Rethink College Park

Public-private partnerships have become increasingly popular methods of financing infrastructure and redevelopment projects. The structure of such partnerships is simple: the government supplies the land and a private company builds and maintains a highway or development that benefits the public. Not too far from College Park, the Commonwealth of Virginia has struck deals with private companies to build and maintain highways in exchange for toll revenue (e.g. the Greenway, I-81). Montgomery County has partnered with private developers to create large projects to revitalize downtown Silver Spring (Ellsworth Drive) and downtown Rockville (Rockville Town Square). Here in College Park, the East Campus redevelopment project is a public-private partnership between the University and the Foulger-Pratt development company.

Public-private partnerships are good vehicles for providing public goods with little or no expense to the taxpayer. These hybrid partnerships become controversial, however, when private interests conflict with public interests. One such controversy erupted in downtown Silver Spring this summer. The project, developed as a public-private partnership between Montgomery County and the Peterson Companies, is centered on Ellsworth Drive, a street that now serves as a pedestrian mall in downtown Silver Spring. Guards of the developer allegedly stopped a resident from taking photographs on the street. The developer’s assertion that it had the right to limit photography on the street provoked the ire of local photographers, who asserted that Ellsworth Drive is a public place where photography cannot be prohibited outright. This is an especially relevant contention since Foulger-Pratt, the developer chosen for East Campus, is part of the development team that tried to limit photography on Ellsworth Drive.

With symbolic timing, dozens of photographers gathered on Ellsworth on July 4^th to assert their right to photograph in a public place. Cleverly, the developer moved quickly to diffuse the situation by holding a photo contest the same day. The Montgomery County Attorney eventually determined that the provisions of the public-private partnership classified the streets and plazas as “Public Use Space,” (Sec. 59-A-2.1, Zoning Ord.) rendering the controversy moot. In a public place, photography, leafleting and demonstrations are a public right (even if permitting procedures are required). The controversy ended quickly as the terms of the partnership clearly stated the public’s continuing claim to the space.
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Governor O’Malley unveiled his plan today to head off a major impending budget shortfall in Annapolis. He has proposed to raise corporate income taxes from 7 to 8 percent with half the increased funds going to higher education and the other half going to transportation projects such as (in College Park’s case) the ICC, the Purple Line, and Route 1 reconstruction. Since Maryland’s gas tax (which is not pegged to inflation), even despite huge increases in the cost of road construction, hasn’t been raised since 1992. O’Malley still plans to join dozens of other states in indexing MD’s gas tax to inflation (meaning .7-.8 cent increases every year), but he has now backed away from the significant up-front increases (23.5 cents per gallon) that he spoke of just a few short month ago. The governor has also proposed to increase the (more politically palpable) titling tax from 5 to 6 percent of a car purchase price. It’s unfortunate that the governor has bowed to the opposition on such an important issue. From an economic perspective, gas taxes are the surest way to make drivers pay for the infrastructure they use. At least there is some end in sight to the deficit.
> O’Malley to Stump for Tax Increases, Washington Post

Rethink College Park will have their own booth at the First Look Fair this Thursday, September 20, from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. on McKeldin Mall at the University of Maryland campus. Come meet the contributors, learn more about what we do, and find out how you can get more involved. We will be located in the Community Service section of the fair. We look forward to seeing you there!

“The Jefferson” (pictured above), a proposed 220-unit mixed-use project was approved by the PG County Planning Board late last week. The project site is just north of 193 at the former location of Hillcrest Hotel and Lasiks and across Route 1 from JPI’s already approved “Jefferson Square” project (pictured below). The newly approved project will contain 25,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor that will be spread out among three separate spaces. Both JPI projects will include underground parking. Councilman Dernoga is widely expected to “pull” the newly approved project for review (if he hasn’t already) just as he did for Jefferson Square. Taken together, these projects will bring a huge boost to Route 1 and they are the two projects in the corridor that we expect to come to fruition the soonest.

—> Read the Detailed Site Plan

As Route 1 redevelopment progresses with the East Campus and other projects, there may be opportunities for the public sector to use tax increment financing as an incentive for developers. Tax increment financing, a form of a public-private partnership, is an agreement between a developer and municipality in which future tax revenues are used to subsidize infrastructure or other public amenities.

The idea is that certain projects have such positive economic impacts that municipalities are willing to provide financial incentives to the development community in order to help the projects get built. Because the municipality is borrowing the money, it receives discounted rates on bonds from financial lenders. The money is then used to fund improvements to the project site, which can range from land acquisition to infrastructure improvements.

The municipality realizes that the development will increase its tax base over the life of the project. A percentage of the increase in tax revenue collected within the district is then used to pay off the bonds used to finance the improvements. In Prince George’s County, tax increment financing is typically, if not always, used for specific project sites rather than districts, so the percentage of the increase in tax revenue from each particular project is used to pay its bonds.

Although this method of financing appears to some as a solution to all of Route 1’s problems, too much tax increment financing can be risky for a municipality or county to undertake. Some issues with the financing methodology include the over-allocation of future tax revenues and the unpredictability of future tax revenues. All things aside, if used correctly these partnerships can have positive economic impacts on entire communities.

The fifth Cafritz Property meetings will be held this SATURDAY (Sept. 15, 10am-noon) and TUESDAY (Sept. 18, 7pm-9pm) at RIVERDALE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (5006 Riverdale Rd, Riverdale MD).

Both identical workshops will present a concept plan for the mixed use development. The concept plans are to be based on design principles culled from previous workshops. There will be a new format without the familiar topic stations: A 20 minute presentation will precede a slated hour for open discussion.

See our previous posts on the Cafritz Property.

Today, Tuesday Sept. 11, from 11:30 a.m. to 12 noon, the University of Maryland’s Solar Decathlon Team will celebrate the completion of construction of LEAFHouse, its entry for this year’s international solar house competition on the National Mall in Washington. The event will be held in the parking lot adjacent to the construction site, east of the Architecture Building, and will feature a video tour of the house, readings from first year book The Ravaging Tide by Mike Tidwell, and free ice cream. In attendance for the LEAFHouse Celebration will be President Mote, as well as members of the Maryland Senate.

LEAFHouse will soon after be packed up and shipped to the Mall for the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, which runs October 12-20 and features twenty teams from around the world. The houses these teams have built over the past two years will then be judged on ten contests, ranging from architecture and engineering to market viability and the ability to power an electric car.

Maryland’s entry draws its name, as well as inspiration from the leaf, which the team views as nature’s ultimate solar panel. LEAF also stands for “Leading Everyone to an Abundant Future,” and LEAFHouse is meant to be an attractive, efficient demonstration of solar power as an integral part of a sustainable future, particularly here in the Chesapeake Bay region.

Sam is the LEAFHouse Outreach and Fundraising Student Team Leader

With the public input process well under way, more and more information is being released about the East Campus project.

On a mild weekday afternoon this past August, I decided to take some pictures to capture “before” images to contrast with the rough renderings that Foulger-Pratt released last spring to the general public. I parked my car in Lot OO by the Shuttle-UM bus depot and walked down currently existing Greenhouse Road where it intersects Campus Drive. From there I walked to the intersection of Route 1/Baltimore Ave and Paint Branch Parkway where a planned 12-story hotel would anchor the new development and provide a gateway to the East Campus for those traveling southbound on Route 1. The current view of this corner includes the campus mail facility.

Compare that to this image from the conceptual drawings released by Foulger-Pratt/Argo Investment of the same location.

Click read more for more before and after comparisons.
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