Residents, Council Share Concerns, Ideas with Cafritz Team

After listening to an , residents and local officials had the opportunity to ask questions, voice concerns and share ideas with the Cafritz team Monday night.

Here's some of what was said during public comment:

• Riverdale Park Councilman Jonathan Ebbeler (Ward 1) asked Cafritz Attorney Chip Reed how serious they were about switching their and asked about the timeframe for an answer regarding a crossover of the CSX tracks.
  • Reed said CSX could take up to two years for approval, but that fits into the developers time frame for the project. He said they are serious about the MUTC change, but that they need to talk to the MUTC committee and decide what changes need to be made to their plan to abide by the MUTC guidelines and whether or not it is feasible.
• Riverdale Park Councilman Alan Thompson (Ward 2) asked about how quickly the team could move forward on other connection options, i.e. a traffic circle and Maryland Avenue entrance.
  
  • Reed said they are meeting with the State Highway Administration Tuesday about their options.
• Riverdale Park Councilman Chris Henry (Ward 4) said he was concerned about parking issues at the proposed as that is his biggest issue when visiting the Silver Spring store. Henry also asked about jobs for locals at Whole Foods once it opened.
  • Reed said although he can't speak for Whole Foods, he believes that's a great way for them to partner with the community. He added that 98 percent of employees at Target and Costco in Brandywine, MD were local residents when they opened.
• Riverdale Park Councilman Raymond Rivas (Ward 5) asked about the feasibility of low-income housing on the property.
  • Reed said they were not planning on having low-income housing - but would have senior housing and some graduate or faculty housing on the property.
• Cheverly Resident Jeff Yorke said, "I’m happy to hear there isn’t affordable housing. We need more higher income housing. I applaud the move."
• Riverdale Park Resident Emily Fanning asked, "We have a lot of wildlife in this area. In the pictures I see modern day trees. Will you save the old trees?"
  • Reed said, "We have a tree conservation plan. We will go out and identify the trees before they are removed." As a part of the forest conservation plan, developers plant trees elsewhere when removing trees from a property.
• Riverdale Park resident Wayne Woodruff said he'd like to see a historical concept of the property saved.
  • Reed said that’s a part of the culture and the community that Ms. Cafritz wants to include in this design.
• Hyattsville Councilman Tim Hunt asked, "The current TDOZs are struggling. Why create new (or add to a current) TDOZs when the current ones are struggling?
  • Reed said although there are a lot of questions surrounding , he doesn't really think the two projects compare. "Whole Foods wants to be here. We think they’ll be a great anchor. UTC might not be a good example with the execution of that development and the initial design. A lot of factors effect the viability of a town center."
• Riverdale Park Resident Jason Morris wanted some idea of how the council might enforce LEED certification of the property - particularly platinum certification. He also asked that the developers work with the town to translate literature for non-English native speakers.
  
  • Riverdale Park Mayor Vernon Archer said the council is very concerned about those kinds of questions, but he's not sure yet how the council will ultimately decide on this.
  • Ebbeler added that he believes LEED certification is a must. "How it goes I don’t know. The — I don’t necessarily support that the whole project should be single-family houses." He said a solar-energy portion could happen and later added that geothermal is possible as well. "We’re looking for something that doesn’t suck."
• Hyattsville Mayor Marc Tartaro said Riverdale Park's council should get as many details nailed down before the conceptual site plan is approved, noting that there were some unfavorable changes made to EYA plans after the CSP was approved that Hyattsville's council had no say on. "Certainly Hyattsville will support you, however you move forward." But, he added that traffic is a concern as it backs up to DeMatha High on Route 1.