Company Unveils Columbia Proposal
Walker-Friendly Plan Would Bring Shops, Housing

By Susan DeFord
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 29, 2008

The developer charged with refashioning Columbia, one of the nation's earliest planned communities, wants to create public gathering spaces, shops and offices as part of a long-term master plan that could also bring thousands of new residential units to downtown.

General Growth Properties Inc. last night presented the first phase of a draft plan to create pedestrian-friendly links from the Mall in Columbia to Lake Kittamaqundi and Merriweather Post Pavilion, both of which sit several hundred feet away from the shopping center across the community's main thoroughfare, Little Patuxent Parkway. A standing-room-only crowd of about 500 attended the presentation at General Growth's local headquarters.

In advance of the formal presentation to the community, the plan for residential development more dense than current law allows grabbed much of the attention.

The plan for the Howard County community built by developer James Rouse in the 1960s calls for as many as 5,500 more housing units in the next 20 to 30 years, said Gregory F. Hamm, regional vice president and general manager for the Chicago-based developer.

Hamm declined to provide an overall cost for the development.

"We have studied the site very carefully," he said in an interview before the presentation to residents. "We believe that Town Center can very comfortably accommodate that number of units in order to achieve other objectives of walkability, connectivity, environmental restoration, amenities and inclusiveness."

If approved, construction of the first residential units could begin in 2011 or 2012, Hamm said. The units would be urban-style townhouses and apartments, some above retail shops, within walking distance of offices and attractions.

Said County Executive Ken Ulman (D) after listening to General Growth's presentation: "I'm thrilled with the direction. They've clearly laid out something special." Ulman in the past had opposed adding 5,500 units, but he said: "I'll keep an open mind to all of this. I'm listening to what folks will be saying about this. We've got lots of work to do."

The idea of building up to 5,500 more units drew opposition from residents when it was first discussed at community planning sessions in 2005. That number may again be problematic for those who believe the density could create problems for downtown, such as traffic congestion.

"We need to know up front whether we can handle that," said Del. Elizabeth Bobo (D-Howard), a former county executive who has followed the redevelopment closely. "They need to show us how they would sustain it."

County Council member Mary Kay Sigaty (D-West Columbia), whose district includes much of downtown, said that some of the plan's features were "real positives" but that the question of density loomed.

"We can't move forward in downtown without more residential units," she said. "How many units is the right number? I really don't know the answer to that."

General Growth intends to hold more than a dozen community meetings in May to further explain its plan and present a proposal in June to Howard officials for approval.

Other elements of the proposed development, which could start in 2010, are a 300-room hotel, 300,000 square feet of retail space and 200,000 square feet of office space, Hamm said. A cluster of older office buildings along Little Patuxent Parkway would probably come down to accommodate that development and to help create a pedestrian connection to a remodeled Merriweather Post Pavilion.

Another feature would create a series of landscaped steps, part of it lined with shops, from the mall area to the lakefront, Hamm said. "It will all feel as if you are part of the same place," he said.

Hamm said building heights in the first phase of retail and commercial construction would not exceed 12 stories, but he would not specify the height of future residential buildings, saying only that it would be "appropriate."

There are also plans to create an outdoor skating rink and marketplace adjoining the mall and to begin restoration of degraded streams winding through Town Center and beyond.

Other development could include a children's theater, a library, new headquarters for the Columbia Association and a small-cities think tank center to promote planning and the urban vision espoused by Rouse, Hamm said.

The developer will consider creating downtown bus shuttles to coax people out of their cars, Hamm said. But eventually, the road network might need a bridge over Route 29 to connect Town Center to Oakland Mills, he said.

Hamm said more density is crucial to creating a livelier downtown.

"If we replace 50 percent of [the mall's] asphalt parking lot with life in the form of people and green roofs and retail and cultural amenities, I think we've improved the status quo," Hamm said.

Before last night's meeting, some Columbia residents wondered whether the developer is seeking too much. Lloyd Knowles, a former County Council member and Planning Board member who is Bobo's husband, said an early proposal by the Rouse Co. in 2003 to build 1,600 residential units downtown sounded more appropriate for Columbia.

"Sixteen hundred units is not a small increase by any means," Knowles said.

Alan Klein, an organizer for the Coalition for Columbia's Downtown, said the citizen activist group wasn't happy when the idea of adding 5,500 units to Columbia first surfaced three years ago. Now, he said, "the number is less important than the impact. It depends on how it's done."

"Overall, I continue to be cautiously optimistic," Klein added.

But beyond addressing the impacts of development, he said, General Growth needs to weigh the community sensibility. "They have to keep the two in balance -- the corporate responsibility and the values of the Columbia community."