“Not sure why Rethink College Park is commenting on a development in Riverdale Park … ”

Because the development is right over the southern border of College Park & the new M-Square offices and will impact our citizens nearly as much as Riverdale Park & University Park. That’s why the Cafritz team tried to get the CP City Council to approve the rezoning. Also, RTCP has been commenting on the Cafritz property going all the way back to 2007, when few were paying attention.

” … look at the rezoning for what we know can actually materialize, undesirable, smack up next to a railroad track … ”

Why does being located next to a railroad make it a magnet for undesirable elements ? Lake Artemesia is a few miles north, right next to the same railroad tracks, and that doesn’t stop people from flocking to it all the time. Also, have you been over to Silver Spring and noticed all the apartments & condos along 410 that are right next to railroads ? Have you seen the new luxury apartments that went up right next to Ft. Totten station in DC ? Plenty of people view that as an asset in the DC area. Even with all the new apartments that have gone into downtown Silver Spring the last several years, you don’t see rents going down, since so many people are moving in there.

So if they can pull off that sort of development over in Montgomery County, why not us right here, right now ?

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Perhaps the point of the messages are being missed — it’s not what goes IN the property, the point is WHY at this particular location.

Is there really a reason to clear more land which takes money and resources? Look at the other properties that have already been cleared or sit empty. Why? Perhaps because they fear they will end up bankrupt like so many others?

Find ways to use what is already available and tie into the already approved development. East Campus is pending. http://www.eastcampus.umd.edu/

94th Aerosquadron sits empty for years. It’s near a metro, a university, a trail, and the oldest operating airport in the world and a museum, and has parking. It can be leased. http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2009/849/

Why not make it a one-stop space to get healthy (Whole Foods etc.), learn about our history (the airport etc.), and provide access to many?

Traffic could be manageable since there is existing public transportation, walking and biking trails, and the East Campus development will be across the street.

Public transportation and bike lanes would need to be improved for North and South College Park residents.

This might not be the ideal solution, but the point is, there are spaces available that don’t require clearing more land, forcing wildlife to relocate, etc.

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@shellebean:

I do not know what time of day you are driving your sons to DeMatha, but we drive our child daily between Calvert Hills and St. Jerome’s, which is a little farther south on Route 1 from DeMatha. We pass through the intersection of Route 1 and Hwy 410, and our average trip time is only 7-8 minutes.

Also, not all of us with families want to buy a whole trunk-load of groceries at one time. I would prefer to buy fresh food for just a couple of dinners at a time, and I could certainly accomplish this by walking or biking to a Whole Foods on the Cafritz property. As it is now, it is too difficult to get to a decent grocery store in our area every couple of days, so if I want fresh food for dinner, I have to visit the Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s near my office and bring the food home with me on the Metro. It would be much more convenient to visit a store closer to home.

The Hyattsville EYA project is built next to the railroad tracks as well, and I would classify it as high end, not the “gas station, a nail salon, and a liquor store” that you think must exist next to railroad tracks.

Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 11  1

“Why not put the new property at the struggling University Town Center, or the Greenbelt Jack Johnson ‘Road to Nowhere’, or at any of the empty Route 1 spots, or in the Hyattsville Art District, or the pending East Campus?”

Whole Foods apparently (and perhaps not surprisingly) does not want to open at the recently foreclosed UTC; UTC claimed to have been in talks with WF, yet WF signed its lease with Cafritz instead. The plan for Hyattsville Arts District does not include a 35k-sq-ft supermarket, and regardless, as you should know, EYA has already signed executed a lease with a grocery store. Greenbelt Station has been stalled for years and does not seem to be actively soliciting retail leases from any company.

But my general point is that just because you live nearby, are opinionated, and have Internet access does not mean that you get to tell a private corporation where to operate. It is not your right to tell a retailer where to “put” itself, to borrow your verb of choice. WF chose Cafritz over all its other options, one of which was not signing a local lease at all.

If a developer goes through the proper channels (which include distinct opportunities for public input, and there have been MANY on the cafritz proposal) and gets the proper approvals, that developer has earned the right to execute its approved plans. If you don’t like it, take your business elsewhere, and if you really don’t like it, move to some other location in which Whole Foods wouldn’t dream of opening. (Or better yet, in true local fashion, complain about the retailer repeatedly until it decides it would rather go out of business than invest in and serve the community. See: Safeway, Hamilton St., 2012.)

Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 12  7

@Free CP

a. Because it will generate revenue from more jobs and sales from services while also improving the quality of life for the surrounding neighborhoods. Not a bad trade off.

b. When the owners of those properties secures the approvals and financing for whatever they plan to use their properties for. Unfortunately, Cafritz doesn’t own those other properties.

a. Input from residents who care prevents the development from being poorly designed.

b. Again, contact the owners of those “empty” properties and ask them why they haven’t done anything with them in the past 10 years. Cafritz and the county is not responsible for land owners who sit on their properties. Just like the liquor store in front of University View. If it is yours, you can do what you want with it.

Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 10  3