Monday, May 20, 2013
After a nearly three hour Sunday meeting, the Riverdale Park Town Council voted 3-0 to send a letter of support to the county planning board.
After nearly three hours of review and discussion on Sunday, the Riverdale Park Town Council voted unanimously to send a letter to the Prince George's County Planning Board supporting approval with conditions of the Detailed Site Plan for the Cafritz property. The DSP will got before the planning board on Thursday, just one week after it unanimously approved preliminary plans for the development over the objections of both University Park and College Park. "The Riverdale Park Mayor and Town Council felt confident that after an exhaustive review of the DSP, staff comments/referrals, expert and legal testimony, that the applicant has met the requirements necessary to receive our support," wrote Riverdale Park Councilman Jonathan Ebbeler (…
Sunday, May 19, 2013
The Riverdale Park Town Council will discuss the Cafritz development detailed site plan.
Weekend meetings are becoming a regular occurrence for the Riverdale Park Town Council, who are meeting on Sunday at to discuss, you guessed it, the Cafritz development. The Cafritz property is back on the Prince George's County Planning Board agenda on Thursday for a hearing on the Detailed Site Plan (DSP) just one week after preliminary plans were unanimously approved. The council and mayor will convene at 1:30 p.m. in the town hall in a special legislative session to review the Cafritz DSP, make recommendations on the plan and vote to send a letter of either approval or disapproval of the plan to the planning board. The planning board staff has recommened approval of the DSP with conditions.
Monday, May 13, 2013
The preliminary plan goes before the Prince George's County Planning Board on Thursday.
Prince George's County has moved once step closer to possibly getting its first Whole Foods last week when—in a report dated May 9—the Prince George's County planning staff recommended approval with conditions of the preliminary plan of the Cafritz property. The approval comes after a recent agreement between UMD and Calvert Tract LLC, in which the University of Maryland granted developers right-of-way to build a CSX bridge, now referred to as the J-crossing, across its property. In January, the planning board staff recommended disapproval of the Cafritz property preliminary plan after developers failed to meet several conditions. Among those was the condition requiring them to secure right-of-way to build across the CSX tracks. …
Monday, April 15, 2013
Developers have submitted both a preliminary site plan and a detailed site plan for review in May.
After repeated delays due to the developers’ failure to meet several conditions, the Cafritz development is scheduled before the Prince George’s County Planning Board again in May. Calvert Tract’s efforts to begin developing the 37-acre parcel of land in north Riverdale Park first ground to a halt back in January when the planning board staff recommended disapproval of the prelminary site plan. Following a letter from the American Center for Physic, it became clear the developers had established neither a location or a funding mechanism for a CSX crossing. Under the terms of the rezoning plan approved by the planning board, ground cannot be broken until this condition is met. Developers also failed to meet several other conditions, …
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Members held off on assessing the developer's preliminary plan after it was temporarily put on ice.
The College Park City Council tabled discussion of the Cafritz project at Tuesday's worksession after the developer announced that it would temporarily withdraw its preliminary plan of subdivision from consideration. Attorney Chip Reed told the council that he had been unable to get a required letter of support from the American Academy of Physics (ACP) ahead of Thursday's Prince George's County Planning Board hearing. ACP owns property where Calvert Tract, LLC plans to build a road bridge spanning the adjacent CSX tracks—one of many conditions agreed to between the developer and neighboring towns. In a letter sent to the towns of College Park, University Park, and Riverdale Park, ACP President Beth A. Cunningham said that studying the …
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
The developer was unable to secure approval to build a CSX crossing on property belonging to the American Center for Physics.
After receiving a strongly worded letter from the American Center for Physics (ACP), Calvert Tract, LLC has decided to temporarily withdraw its preliminary plan of subdivision (PPS) from consideration by the Prince George's County Planning Board. “We were working very diligently to try to get a letter from the American Center for Physics before the hearing date consistent with one of the conditions of approval. Unfortunately we will not be receiving that letter from ACP before the [Jan. 17] hearing date," said Chris Hatcher on behalf of Calvert Tract, LLC, the owners of the Cafritz property. At last week's meeting, the Riverdale Park Town Council raised several concerns about the plan, the placement and funding of the bridge among them…
The developer's proposal fails to meet several conditions for passage, a new report finds.
Staff for the Prince George's County Planning Board are advising members not to approve the current preliminary plan of subdivision for the Cafritz project, arguing that the proposal fails to meet several conditions required for passage. The Prince George's County District Council authorized the rezoning of the Cafritz property from residential use (R-55) to mixed use (MUTC) in June, allowing for development of the 37-acre parcel of land to begin. Thursday's Planning Board hearing, where the Cafritz team will seek the green light for its preliminary plan of subdivision (PPS), marks the next major hurdle for Calvert Tract, LLC in developing the property. But in a report dated Jan. 10, planning staff recommended "disapproval" of the Cafritz …
Thursday, August 16, 2012
The total reflects the cost of hiring attorney David Podolsky to represent the town in the development process.
The Town of University Park has spent more than $38,000 on legal fees since January to participate in the Cafritz development process, according to budget figures discussed at Monday night's council meeting. The total reflects the cost of retaining attorney David Podolsky, who has served as town's counsel on Cafritz-related matters since the beginning of the year. Suellen Ferguson, who normally represents both University Park and College Park, was sidelined by a conflict of interest when the two municipalities' councils voted differently on the rezoning plan. In cases where legal counsel is retained for development issues, Mayor John Tabori said, there are typically two to three days of hearings involved at the planning board and district …
Friday, July 20, 2012
The developer's rezoning plan cleared its final legislative hurdle last week.
In the gallery at right, you'll find a PDF of Zoning Ordinance No. 11-2012—otherwise known as the District Council's approval of the Cafritz rezoning plan. By a 7-2 margin, the developer's far-reaching proposal was approved by the council in substantial form on July 10 and formally enacted on July 12. After 30-plus hours of hearings and debate, members ultimately decided to adopt all of the conditions recommended by the Prince George County Planning Board, which were in turn based on agreements worked out between the Cafritz team and surrounding municipalities. (Read a full rundown of those conditions here.) Councilmembers Andrea Harrison (Dist. 5), Will Campos (Dist. 2), Ingrid M. Turner (Dist. 4), Derrick Leon David (Dist. 6), Karen R. …
Monday, March 12, 2012
Residents will have another opportunity to deliver written or in-person testimony.
The proposed rezoning of the Cafritz tract will take the next step in the county's review process when it comes before the District Council just under a month from today. Officials have scheduled a public hearing on the plan for Wednesday, April 11 at 10 a.m. in the County Administration Building (14741 Governor Oden Bowie Dr., Upper Marlboro). A carryover hearing, if needed, has been scheduled for Friday, April 13 at the same hour. The District Council, composed of the members of the Prince George's County Council, will weigh the Cafritz application and recommended conditions before holding a final vote. The proposal was conditionally endorsed by the Planning Board in February after 15 hours of hearings. The Cafritz plan calls for the …
Really Not Here
9:17 pm on Tuesday, April 16, 2013
East Campus would be a much better spot for mixed use development and a grocery store than half way down a hill with not transit let a lone real east west routes. more ›