I Want My Old Columbia Back

What happened to Columbia?
When I was growing up here, Columbia was a really happening place. But that's not so much the case these days.
When I was a teenager living in Bryant Woods, Columbia was big news. The Rouse Company wasn't just building another suburban tract home development; it was building a complete city, full of new ideas on land planning, governance, health care, religious tolerance and education.
This was cutting edge stuff back then.
Don't get me wrong. Columbia is still a nice place to live. It still gets national recognition as just that ... when combined with Ellicott City, anyway.
But the Columbia that I knew as a kid, the Columbia that was setting new standards for community development, the Columbia that was doing exciting things on a grand scale, is not the Columbia I know today.
That circumstance didn't transpire overnight, of course. The decline came gradually. Some trace its origins back to the day that Jim Rouse stepped down as the chairman of the company. Others go back further, to the opening of the company's Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston, when The Rouse Company seemed to lose interest in the suburbs as it turned its creative energies toward cities.
Over time, Columbia became just another large real estate development. Its newer parts looked just like thousands of other real estate developments throughout the country.
Columbia passed into middle age. And it grew comfortable with itself.
Now that comfort is being challenged. Ironically, it is a new developer that is giving Columbia the chance to recapture its glory days.
When General Growth Properties (GGP) acquired Rouse in 2004, it put a hold on land sales in town center. Prior to the acquisition, Rouse had been selling land to other concerns, rather than developing it itself. Town Center lacked a comprehensive long-term plan.
And GGP saw an opportunity to change that.
The development company went out and enlisted some of the top architects, planners and consultants to help draft a vision of a town center that would once again position Columbia at the forefront of community planning and green development. They bought in Alan Ward, a principal of the firm Sasaki Associates. His accomplishments include work for the Beijing Olympics.
They bought in Gail Dexter Lord, the president of Lord Cultural Resources. Gail was involved with the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.
They bought in Keith Bowers, the founder and president of Biohabitats, a company that specializes in regenerative design, conservation planning and ecology restoration.
They bought in Jacquelin Robertson, founding partner of Cooper, Robertson & Partners. He led his firm's design work on the planned community of Watercolor in Florida.
This collaboration of innovative planners is similar to the gathering of planners that The Rouse Company assembled more than 40 years ago. This is the same sort of collective planning energy that gave Columbia its original appeal.
So far, however, many in Columbia have greeted this new burst of energy with skepticism. Consider the reaction to GGP's plan that calls for significant changes to Symphony Woods and Merriweather Post Pavilion.
The planning team chose to make this area a centerpiece of a revitalized town center. They envision a new Symphony Woods that would be accessible to more people year round.
They have even suggested that the current central library be replaced with a facility more closely akin to the world-renowned public library in Cerritos, Calif. The Cerritos Millennium Library is an 88,000-square-foot, three-story facility with more than 300,000 books. It was named the best public library in 2004 by Reader's Digest. The planning team suggests that it would best be placed at the entrance to Symphony Woods, with new connections to the mall and the pavilion.
This apparently was too much for middle-aged Columbia. Last month, the Planning and Strategy Committee of the Columbia Association (CA) passed a motion, by a 3-0 vote, that called for future plans for Symphony Woods to include the following: maintaining the natural setting, revitalization of the existing forest, providing for a gathering place including community events and no new buildings or roadways in the park.
It appears that they were having a difficult time seeing the forest from the trees.
The committee even went so far as to suggest that a carousel might be a more appropriate amenity for the park. They did not address the ecological degradation that has taken place in Symphony Woods over the years that the park has been under their stewardship. Streams in the park have serious erosion problems. Invasive plants are taking over and many of the trees are sick. Wetlands are failing.
GGP plans for Symphony Woods include a reforestation program for more than 22 acres, a forest management program for 57 acres, 4,800 linear feet of stream restoration, five acres of wetlands enhancement, two acres of new wetlands - and 9,200 new trees.
Fortunately, enough concerned Columbians showed up at the meeting where this motion was to be voted on by the full board. At the end of the evening, the motion was amended to allow for limited new buildings and streets, and connectivity and accessibility to the rest of town center.
The turnout and resultant public testimony from "enlightened" residents gave me some encouragement. It indicates that, for some at least, Columbia has not lost its nerve and sense of experimentation.
I hope that's true. I want my old Columbia back.

Dennis Lane blogs about Columbia and Ellicott City at www.wordbones.com.