The Washington Gas is planning to replace its gas lines in the Sunnyside and St. Andrews Pl neighborhoods of College Park. The project is expected to start this month and end in September. According to the Washington contractor, despite the COVID-19 related situation, they will begin work this month as planned.
Category: Sunnyside
The burned – out house on Palco Place in the Sunnyside neighborhood is now being demolished. The house caught a fire in the morning of November 10, 2013, with a tragic loss of a neighbor in the house. The demolition work should be completed in a few days.
I also want to thank our City staff for their help in getting this done. Also thanks to County Council woman Mary Lehman and her staff for their help from the county side.
Good news, the burned – out house on Palco Place in the Sunnyside neighborhood is about to be demolished. The house caught a fire in the morning of November 10, 2013, with a tragic loss of a neighbor in the house.
Since this tragic incident, the house became an eyesore in this beautiful Sunnyside neighborhood. The City and the County have been engaged in using the necessary code enforcement tools in getting the house taken down. The contractor is currently in the process of cutting off the utility lines and is hoping to get the final inspection and permit very soon. Once they have the permit, the contractor estimates that it will take about 4 days to demolish the house.
I want to thank the nearby residents, our City and County officials for their patience and help in making this happen.
The picture below I took early this week. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Cafritz development Map
The Cafritz development attorney Chip Reed came over to the council to update the development plan their proposed development plan.
Though the 36 acre development is in the City of Riverdale Park, but because of its close proximity to College Park, its development has caused enormous interest among City residents and officials.
One of the issues that dominated Wednesday night’s meeting was the traffic issues. According to some preliminary traffic studies, the development may add an estimated 19,000 daily trips to the already congested Route 1 traffic.
There have been some suggestions to build a crossings across the CSX tracks to ease the traffic, however the developer is saying that it would cost some 10 million dollars to build it. Without public financing, this is not possible, according to the developer.
Like Riverale Park, College Park City staff wants to proceed with changing the current zoning from MUI to MUTC (Mixed Use Town Center). The zoning change would allow the development of businesses and town houses in the west part of the site.
Rendering of the proposed Sunnyside Skate Park
According to City’s planning department, if permits are issued as expected, construction of City’s first Skate Park should begin next month. Construction is anticipated to take 60 days.
The City’s planning department published the final design late last week to its website.
The skate spot will be built within the confines of Sunnyside Park on Rhode Island Avenue just north of Edgewood Road.
Back in March this year, the City Council approved the design of College Park’s first skate park.
On Mar 22, 2010, the City awarded Seattle-based Grindline Skateparks (http://www.grindline.com/) a contract to design and build a skateboard park in Sunnyside Neighborhood Park in north College Park
The City held two public hearings on the park, one in April and another in June last year.
In October last year, the park’s design went through a few major revisions, after receiving concerns from M-NCPPC and some residents on children’s safety in the proposed park.
According to the new design, the park’s bowl is much shallower (four feet) compared to the previous one, which was more more than seven feet deep. The new design is expected to attract more beginning skaters and would be more safe for the community and easier to maintain. There are also an addition of a stair element to the new design.
M-NCPPC continues to have concems about maintenance and has requested that the City provide assistance. The City Manager and Public Works Director indicated that supplemental maintenance could be provided as part of the City’s routine park maintenance program.
Speaking of the park, Kennis Termini, a long time resident of north College Park, and a member of the park design committee, said: “I look to the Sunnyside Skate Park as being a positive outreach to our youth community that is local, safe and widely supported.”
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- AT&T’s attorney Greg Rapisarda at NCPCA’s April 2011 meeting
A group of Sunnyside residents expressed concerns over AT&T’s plan to build a 120 ft cell tower in their neighborhood.
AT&T’s attorney Gregory Rapisarda was at NCPCA’s April 2011 meeting to introduce the plan to north College Park’s residents. According to the plan, AT&T will install the tower at the end of the Odessa Road. Please see the proposed site plan at the end of this post.
“AT&T has a need to provide and improve its wireless services in the College Park area.”– said Mr. Rapisarda to the residents as the primary reason to install the tower.
But that failed to convince some dozen or so Sunnyside residents present at the meeting. Signs of worries were quite visible on the faces of these residents.
“Couldn’t you find another place to put this huge tower? It’ll be quite an eyesore” – commented one resident.
Mr. Rapisarda said AT&T identified and evaluated several potential co-location opportunities, including (1) the US Department of Agriculture building, (2) the 300 State Police tower that is approximately 1/2 mile away, (3) a 155′ Verizon tower approximately 1/2 away, and (4) a rooftop at the Sterling Building.
“In each case, either the radio frequency engineers concluded that those locations would create significant overlap with existing coverage and would not allow AT&T to meet its coverage objectives or the landowner was unwilling or unable to lease space.” – said Mr. Rapisarda explaining why his company needs the tower to be placed in the proposed location.
“But our service is just fine” said a resident. “And I have Verizon” – said another resident.
“And what about the health effect of the tower?” – asked one concerned nearby resident.
“There is absolutely none” – answered back Mr. Rapisarda, noting his references from WHO and American Cancer Society.
“I think the jury is still out there..” – answered the resident, pointing to the ongoing debate on the issue.
Residents asked how much AT&T would be paying the City as a rent in exchange of using the proposed City owned property.
“Sorry, this is a confidential matter. I cannot disclose that figure” – said Mr. Rapisarda.
Hmm, not quite; some information about AT&T’s negotiation with the City already leaked out earlier in an online listserv discussion, where District 1 Council member Patrick Wojahn revealed initial AT&T offering as less than $2000/month. When this was mentioned in the meeting, one resident charged “They (city leaders) sold us out for $1,200?”, according to this Patch report.
Though members did not take any position on the proposed tower at the end of the discussion, I was very happy to see and meet so many residents from Sunnyside in the meeting.
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