Downtown Columbia

Public meeting set on `Vision' paper The Columbia Association's board of directors will hold a meeting at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1 to hear comments from residents on "Downtown Columbia: A Community Vision," a document released Sept. 28 by Howard County Executive Ken Ulman. The document establishes a framework for the next 30 years of development in Columbia's Town Center and outlines a three-step implementation process The Columbia Association board plans to respond to the proposal and include comments from members of the community.

The Howard County government released yesterday what it hopes will be the framework for the next 30 years of development in Columbia's Town Center. Two years in the making, the report, "Downtown Columbia: A Community Vision," is intended to provide General Growth Properties, the Chicago-based company that controls much of Columbia's downtown real estate, with guidance in creating its development program. "We know we're going to have a lot of discussion about the details," said County Executive Ken Ulman.

With the future of downtown Columbia up in the air, Howard County preservationists are moving to raise warning flags about the fate of two of the planned community's most distinctive buildings -- the former Rouse Co. headquarters and the former Exhibit Center nearby. Though no one has proposed demolishing the two modern structures overlooking Lake Kittamaqundi, they have been nominated for Preservation Howard County's "Top 10 Endangered Sites," said Mary Catherine Cochran, the group's president.

In hopes of resolving the bitter fight over the proposed 23-story luxury high-rise in downtown Columbia, a compromise is being considered that would involve building the project elsewhere and reducing its height. County Executive Ken Ulman said it is vital that a settlement be achieved so that officials and the community can focus on developing a master plan for the growth of the downtown area. "We're having conversations with all the parties in this to try to get a compromise," Ulman said in an interview Friday in his office.

When Helen Ruther moved to Columbia 31 years ago, Governor Warfield Parkway -- with its tree branches hanging over the road -- didn't look much different than it does today, except for the pavement and increased traffic."

Two out-of-state real estate investment trusts are spending in excess of $60 million to acquire local properties, the latest sign that publicly held real estate companies are dominating commercial transactions in the Baltimore area.First Industrial Realty Trust Inc. yesterday completed a $37.4 million deal to acquire most of the projects built by P. F. Obrecht & Sons, a longtime Baltimore development firm that had been privately owned and family controlled.With Obrecht's 11 buildings, First Industrial gains 840,230 square feet of primarily warehouse space.

WHAT DOES the much-discussed lost city of Atlantis have in common with downtown Columbia?Neither ever existed.Columbia's developers believe a bustling downtown district is just around the bend, but the town is no threat to night life in Washington's Georgetown or Baltimore's Fells Point. Nor can it hold a candle to the lively Annapolis Historic District, with its restaurants and bars.A handful of restaurants dot Columbia's Lake Kittamaqundi waterfront, where the Rouse Co., founder of Howard County's planned city, expects entertainment to thrive.

Columbia's developer says the Town Center is an ideal place for companies. There's a lake, restaurants and a concert pavilion, all minutes from Interstate 95 and other major thoroughfares.But that hasn't been enough to draw businesses to Columbia's downtown, Alton J. Scavo, the Rouse Co.'s general manager of Columbia development, told members of the Town Center village board during his annual meeting with the group last night.As a result, Rouse is looking for a spark to revive the stalled growth in the Town Center.

Howard County police are searching for a woman who robbed a downtown Columbia bank Friday morning after indicating she had a bomb.No one was injured and no weapon was displayed in the robbery, which occurred at 9: 50 a.m. at Taneytown Bank & Trust Co. in the Clark Building, in the 5500 block of Sterrett Place, police said.The woman walked into Taneytown Bank, which had just opened, approached a teller at the counter and handed over a manila envelope, said Sgt. Steven Keller, a police spokesman.

With two felony convictions and almost a decade of jail in Timothy Chase's past, his in-laws were wary of him. So they didn't balk at reporting to police their fears that the 28-year-old may have raped a teen-ager in Columbia last Wednesday night.Family members said yesterday that they were suspicious when Mr. Chase, of west Columbia's Harper's Choice village, suddenly turned up with dirty clothes and some pieces of gold jewelry last Wednesday. Then they noticed he looked like the suspected rapist represented in an artist's sketch released by police later in the week.

All three finalists hoping to become the next Columbia Association president said yesterday that they're prepared for the job after decades of community management experience, and they vowed to operate with transparency and strive for the best possible downtown redevelopment plan. About 100 residents had their first chance at the public forum to see and hear the remaining contenders in a 20-month process that began with more than 500 candidates. But no one in the crowd got to speak to them directly.

Public testimony on ZRA 113, the redevelopment of downtown Columbia, will continue before the Howard County Planning Board at 7 p.m. March 5 in Tyson Room II in the county's offices at 8930 Stanford Blvd., Columbia. The public is invited to present their concerns and suggestions to the advisory board on the future of downtown Columbia. Those wishing to testify at the hearing can sign up beginning at 5 p.m. Information: 410-313-4303.

Howard County Planning Board members and staff appear excited about a developer's proposal to revitalize downtown Columbia over the next 30 years, but they still see the devil in the details. That was the impression left at a public meeting in Columbia last week, where, for the first time, members of the county's Planning and Zoning Department shared their views on a proposal by General Growth Properties Inc., Columbia's developer, to overhaul a 364-acre site that includes The Mall in Columbia and Merriweather Post Pavilion.

Howard County government planners have recommended approval of a proposal to redevelop downtown Columbia - as long as the developer accepts dozens of suggestions. In a 76-page report, the county's Department of Planning and Zoning praises developer General Growth Properties' ideas as "interesting and innovative." At the same time, the department asks that the company meet certain requirements, such as for affordable housing, before moving to the project's next phase. "We'll be reviewing the report very carefully and will continue to work with the county and community to bring forth a great plan," said Greg Hamm, GGP's regional vice president and general manager for Columbia.

Martin Berdit, a retired consultant and community activist, died Sunday of liver cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The Columbia resident was 87. Mr. Berdit was born in Wilmington, Del., and raised in Philadelphia. He was a 1938 graduate of Overbrook High School and served in the Army in the Philippines during World War II. After being discharged from the Army in 1946, where he attained the rank of sergeant, he earned a bachelor's degree in anthropology and a master's degree in social work, both from the University of Pennsylvania.

Plan could stem Columbia's decline Downtown Columbia has been losing business to surrounding, newer developments for years. It is past time to reverse the damage to what was once a hot spot for businesses wanting to locate in the Baltimore-Washington corridor ("Views of the future," July 11). A deteriorating core of a community is dangerous to its economic health. We need to replace the outdated buildings with architecturally distinguished ones. We want more places to eat, and we need more housing options for the downtown work force, as well as others who want to live and work in the community.

The place where Jimi played is the hole in a doughnut. Merriweather Post Pavilion - the summertime stage for music from Hendrix to now, and one of Columbia's most visited tracts - is at the center of what could be the initial test in the planned community's first large-scale makeover. If the concert venue is the hole, then the surrounding 37-acre ring of land, owned by the community association that essentially governs Columbia, is the doughnut. But the Columbia Association has had a cool relationship with General Growth Properties - the developer that owns the concert venue and much of downtown Columbia, and has unveiled a $350 million plan to transform the place.

Consultants gave residents a glimpse last week of a Columbia no longer so dependent on cars -- a place where walking, biking and taking a train or bus were all very real options for getting around. "We believe that Columbia will be a very attractive part of the regional transit network," said Matt McKibbin, senior transportation planner for ARUP based in San Francisco. "Columbia will be served by a range of transit options that will increase connectivity. There really isn't good incentive for transit to come to Columbia right now. This development makes that case."

Solar arrays, "green" roofs and storm-water management that doubles as civic art and takes place only when it's raining are among the ideas for improving the environment in the redevelopment of downtown Columbia, a consultant told residents this week. Town Center could be a "city within a garden," said Keith Bowers, a landscape architect on General Growth Properties' design team -- a vibrant place that makes use of renewable energy and is built with local materials so that little energy is expended to bring supplies here.

General Growth Properties Inc. unveiled its plan for downtown Columbia last night, with redevelopment ideas that include a skating rink, new office, retail and hotel space and walking routes from The Mall in Columbia to the lakefront and Merriweather Post Pavilion. "What we're trying to do here is lay out what we think is a 30-year plan," said Gregory F. Hamm, GGP's regional vice president and Columbia general manager. "During all this time, we hope we've listened. We hope we've learned, but we're not done."