Bring Back the Vision Statement
Submitted to Howard County Council
RE: Zoning Petitions ZRA-79 and ZRA-83
Submitted to Howard County Council
RE: Zoning Petitions ZRA-79 and ZRA-83
We the undersigned citizens of Howard County are members of Bring Back the Vision, a citizens group formed to support the thoughtful development of downtown Columbia, development in keeping with the realities of the 21st century, development that recognizes the inevitable growth and change that requires mixed-use, recycling land, green buildings, smart growth, market-driven business and citizen friendly density, housing appealing to those of moderate income and housing appealing to the wealthy.
Because of the convictions expressed above, we OPPOSE Zoning Petition ZRA-79 and Zoning Petition ZRA-83.
Zoning Petition ZRA-79 would limit building heights in Columbia to 150 feet until new Downtown Columbia zoning changes are adopted by the County Council. We OPPOSE this proposal for the following reasons:
· Height restrictions are not effective approaches to managing growth. Restrictions eliminate architectural flexibility and fine design while encouraging sameness
· A variety of building heights could include some taller buildings which by going "up" do not go "out" and leave more opportunity for green space and pedestrian access as opposed to restrictive height resulting in squat buildings that eat up land space.
· Restrictions deny the premise of Smart Growth which is to increase density where density exists thus preserving green space.
· Restrictive development and affordable housing are not compatible. Housing opportunities are limited and housing prices are driven upward.
· The coming decades will bring tremendous growth to this region. Howard County and Columbia must be prepared with a thoughtful approach to development resulting from creative flexibility, not restriction.
Zoning Petition ZRA-83 would create a clause that would retroactively affect cases under judicial review and cause them to be subject to Zoning Regulation changes. We OPPOSE this proposal for the following reasons:
· This zoning change, if enacted, would directly and negatively affect The Plaza Residences, a project already approved by the Planning Board in 2006 after ample opportunity was provided for public testimony. Enacting this proposal would result in a failure to build the Plaza as originally approved until such time, if ever, that a master plan for Columbia is completed.
· Predictability in the development process is absolutely essential to attracting high quality partners. Changing zoning regulations retroactively is poor business practice and the negative business climate created in Howard County by enacting this proposal could result in high quality development partners avoiding our community.
· Approved as a mixed-use project, The Plaza Residences becomes part of the solution for our city and county. It can create more open space thanks to its height and its plan, more housing opportunities for our aging population, more shops, galleries and pedestrian improvements. It can be the first step toward the distinctive town center that is Columbia's and Howard County's downtown.
4 comments:
Where do people go to sign a petition or join an opposition group?
Try CoFoDoCo, http://coalitionforcolumbiasdowntown.org/.
-wb
Finally, a pro-tower group!
I'll be joining the list ASAP!
Perhaps if it was revised to read as below it might get more signatures:
Bring Back the Vision Statement
Submitted to Howard County Council
RE: Zoning Petitions ZRA-79 and ZRA-83
We the undersigned citizens of Howard County are members of Bring Back the Vision, a citizens group formed to support the thoughtful development of downtown Columbia('s Town Center), development in keeping with the realities of the 21st century (what realities?), development that recognizes the inevitable growth (growth is neither inevitable nor necessary in every case) and change that (sometimes) requires mixed-use, recycling land, green buildings, smart growth, market-driven business and citizen friendly density, housing appealing to those of moderate income and housing appealing to the wealthy (What about those of modest income? Or is it ok to bury them in the fine print because the focus is to build mostly dense expensive condos anyway?).
Because of the convictions expressed above, we OPPOSE Zoning Petition ZRA-79 and Zoning Petition ZRA-83.
Zoning Petition ZRA-79 would limit building heights in Columbia to 150 feet until new Downtown Columbia zoning changes are adopted by the County Council. We OPPOSE this proposal for the following reasons:
· Height restrictions are not effective approaches to managing growth. Restrictions eliminate architectural flexibility and fine design while encouraging sameness (Plenty of flexibility exists in designing structures less than 150 feet tall, so such a height restriction hardly encourages sameness. Lack of protection against such structures considerably out of scale with their environs will ironically promote additional construction of tall similar structures, overwhelming and obscuring much of the design intent of Town Center's residential, commercial, and natural areas.)
· A variety of building heights could include some taller buildings which by going "up" do not go "out" and leave more opportunity for green space and pedestrian access as opposed to restrictive height resulting in squat buildings that eat up land space. (Permitting tall buildings leads to dramatically increased value of such land, rising to an amount that drives development of green space therein at an even more agressive rate. Without clearly defined regulations that require perpetual set aside of corresponding natural spaces when denser development is permitted, such taller buildings only result in addition of similar tall buildings and result in detracting from the environment.)
· Restrictions deny the premise of Smart Growth which is to increase density where density exists thus preserving green space. (Protections against inappropriate or unbalanced density are in concert with smart growth, not in contradiction to it.)
· Restrictive development and affordable housing are not compatible. Housing opportunities are limited and housing prices are driven upward. (Well-planned, well-regulated development is not an impediment to affordable housing. Columbia, having a considerable amount of affordable housing compared to other parts of the County, demonstrates such coexistence between affordable housing and development protections. So, too, lack of well-regulated development can be a hindrance to affordable housing. Recent redevelopment of several trailer home parks in the County to build far more expensive housing is such an example, perhaps serving as a harbinger of what awaits Columbia if current regulations are cast aside under the guise of addressing "restrictive development".)
· The coming decades will (may) bring tremendous growth to this region. (Both DC and Baltimore have experienced decades of substantial population loss and Columbia's growth rate has dramatically slowed over the last few decades.) Howard County and Columbia must be prepared with a thoughtful approach to development resulting from creative flexibility, not restriction. (It's worth keeping the development regulations that have contributed to both Columbia and the County being desired places to live and work. It would be unwise to remove necessary protections against less desirable development and its accompanying negative impacts on the community and the environment.)
Zoning Petition ZRA-83 would create a clause that would retroactively affect cases under judicial review and cause them to be subject to Zoning Regulation changes. We OPPOSE this proposal for the following reasons:
· This zoning change, if enacted, would directly and negatively affect The Plaza Residences, a project already approved by the Planning Board in 2006 after ample opportunity was provided for public testimony. Enacting this proposal would result in a failure to build the Plaza as originally approved until such time, if ever, that a master plan for Columbia is completed.
· Predictability in the development process is absolutely essential to attracting high quality partners. Changing zoning regulations retroactively is poor business practice and the negative business climate created in Howard County by enacting this proposal could result in high quality development partners avoiding our community. (Having sufficient layers of protection in place to serve as appropriate checks and balances when errors occur in the approval process for development lend to predictability, not detract from it. To have the ability to make corrections when anomalies occur is both pro-business and pro-community.)
· Approved as a mixed-use project, The Plaza Residences becomes part of the solution for our city and county. It can create more open space (and traffic) thanks to its height and its plan (how does it create more open space?), more housing opportunities for our aging population (if they can afford near $600,000 to near $2 million condos), more shops (there's 200+ stores across the street already), galleries and pedestrian improvements (Didn't CA cede control of some of its open space intended for pedestrian use along Little Patuxent Parkway to the developer, putting such pedestrian use in jeopardy?). It can be the first step toward the distinctive town center that is Columbia's and Howard County's downtown.
Words that were missing: families of modest income, the environment, adequate infrastructure to accomodate growth, and natural spaces
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