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Cafritz Development Update

Cafritz Development

The Prince George’s County Planning Board continued the public hearing scheduled for the Cafritz property rezoning to January 12, 2012 at 12:30 pm. The City of College Park has not taken a position on this project and has been participating in a series of small group meetings with representatives of the applicant, Town of Riverdale Park and Town of University Park with the intent of reaching a consensus position on the project.

The Cafritz property working group has held five meetings since December 15, 2011 and has three remaining meetings (January 3, 4, and 5). Each meeting addresses a different topic with the goal of resolving outstanding issues.

Council member Stullich prepared a document that merged the three town’s positions and organized them by topic to facilitate the works group’s review and discussion. It excludes any language related to the CSX Crossing as additional information related to this issue is forthcoming and will be the last critical item to be discussed.

The applicant has revised the development plan to address many of the urban design issues raised by the towns. New sketch plans have been submitted that represent two acceptable alternatives The most recent draft of proposed consensus conditions recognizes these schemes and acknowledges that a certain amount of flexibility should be allowed during build out in order to accommodate specific conditions and the desire for a mix of uses to be built in each phase.

While all of the proposed consensus conditions are still under discussion, the major remaining issues are: 1) What type and level of LEED standard should be required; 2) Legal issues surrounding Detailed Site Plan review in the M-U-TC zone; and 3) Timing and payment for the CSX Crossing.