Council Meeting Preview: Demolishing Vacant Buildings, a Vision for the Future, and More

The Mayor and Council will meet for a work session at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Council Chambers of . The meeting is open to the public.

Anyone who attends the meeting can obtain a parking pass from the customer service window inside City Hall.

Here is a summary just some of the agenda items. .

Demolishing Vacant Buildings

Staff is suggesting that the city request $95,000 in state funds to demolish some of the . The city staff has outlined six target properties along the main corridor that it would like to see knocked down, in hopes it will expedite the redevelopment of those properties, though not all the owners of these properties are on board. The deadline for College Park to apply for the Community Legacy funding program, which these funds would be granted through, is at the end of the month.

Future of College Park

The City of College Park and the University of Maryland has formed a partnership to build a strategic development plan to turn our city into a . At tonight’s work session, Mayor Andrew Fellows will discuss the partnership and its goals in five areas of focus: housing and development, education, transportation, public safety and sustainability. The partnership will spend winter 2011 planning how to implement the strategies (i.e. defining specific goals and prioritizing, assigning responsibilities, and determining metrics to measure performance).

Local Business Group

, and president of the group ( will make a presentation. The promotes a unique community character in College Park, provides continuing opportunities for entrepreneurs, builds the economic strength in the city and prevents mass displacement of community-based businesses, according to the CPBNA bylaws.