Rethink College Park

The Maryland Transit Administration is sponsoring a Purple Line Community Focus Group meeting tomorrow (Wednesday, 3/7) at 7:00 p.m. at the College Park Municipal Center (4500 Knox Road).

Although the project was recently delayed at least a year, the MTA continues to plan the project and is holding community meetings to take into consideration resident’s opinions. The event invitation says the event will include information about planning that has taken place since the last meeting, held in Spring of 2006. This event will be a good opportunity to learn more about the project and ensure state planners hear from a broad spectrum of the community.

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The College Park City Council plans to discuss how to handle the timing of special elections at their regular meeting at 8:00 p.m. tonight, Tuesday, March 6th. Readers of this website will remember the January 16th special election for two vacancies on the city council fell during winter break when few students are in College Park, because the city charter required the vacancies be filled within 45 days.

City Council Student Liaison Jesse Blitzstein told us the discussions tomorrow could eventually result in an amendment to the city charter. We strongly urge supporters of student voting rights to attend the meeting.

Two state government committees are set review a bill early this week that would drastically reduce an incentive to build multi-unit student housing around the university. If the bill succeeds, it would condense (see map above) an existing overlay zone that exempts new student housing from what’s known as a “school facilities impact fee”. This is a one-time fee that applies to all new development in PG county in order to fund local public school construction. A 2002 law was successful in creating a waiver zone (in red on the map) within 1.5 miles of campus under the principle that UMD students shouldn’t have to pay for local public schools since they don’t use them (more details here). Local politicians have been hell bent on reducing the scope of the 2002 law since it went into effect without their consultation.

The fee is significant ($7,671 per unit in 2007) and the waiver has become a major incentive for new student housing in the area. For instance, you may remember our Mazza Grandmarc graduate student housing reporting. The 231-unit complex, if the fee was applied to it, would be slammed with a nearly $1.8 million bill. Because that money is so central to the project’s financing and required profit margin, the developer has been embroiled in a battle with County Councilmen Dernoga since May 2006 to start construction. Consider the University View. If that project were to be built today, its 353 units would be subject to over a $2.7 million fee.

The intention of this new bill is clear - minimize new student housing projects and especially new student housing projects that aren’t directly next to the University. Since the impact fee doesn’t apply to construction on UMD’s campus, the new zone (in yellow on the map) would leave only the Knox Box area and the Northgate area (west side of Route 1 only) waiver zones intact. The former is undergoing property consolidation, but large-scale development is years and years away. The latter is a promising district for student housing, but is already almost completely filled out with proposals for hotels and city-mandated owner occupied units (see development map).

This bill is supported by Senator Rosapepe and the Prince George’s county delegation along with the the College Park City Council. Absolutely no student leaders have been consulted at any point on this issue. The bill implicitly tells the University that it should take up responsibility for student housing, but Annapolis has already virtually stripped the University of that ability.

What’s the net effect of this bill as proposed? Gutting the impact fee waiver and further exacerbating the student housing crunch. It must not go forward.

Track the bills online:
> House Bill 697 (Hearing before the Ways and Means Committee at 1 p.m. Tues. March 6.)
> Senate Bill 582 (Hearing before the Education Health and Environmental Affairs Committee at 1 p.m. Wed. March 7)

As cities across the US become more aware of the environmental impact development has on energy use and local water quality, many cities have begun to adopt strategies to mitigate these ecological concerns and help the environment.

–>Santa Monica, California has adopted green building codes that address storm water runoff, mandates bicycle storage, carpool spaces, storage space for recyclable materials, requires the recycling of construction material, and the installation of water efficient fixtures among other environmentally friendly, low cost building codes.

–>Montgomery County, Maryland has voted unanimously to adopt the LEED standard for all new multifamily residences greater than 4 stories, commercial buildings, and county buildings. This legislation will go into effect this November and mandates energy efficiency, indoor air quality, site selection, water use, and other environmental protections.

–>Chapel Hill, North Carolina passed an ordinance in 1997 that required town owned buildings to use 30% less energy than required by the North Carolina building codes. Accepted strategies include solar orientation, daylighting, renewable heating resources, water conservation, appropriate landscaping, energy efficient lighting, and the use of building materials and colors to lower cooling load.

More cities than we could possibly profile here have adopted environmentally conscious building codes, and many of them have adopted comprehensive green building strategies such as the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program. From energy and water efficiency to alternative transportation, from site selection to the beautification of public spaces, cities are learning how to make themselves allies of the landscape instead of adversaries. Even Chicago’s city hall, pictured above, incorporates a insulating green roof.

The city of College Park is not unique in its lack of Green Buildings codes, but it’s foreseeable that the city (or county) might jump on the bandwagon if the influx of CP development continues as we expect it will. Certainly the university can do more in this area and join a growing list of universities that have done the same. In the past we’ve suggested that the East Campus Development initiative incorporate some form of green building standards and we reported on the NOAA building in UMD’s research park that will be LEED certified.

Here are some ideas to get the ball rolling (if it hasn’t already):

• Require demolitions, renovations, and new construction to recycle 60%+ of their construction waste
• Mandate the use of low-flow faucets in new construction and renovations
• Encourage the installation of waterless urinals
• Relax parking space requirements for multifamily construction
• Provide funding for covered bicycle parking facilities
• Organize a renewable energy credit purchasing program for residents of College Park

What do you think?