Mayor Davis started the meeting at 8:05 p.m. It was held in the Council Room of the Municipal Building.

PRESENT WERE: Council members Edward V.J. Putens, Rodney M. Roberts, Alan Turnbull, and Mayor Judith F. Davis.

STAFF PRESENT WERE: Michael P. McLaughlin, City Manager; Celia Craze, Director, Dept. of Planning and Community Development; Terri Hruby, Community Planner; and Kathleen Gallagher, City Clerk.

ALSO PRESENT WERE: Kap Kapastin, Quantum Management and Beltway Plaza; Sheldon Goldberg, Advisory Planning Board; Kate Spencer, Barry Schlesinger, Doug Love, and Michael Boone, Citizens to Conserve and Restore Indian Creek (CCRIC); Joe Wilkinson; Amy Boyes, the Gazette; Virginia Beauchamp, Greenbelt News Review, and several others.

Information Items - Other Business

Mayor Davis opened the meeting with several brief items. 1) She said she spoke with Gerry Madison before he departed for Florida, and he extended good-byes to all. 2) The Glen Oaks apartment complex is to be sold and the new owners intend to update it. 3) The Mayor is now on the Internet at home and can be reached by e-mail.

Ms. Gallagher said Greenbelt Homes, Inc., would like to hold the March 19 stakeholder meeting in their Board Room and asked if Council could meet at 7:30 p.m. Council agreed to do so.

Metroland Plan

Terri Hruby gave an overview of the plan based upon the map submitted by Metroland Developers, Inc. Many questions were raised to which there are no clear answers at this time. As Ms. Hruby and Ms. Craze pointed out, the City and Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning have both documented the gaps in the plan, and this is what caused the developer to place the review on hold. Ms. Hruby clarified that the plan has not been withdrawn; the County is holding it for more information.

There was general agreement that the plan as submitted is incomplete and unacceptable on many points. Some of the questionable matters included: how aspects of this plan relate to the State land purchase at this point; indications of plans to reforest land that is already forested; the north-south connector road; the internal trail system; the relative location of commercial and residential components; lack of information on building placement and orientation; and the timing and sequencing of the phases of the plan. Mr. Schlesinger remarked that a basic problem is that the developer is trying to create a park rather than preserve existing features of the land.

Mr. Putens asked if the City has heard back from the State subsequent to Council’s meeting with the Governor’s staff. Mr. McLaughlin said there had been no response on the substantive issues. Council agreed it was time to send a letter of follow-up to the Governor’s office.

Mr. Roberts asked about response from WMATA and the Corps of Engineers. Council asked Mr. McLaughlin to follow up on this as well. Mr. Turnbull stressed the importance of the City’s following up on its requests for documentation of all these matters because of what appears to be a great deal of "shoddy procedure." Ms. Spencer noted that CCRIC has requested much of the same documentation the City has and has received an equally poor response.

Ms. Craze stated that the 10-year water and sewer plan is scheduled for presentation on March 27 to the County Council but that there was no specific action for City Council to take beyond having expressed its opinion.

Mayor Davis asked if others wanted to raise issues. Mr. Kapastin said no one had thus far mentioned the proposed use of the commercial spaces in the plan. He said he is very concerned that they will not hold to uses that will complement Beltway Plaza. He particularly noted the proposed movie theater space, saying this could affect more than 20% of Beltway Plaza’s rents. He added that Beltway Plaza is not mentioned at all in the developer’s retail study. Mr. Putens encouraged Mr. Kapastin to comment on these matters officially to the County.

Council discussed whether it should initiate a meeting with the new legal representatives of the developer. Ms. Craze said she did not think further discussion with the lawyers would be productive and asked if it would be possible to reach the real decision-makers for the company. Mayor Davis inquired about accelerating the meeting with Westfield. Mr. McLaughlin said he thought the City needed a "strategizing" meeting before meeting with Westfield.

Ms. Craze stated that she thought it was time for Council to move beyond the broader concepts of the plan and begin to focus on more narrowly defined issues and problems, including, for example, the impact of various levels of traffic on roads and intersections. She also suggested the adoption of an official plan for Cherrywood Lane.

It was agreed that Council should consider holding an Executive Session to consider some of these matters and their legal ramifications for the City.

Ms. Spencer gave a brief summary of the multitude of problems CCRIC has identified regarding the impact of this plan on the environmental envelope. She asked that CCRIC be included in any eventual meeting with Westfield if possible.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen Gallagher
City Clerk

City of Greenbelt, Maryland
City Offices, 25 Crescent Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770
Phone: 301-474-8000 FAX: 301-441-8248