College Park Council Tables Cafritz Discussion Following Withdrawal

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 bridge's potential impact on the academy's property "will take several months or longer."

"Until our independent analysis is complete, the ACP Board will not make a decision on this issue," Cunningham wrote.

"The ACP Board is angry that a letter was provided at the Monday, January 14th, meeting of the University Park Town Council, which erroneously appeared to present ACP’s support for having a roadway across our property," she added. "That letter was never reviewed or authorized by the ACP Board."

Reed said he came to Tuesday's College Park council meeting because he didn't want it to appear that the Cafritz team was circumventing any of the conditions set during the planning process.

Reed told Patch that the developer doesn't plan to kill the project and would continue to work toward its completion.

The council had planned discuss the project Tuesday to establish its stance on the developer's preliminary plan.