Charrette

Secluded on the second floor of a vacant store in the Annapolis Mall, about 45 architects and planners spent the weekend brainstorming ways to turn Parole into the ideal small town.They came at the behest of the county Office of Planning and Zoning and the Chesapeake BayChapter of the American Institute of Architects, which jointly sponsored a design workshop called a "charrette" for the Parole area.The county has been looking for ways to redevelop Parole, a 1,300-acre hodgepodge of suburban sprawl, for the last two years.

Howard County has selected the Baltimore firm Design Collective Inc. to conduct a weeklong, intensive design gathering that will result in a master development plan for Columbia's downtown. The county is aiming to hold the five-to-seven-day charrette by the end of September. Experts, consultants and residents will be invited to share ideas about how Columbia's downtown should be transformed into a bustling urban environment. The meetings will focus on the 570 acres that make up Town Center's core, including The Mall in Columbia and the 51.7-acre, crescent-shaped property near the Merriweather Post Pavilion.

The Columbia Association is aiming to resolve the fate of its headquarters after next month's intensive design gathering that will result in a master development plan for Columbia's downtown. The association has been working out of its rented downtown lakefront building for 13 years, and the lease on the office space -- which it rents from General Growth Properties for $556,000 a year -- expires in August 2007. The association has been compiling a list of alternatives, ranging from continuing to rent, to buying a building or constructing a building on land it owns.

We want your opinions THE ISSUE: Last week, during a nonannounced meeting, the Columbia Association and representatives from Design Collective Inc. - which led the weeklong, county-sponsored charrette on Columbia's downtown - discussed tearing down the association's current building on Lake Kittamaqundi to make way for an open, waterfront vista. Do you think the building, which is also home to two restaurants - Clyde's and the Tomato Palace - should be demolished? YOUR VIEW: Send e-mail responses by Thursday to howard.

The Baltimore County Council approved two additional "renaissance opportunity areas" last night, making land in the Loch Raven area eligible for redevelopment under County Executive James T. Smith Jr.'s signature plan for the revitalization of older neighborhoods. Selected projects proposed along two stretches -- one a residential area sandwiched between Loch Raven Boulevard and Hillsway Avenue, the other a commercial strip along Joppa Road west of Perring Parkway -- can earn approval by using a community-intensive development process approved by the council in December.

Precisely how Columbia's Town Center will evolve remains under debate, but two things are becoming clearer: Many residents oppose a planned 22-story tower overlooking Lake Kittamaqundi, and many of those same people appear to have an inflated view of the weight of the recently completed workshops on the future of Columbia's heart. Opponents of the tower have linked the two issues, and that poses a problem for county officials, especially as they enter an election year when land-use policies seem destined to dominate the debate.

With a partisan crowd of Democrats filling every seat and lining the walls of Kahler Hall for a candidates forum, Republican county executive hopeful Christopher J. Merdon might have had good reason to feel intimidated. Instead, Merdon used Monday night's packed house on hostile political turf to attack rival candidate Democrat Ken Ulman on Ulman's own issue - the touchy matter of redeveloping Columbia's Town Center. "I want to straighten out the process for redevelopment of downtown Columbia.

After working out of a picturesque, rented lakefront building for 13 years, the Columbia Association is considering constructing its headquarters in Town Center. The lease on the association's office space -- which it rents from General Growth Properties for $556,000 a year -- expires in August 2007, leading the association to look into building a headquarters on property it owns near Merriweather Post Pavilion. A study the association commissioned by KLNB examined the financial impact of the association leasing or constructing a building, said Karen Hawkins, an association spokeswoman.

A Baltimore real estate consultant will help the state decide what to do with the historic Warfield Complex at Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville.The state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has commissioned the Legg Mason Realty Group to conduct a $35,000 study of the 131-acre property along Route 32.Officials hope the study, which is scheduled to be completed in the spring, will determine the site's development potential and gauge the interest of prospective users.The study is a cooperative venture between the state and county, but Carroll economic development officials would not comment on it. The Warfield site is viewed as vital to increasing the amount of industry in South Carroll.