There’s a new article in the Columbia Flier with some more information about General Growth Properties, Inc., the company that now owns Columbia, and their urban development plan. My emotions ran as I read shockingly bad ideas tangle with surprisingly good ones. Good ones first.
Apparently, a relationship with the county, Howard County, is particularly important to any kind of development, whether it be road signs to large leases of land to zoning. Currently, a Howard County Council Democrat, David Rakes, characterizes the relationship this way:
“They showed us they’re more cooperative than Rouse…they’re doing it the right way now.”
Because I can interpret cryptic, nuanced jargin, this statement leads me to believe that GG is being more cooperative that Rouse and that they’re doing the right things to get the county’s approval on things. Further, David Rakes (whom I’ll never criticize because he’s also the Chairman of the County Liquor Board), indicates that he reckons “most of what we saw will be built.”
This story gets interesting when we talk about something tangible, like Merriweather. Here’s some great news:
“Also, Rouse had wanted to sell Merriweather only to a buyer who would promise to downsize and enclose the concert venue, but now General Growth said it’s willing to retain Merriweather and keep it open as an outdoor amphitheater.”
Rouse Co. had always inexplicably pandered to the extremely local base of house-owners who willingly purchased their digs so close to a large concert-venue. GG, probably mostly for the economic value of having big numbers of fans come to see mainstream acts (Santana, Green Day, and Oasis are coming this summer). But it’s good to see corporate interests align with the majority of Columbia-residents who love having a major venue in town. Peculiarly enough, parking and traffic on concert nights are never bad–if you’re a Columbia resident.
What’s basically frustrating about GG and even the three-fifths liberal HCC is the blind acceptance of the spiraling growth of urban Columbia. Here’s what the council thinks the most serious issues are from GG’s plans, via Ken Ulman, my personal County Councilman:
“[the] biggest concerns are parking and traffic, which General Growth officials said they would address at a second public meeting next month.”
The concerns of the Howard County Council, while somewhat aligned with general concerns of residents anywhere on traffic issues, do not represent the pejorative fears of Columbia residents on the overdevelopment of the city center and the destruction of the little green left in Columbia.
More generally, why is continued growth, obviously the purpose of the mall-developer GG’s buyout of Rouse Co., the committed goal of the greater Howard County Council? It seems we’ve all gotten behind the repulsion of condominiums of height 18 stories or higher seem a bit too radical, but the push for Columbia to become a cultural hub, for GG to throw more than 1,000 condos in and around the mall, and inevitably, to develop the 51.7 acres around Merriweather–where are the reigns and which residents are in support? We need stewardship in Columbia, and if not there, then in the County’s planning board. No More Condos!–especially ones by the mall.
Growth tied to market [Columbia Flier]
Rouse was a great guy with the right priorities on planning growth. he was one in a million. tough to find that kind of restraint and forward-thinkingness in an industry that’s all about turning land into profit quickly.
Rouse also caved to the surrounding houses around Merriweather, forcing it to schedule a covering of their open-aired amphitheater and increase their decibel restrictions (meaning fewer big acts would play in Columbia).