Cafritz Developers 'Seriously Considering' Mixed-Use Town Center Zoning

Nearly 70 residents and local politicians were in the audience Monday night as hosted the Cafritz developers for another, slightly updated presentation on the proposed new home for the county's first .

Although in the past, Cafritz developers solely led the discussion, Riverdale Park's contracted planner added his thoughts on the project, presenting recommendations before council and Cafritz could speak.

Chris Jakubiak, the town’s planner, discussed the lengthy process the developers will go through to get this project to a place where they can apply for building permits, but stated that residents and council should express concerns now.

As the town’s planners, Jakubiak said he had some concerns about the plan including its lack of detail in the second phase, or the residential portion of the project, the traffic and impact on the neighborhood and  the density of the project could be problematic.

He recommended the following for council:

• Confirm what is proposed with respect to the residential component.
• Ask the developers’ traffic engineer to meet with town staff about congestion, a possible connection with town center (through Maryland Avenue) and the .
• Ask for a thorough site plan discussion about the residential and business concepts on the site.
• Ask developers to show how they propose to meet the requirements of being a part of the (TDOZ).
• Ask the developers to demonstrate how their plans meet the requirements for the conceptual site plan to be submitted.

Chip Reed, attorney for Jane Cafritz, then ran through a similar slideshow as presented during the , but highlighted a few more items including the fact that the group is seriously considering a switch over to .

The developers sent out an information mailer concerning the change, but must wait 30 days before they can act upon it. The conceptual site plan hasn't been accepted yet, but was returned with comments/questions the developers must answer before formally submitted the plan.

Reed acknowledged that the basic point raised by the planner was valid and apologized for the lack of detail, but he said we’re trying to show that we want community feedback.

He said as a showing of good faith they would like to consider adhering to the standards of MUTC – or the pedestrian-friendly zoning Riverdale Park uses in their town center.

Reed mentioned the following new details about the project:

• Whole Foods announced the Riverdale Park site as committed location in their May earnings report.
• The county could receive 8 million dollars towards the county’s schools as a part of the required school surcharge developers of residential properties must pay.
• They are working with others on a to find out where the undersupplies are in the region in regards to grocery and retail.
• They are happy to hear that the town might support a Maryland Avenue extension and entrance, creating another means for customers and residents to exit the property.
• The developers are paying CSX around $12,000 to review their plans for a pedestrian-crossover. A vehicular crossover could cost nearly $15 million and that’s something not in their budget at this time but they’d be willing to work with other developers in the area and collaborate on that aspect.
• They will be meeting with the State Highway Administration to discuss traffic issues and possible traffic circle at the Route 1 main entrance (opposite Van Buren Street).
• Although the project will have a residential component including 100 townhomes like EYA, 641 multi-family units at 4 to 5 stories highs, 224 senior housing units, 30 housing units for graduate housing or faculty housing, they will not have low-income housing on the site.
• They will be clearing much of the forest to build, but will be identifying the trees so that they can rebuild it elsewhere as a part of the forest conservation part of the plan. They will be also be looking at an environmental component to work with the Nine Ponds development and a demonstration pond to support storm water management on site. 

Resident reaction to come in another post.