Monday, May 20, 2013
After a nearly three hour Sunday meeting, the Riverdale Park Town Council voted 3-0 to send a letter of support to the county planning board.
After nearly three hours of review and discussion on Sunday, the Riverdale Park Town Council voted unanimously to send a letter to the Prince George's County Planning Board supporting approval with conditions of the Detailed Site Plan for the Cafritz property. The DSP will got before the planning board on Thursday, just one week after it unanimously approved preliminary plans for the development over the objections of both University Park and College Park. "The Riverdale Park Mayor and Town Council felt confident that after an exhaustive review of the DSP, staff comments/referrals, expert and legal testimony, that the applicant has met the requirements necessary to receive our support," wrote Riverdale Park Councilman Jonathan Ebbeler (…
Sunday, May 19, 2013
The Riverdale Park Town Council will discuss the Cafritz development detailed site plan.
Weekend meetings are becoming a regular occurrence for the Riverdale Park Town Council, who are meeting on Sunday at to discuss, you guessed it, the Cafritz development. The Cafritz property is back on the Prince George's County Planning Board agenda on Thursday for a hearing on the Detailed Site Plan (DSP) just one week after preliminary plans were unanimously approved. The council and mayor will convene at 1:30 p.m. in the town hall in a special legislative session to review the Cafritz DSP, make recommendations on the plan and vote to send a letter of either approval or disapproval of the plan to the planning board. The planning board staff has recommened approval of the DSP with conditions.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Members recommended, 5-2-1, that county officials reject the developer's preliminary plan of subdivision.
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: "Critical information was not provided to us or others in this process in the …
Monday, May 13, 2013
Council says several conditions have not been met, though its conclusions are in direct opposition to the county's planning board staff and the Riverdale Park Town Council.
The University Park Town Council Monday unanimously disapproved the Cafritz development preliminary plan, saying several conditions had not been met. The council reviewed its position at a special session Monday night and made more specific its concerns about the development. "Vague objections don't cut it," Mayor John Tabori said. "To simply say we don't like the bridge is not a meaningful objection." The specific conditions the council feels have not been met include: Tabori said several times during the meeting that the council needed to lay out clearly why the council believes the conditions had not been met. The council made clearer its position that the developers hadn't established a funding mechanism for the development even though…
The Riverdale Park Town Council discussing their approval of the Cafritz development preliminary plan.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Developers have received the required right-of-way to satisfy one of the conditions of the Cafritz property's rezoning.
After several missteps, proposal rejections, and reconfigurations Calvert Tract, LLC has received the required right-of-way to construct a CSX crossing as required by one of the property's conditions of rezoning. In a letter sent to the planning board on Tuesday, UMD agreed to convey property to Calvert Tract LLC that would allow for a reconfigured CSX bridge, referred to as a J-crossing, subject to several conditions. The letter reads: The University believes the Cafritz development will bring an economic benefit to the region and a much-needed amenity to the community. We are pleased to support this important project with an appropriately located right-of-way connection that respects the affected University property. With this letter, …
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
The council also introduced the Fiscal Year 2014 budget and discussed the Cafritz development at Monday's meeting.
Two recent actions by Maryland's General Assembly have irked University Park Mayor John Tabori and he's looking to get one recent state bill overturned. Tabori expressed his displeasure Monday of a newly approved bill that prohibits municipalities from enforcing vegetation management rules on utilities. Tabori said the Maryland Muncipal League did not do a good enough job of informing its constituents about this bill so municipalities could oppose it. The bill's summary states its purpose is to prohibit a county or municipality "from taking specified actions that interfere with, or materially increase costs of, compliance with vegetation management standards." "I'm incensed by the fact that the gentlemen who introduced it works for a …
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
The Cafritz team shared its preliminary site plan with the Riverdale Park Mayor and Town Council Monday night.
As representatives from the Cafritz team showed the Riverdale Park mayor and Town Council the preliminary plans they hope to present to the county planning board next month, they made one thing very clear: Whole Foods is still involved. “We are here to tell you that they [Whole Foods] are still here, they are still committed and they are still very much interested,” Chris Hatcher, a representative for the Cafritz development team, told officials at Monday night's work session. Currently, the Cafritz project is still in the Preliminary Site Plan (PSP) stage. The development’s impact on public transportation, roads, school capacity, and other elements of local infrastructure still need to be evaluated, said Hatcher. For the most part, the …
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
The oversight committee will meet on Oct. 10.
Want an update on the progress of the Cafritz project? University Park's Cafritz Oversight & Monitoring Committee will meet Wednesday, Oct. 10 to discuss the proposed development's progress. Members will discuss information they gathered at various Cafritz-related committee meetings as well as a number of other topics. Although the traffic engineer for the project was expected to speak Wednesday, as stated on the agenda, town clerk Tracey Toscano said he will be attending the meeting on Oct. 17 instead. The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. in University Park Elementary School's media center.
Peggy Anne
11:47 pm on Wednesday, May 15, 2013
I hope the Cafritz "development" delay drags on for years. But then, I tend to live in a time warp, anyway, and I hug trees. more ›