Will Community Brainstorming Lead to Real Changes on US Route 1?

Residents brainstormed along with city planning staff this weekend about the types of developments they’d like to see fill the empty properties up and down U.S. Route 1, but some were skeptical their ideas would materialize.

“I’m not sure if it really makes a difference,” said Bob Swanson, who said for the 30 years he’s participated in U.S. Route 1 visioning workshops, he’s never seen residents’ ideas become reality.

, it became evident at the Saturday morning gathering in City Hall that at least two hurdles divide residents’ wish list from destiny.

First, the city has limited control over what a developer decides to do with the property, City Planning Director Terry Schum said.

“If the developer wants to build something there’s no market for, we can’t stop them,” Schum said.

Although owners of property along U.S. Route 1 must abide by zoning laws and follow the guidelines of the Preliminary Central U.S. Route 1 Corridor Sector Plan, it’s ultimately up to the owner to decide what to build.

“Often times the developer or broker will come to the city and ask, ‘What would the city like to see here?’” Schum said. She said the city could try to influence the developer’s ideas, or attract developers with similar visions, but little else.

The city doesn’t have the budget to regularly , which would allow the city to be responsive to the public’s wishes, Schum said.

“We’re talking about the city of College Park, which has a limited budget. We do not have a large economic development budget to acquire and develop properties,” Schum said.

A second obstacle between wishes and reality, is that no updated market data is available to know what types of businesses could be successful in College Park.

Such information could be known as early as Dec. 10.

A for a stretch of U.S. Route 1 from north College Park to Hyattsville, the results of which will help the municipalities understand what types of businesses the area can absorb. Councilmember Robert Catlin (Dist. 2) said at a recent council meeting that he thinks the last similar study was conducted in 2006.

The Hyattsville Community Development Corporation (CDC) is conducting the study with $5,000 contributions each from College Park, Riverdale Park, University Park and Hyattsville, CDC Executive Director said in an e-mail. The Redevelopment Authority and the University of Maryland have also contributed, he said.

Eisenberg expects the study to be ready to publish after Dec. 9, but “no promises,” he said.