College Park Council Votes to Oppose Latest Cafritz Plan

The College Park City Council voted 5-2-1 Tuesday night to oppose the preliminary plan of subdivision put forward by the Cafritz development team.

By doing so, the council joined the University Park Town Council in asking the Prince George's County Planning Board to reject the plan—the next major hurdle in the proposed development of the Cafritz property.

In Riverdale Park, where the 37-acre mixed-used project would be located, council members voted 3-0 Saturday to recommend passage of the preliminary plan.

Councilmember Stephanie Stullich (Dist. 3), who introduced Tuesday's motion calling for disapproval, cited a range of reasons for her opposition, including:

• That several aspects of the proposal had not undergone adequate review by the Historic Preservation Commission, due in part to late-hour revisions by the developer.
• That the University of Maryland's support for the proposed bridge placement—which will impact UMD property—is not yet final, as it has yet to come before the Board of Regents or Maryland Public Works Board.
• That the developer had submitted and revised materials too late in the process, making it difficult or impossible for public officials to review them before making decisions. 

"Critical information was not provided to us or others in this process in the required timeframe," Stullich said.

"This has really been a travesty of a public process," she added.

Stullich's motion—as well as the council's vote—largely cut against the review submitted by city planning & zoning staff.

Planning Director Terry Schum told the council that while the Cafritz team had initially failed to comply with some requirements of the rezoning, its revised plan appeared to satisfy the concerns raised in Stullich's motion.

"We felt that the majority of the conditions were either now being addressed by this new material or could be addressed and were proposing to be addressed," Schum said.

Councilmember Denise Mitchell (Dist. 4), who also voted to disapprove the Cafritz plan, said she was frustrated by the inconsistent delivery of key information by the developer. 

She added that the Prince George's County Council had approved the creation of a special taxing district for the project on Tuesday without adequate input.

"Some of the municipalities who are actually impacted weren't actually able to give their viewpoint on this, and it went on ahead and passed," Mitchell said.

Councilmember Robert Catlin (Dist. 2), one of two dissenting votes, said that the developer's plan was very likely to be approved and that the city should focus on incorporating its ideas and preferences into the final product.

"As our staff indicated, the thing we really need to do is to get recommended conditions approved to protect the city's interest," Catlin said.

Several residents came to the microphone to voice their objections to the Cafritz project and the preliminary plan.

"No matter how eagerly the Cafritzes and their cheerleaders are chomping at the bit to get that clear-cutting started, this is not a process to be recklessly rushed," said College Park resident Leo Shapiro.

Cafritz attorney Larry Taub also spoke, reiterating the developer's belief that the preliminary plan deserves approval and urging council members to support it.

In the end, the motion to oppose carried 5-2-1, with Catlin and Councilmember Monroe Dennis (Dist. 2) dissenting and Councilmember Fazlul Kabir (Dist. 1) abstaining. 

Councilmembers did, however, add language asking the planning board to incorporate the city's recommended conditions should the plan pass.

An almost identical motion in reference to the Cafritz team's detailed site plan—a later stage of the process—was approved 6-2 shortly thereafter. Catlin and Dennis were once again in dissent.

The county's planning board is expected to vote on the Cafritz preliminary plan during its Thursday, May 16 meeting, which begins at 9 a.m.