Charrette

As the county works to refine a planned makeover of downtown Columbia, at least one landmark business - Clyde's restaurant - is expected to keep a home on the Town Center lakefront, said Marsha S. McLaughlin, director of the county's Department of Planning and Zoning. The restaurant, which last month celebrated its 30th anniversary in Columbia, faced the prospect of losing its building when Town Center is redeveloped. But McLaughlin has moved to reassure the restaurant and its patrons.

Essex Coastal zoning district is topic A Lower Back River Neck community meeting will be held tonight to discuss a new coastal zoning district in the area. The 7 p.m. forum at Chesapeake High School, 1801 Turkey Point Road, Essex, will offer information about a planning process, called a charrette, being organized to develop a new zoning code for the waterfront neighborhoods. The charrette will be held Sept. 11 through Sept. 15. The first meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Aug. 13. Information: 410-887-3480, or www.baltimorecountymd.

Claiming that the county has veered too far from the public's wishes, as well as from the principles on which Columbia was founded, a new coalition is planning to fight the current plan to transform the downtown area into an urban center. The group largely supports the concept of transforming downtown by permitting denser housing and building more commercial and retail outlets and entertainment venues. The conflict is over the details, and Alan Klein, head of the coalition, promised a vigorous fight over them.

General Growth Properties Inc. will present Monday night a draft master plan for the revitalization of Town Center that integrates concepts generated during the Howard County charrette in 2005 and the meetings with the community since then. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at Spear Center, 10275 Little Patuxent Parkway. For anyone without alternative means of transportation, arrangements may be made by calling GGP at 410-992-6500 by 5 p.m. today. In addition, for information about public transportation, contact Howard Transit Customer Service at 800-270- 9553 or www.howardtransit.

The county Planning Department is giving growth issues to residents tomorrow and hoping they will develop a vision for the future.About 70 people have registered for the all-day series of workshops, dubbed a charrette."

Four decades ago, James W. Rouse conjured up the idea of Columbia as an idyllic planned community, a place where groups of all incomes and races could live together in harmony in a town meticulously mapped out by Rouse's visionary architects and planners. Tomorrow, that process will be turned on its head. In an unprecedented move for Howard County, public officials are inviting all residents to an eight-day series of meetings - dubbed a "charrette" - supplying them with pens and paper and asking them to create what they think should be done with Columbia's largest tract of developable land.

General Growth Properties and two Howard County councilmen are competing to create master development plans for Columbia's downtown and address the fate of the most debated tract of land in the town -- the 51.7 acres adjacent to the Merriweather Post Pavilion. General Growth is scheduled to hold three work sessions this week with about a dozen community leaders to put together its plan for Town Center. General Growth held its first meeting yesterday and announced that its plan includes keeping Merriweather as an open-air concert venue.

As Howard County officials work on ways to create more housing for working families, advocates for moderate-income housing intend to push the issue as part of next month's weeklong planning session, or charrette, on central Columbia's future. General Growth Properties, Columbia's developer, has outlined plans for hundreds of new homes and apartments, high-rise towers, stores, restaurants and offices in Town Center. Leaders of the Coalition for Affordable Housing see the county-sponsored charrette as a chance to be advocates for affordable housing during a process that, if successful, could be used again as Howard County prepares for more growth.

The county is looking for ways the lakefront building that houses the Columbia Association and Clyde's restaurant can be spared during the redevelopment of Town Center. An idea from the county-sponsored charrette about the future of downtown Columbia included razing the building to make way for an open lakefront vista. Complaints from residents have prompted the county to look for alternatives. "We've heard from a lot of residents that they're very concerned that [the concept] misstates their views," said Steve Lafferty, the county's deputy planning director.

Baltimore County's first charrette, a new experiment in intensive community-based planning for development at the old Kingsley Park apartment complex, has cleared its initial hurdle -- the county Planning Board. The panel on Thursday approved a charrette vote that endorses the working group's vision of a new village to replace the 60-year-old complex of run-down apartments troubled by crime and violence. The vote was 48-0. The board's endorsement allows officials to begin work on a "pattern book" reflecting the development plans from the charrette.

General Growth Properties Inc. will present on April 28 a draft master plan for the revitalization of Town Center that integrates concepts generated during the Howard County charrette in 2005 and the meetings with the community since then. The plan will be further refined with additional discussions held in each of the villages. The following meeting dates are scheduled. Visit www.columbiatowncenter.info for updates. The April 28th meeting will be at 7 p.m. at The Spear Center, 10275 Little Patuxent Parkway.

Consultants, county officials, community leaders and a lot of other folks have spent considerable time and energy thinking of ways to get more people to shop and dine in Towson. They have studied diagrams, pored over maps, made lists and held meetings. Nancy Hafford figures a party might do the trick. "You can change buildings and streets, but you have to have events," says Hafford, the new executive director of Towson's Chamber of Commerce. The business group is organizing a series of Friday night gatherings, featuring entertainment for children and performances by local bands.

Noisy hobby disturbs peace It is a beautiful October weekend at Centennial Park - blue skies, the fall foliage reflected in the park's lake, geese flying overhead, walkers filling the pathways - an oasis in busy suburban Howard County. But not last Friday and Saturday. The calm of Centennial Lake is shattered by the high-pitched whine of remote-controlled racing speedboats. Once again Howard County's Department of Recreation and Parks has opened the lake to the noise and pollution of nonstop model speedboat racing.

Claiming that the county has veered too far from the public's wishes, as well as from the principles on which Columbia was founded, a new coalition is planning to fight the current plan to transform the downtown area into an urban center. The group largely supports the concept of transforming downtown by permitting denser housing and building more commercial and retail outlets and entertainment venues. The conflict is over the details, and Alan Klein, head of the coalition, promised a vigorous fight over them.

Harry M. Dunbar's campaign to be Howard County executive seems like a classic novice's effort. The maverick Democrat has little money for advertising and has been shunned by mainstream party members, who are backing County Councilman Ken Ulman in the Sept. 12 primary. The 62-year-old federal retiree and real estate agent has based his campaign on dissatisfaction with the pace of development, making flamboyant, often inaccurate charges about the most sensitive political issue in the county this year.

THE ISSUE: -- A traffic study has concluded that central Columbia's roads would not be able to absorb much more traffic without producing severe congestion, though a county-sponsored community design session last year recommended thousands more homes, offices and shops in the next 30 years. Do you think the county should deny permission for any but the minimum number of homes and businesses allowed by current zoning? What do you think the right number of homes and businesses would be? No copies, please, of Bethesda A great deal of time and money has been spent on a "plan" for the redevelopment of downtown Columbia without knowing what our roads could bear.

Baltimore County officials are hoping that a team of residents, developers and government officials will decide the ultimate look of a new development on the old Kingsley Park apartments site - and test a new planning process called for under recently passed legislation along the way. With demolition on the county-owned complex in Middle River under way, officials say they want to hold a "charrette," or series of community planning meetings, in May...

Tomorrow night, the public will get its first chance to hear about a concept for constructing a new Columbia Association headquarters that includes the idea of tearing down the association's current lakefront building. The meeting will be held at the association's headquarters, 10221 Wincopin Circle, starting at 7:30 p.m. The association board has invited a contract worker for Design Collective Inc. - which headed the county-sponsored, weeklong charrette for the future development of Columbia's Town Center - to talk about a possible new headquarters.

A proposal to transform the heart of Columbia into an urban downtown drew polite support in general but also pointed criticism as officials faced the public for the first time with a broad blueprint on how to achieve the plan. The response was not unexpected, but it may nonetheless force officials to abandon their time schedule for enactment of legislation that is critical for the plan to advance. Indeed, that schedule was a principal point of contention during a 3 1/2 -hour presentation and discussion Monday night.

After sitting dormant for more than a year and a half, the remnants of a former Columbia landmark are being transformed into a luxury housing development. The project is in the early stages, but land is being graded, a road paved and homes are springing up on the property where Metz ler's Garden Center was an institution for almost four decades. In a fitting tribute to the past, the developer has named the development Metzler's Garden. Eleven homes will be constructed, each on roughly one-third of an acre and probably ranging between 3,000 and 5,000 square feet.