the Howard County Council sitting as the zoning board that appealed to The Rouse Company earlier in the decade for a better development plan for downtown.
"[A]s much energy as we've put in this process so far, we can't stop," Malone said. "We don't have a downtown yet; we have an opportunity for a downtown."

The Road Ahead
Plan supporters said the legislation enables opportunities for such issues as transportation, full spectrum housing, the arts and culture, environmental improvements and education.
A proposed housing trust fund is one of the plan's most positive aspects, said Malone, "but now, we need the full spectrum advocates to continue the work to make it real, to set up the institution that will govern this, to decide how the money will be spent and to spend it wisely."
As to transportation, "we have an opportunity ... for a real public transportation system that people will choose to ride, as opposed to being a service provider for those who really have no other choice," he said.
Malone and other supporters are looking forward to an urban environment downtown, "but it will not be successful unless we have the design guidelines to prescribe how it needs to evolve based on the density available," he said. "There is much work to be done in creating a design manual to ensure the community that what we envision will actually be built."
Among the issues still to be worked out are how and where to build schools, and the creation of a downtown partnership that would unite Columbia's existing institutions in ensuring that the plan is implemented correctly.
Greg Hamm, regional vice president and general manager of Columbia for General Growth Properties, said the redevelopment plan was greatly improved by input from an involved citizenry.
"[Columbia founder] Jim Rouse did not have a community taking hold of its future, shaping it, forming it and participating in it," he said. "It isn't always a pleasant process for us, but it's the right process and ... the resulting community is superior. Columbia has great things in store for it and we're ... proud to be partners with the community and county government."

Density Challenge
Plan opponents and critics also began working on their responses to the legislation immediately following its passage.
Taxpayers Against Giveaways (TAG), a newly-formed citizen's group that held its first meeting on Jan. 26, is organizing a petition to bring the approved legislation to referendum in the next November election.
"We are getting our contents formalized now and will be taking the draft very soon to the Board of Elections to get an advanced determination on its [adequacy]," said Russell Swatek, a Columbia resident who serves as TAG's spokesperson. "We hope to get it circulating [before the end of February]."
According to Swatek, his group is taking up the cause of the residents and citizen organizations that advised the council against granting all of the plan's density up front.
"We would prefer to have it granted in phases ... as a way to ensure that all of the CEPPAS (community enhancement programs and public amenities) are being provided," he explained. "We're not against redevelopment, we just want the council to be rational ... and rethink the [density] numbers they will be getting."
There are a number of smaller provisions that TAG members would like to have seen removed from or added to the legislation, "but that's beyond our control now," Swatek said.
TAG has 60 days from Feb. 3, when County Executive Ken Ulman (D) signed the bills, to submit the first 2,500 signatures. Pending satisfaction of that requirement, the group will then be granted an additional 30 days to collect the remaining 2,500 signatures necessary to bring the legislation to referendum.

Fine Tuning
Bridget Mugane, president of the Howard County Citizens Association, said her group has not taken an official position on the legislation.
"The plan is very good in my view, and we definitely need a plan for downtown ... but my concern is that it be practical," she said.
Density established by the plan is three times larger than the amount Columbia's road system can accommodate, according to three separate traffic studies, she said - one of which was conducted by GGP.
One of the biggest problems is that Route 29 generates approximately two-thirds of the traffic that enters or exits the city, connecting via Little Patuxent Parkway or Governor Warfield Parkway, Mugane said.
Developers are required to mitigate traffic within the nearest two intersections of new development, but the roads between these intersections and Route 29 are the responsibilities of the taxpayers, she said.
One possible solution would be to build a third Columbia interchange on Route 29, but that may not be possible due to 100-year flood plain concerns. "We aren't sure, but a new interchange might be too close to the other existing interchanges and could pose safety issues," she said.
In terms of reducing the amount of density being granted, Mugane proposed that the council could either work on an amendment to the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO), which controls the city's critical lane volume, or require developers to help cover the cost of roads. "Some kind of fund that developers pay into could ensure that the cost doesn't hit any developer disproportionately," she said.
Councilwoman Mary Kay Sigaty (D-Dist. 4), who represents downtown Columbia, said the Howard County Council will immediately move on to the remaining work that needs to be done on the plan.
"There are three big parts that we need to address next," Sigaty said. "We need to get going on the APFO, we have sustainability provisions to work out and design guidelines have to be established."