University of Maryland
Details have emerged on the plan to make College Park a great College town has emerged. The University of Maryland’s new president Dr. Wallace Loh earlier unveiled the plan in last May
Titled “Making College Park a Top 20 College Town by 2020”, the UM district vision plan says its goal “is evident within a variety of vision and research documents that have been generated over the last few years”. These include:
• The Route 1 Sector Plan
• The University of Maryland Master Plan
• City of College Park Strategic Plan and Action Plan
• The EPA Smart Growth Implementation Plan
• ULI Study of College Park Metro site
• Transportation Study of the US Route 1 College Park Corridor
• City Housing Plan
• City Economic Development Plan
• UMD Housing Studies (UMD)
• East Campus Studies (UMD)
In the visions articulated within each document, the College Park City-University Partnership will facilitate a process by which the group intends to create one integrated vision for the College Park community. For the first time, the groups says the key stakeholders will come together to commit to a shared vision, key priorities, and an action plan for College Park.
The integrated vision work will be oriented around five core areas of community development: housing /development, education, safety, transportation, sustainability
The plan says four stakeholders who will both develop and implement the work will be the City, County, University, and 21st Delegation. The overall process will be staffed by the College Park City-University Partnership.
This study will focus on the “University District,” the areas in and around campus which are relevant to the specific topics under discussion. For transportation this may include multiple metro stations and the Route 1 corridor and beyond. For education this may include schools beyond the College Park municipal boundaries. Every conversation may be relevant to a different set of the surrounding jurisdictions. Each working group will be responsible for determining the relevant boundaries for their discussion as well as how to involve relevant stakeholders.
Working group meetings will be initiated by each chair. Status reports will be presented at monthly meetings of the steering committee + chairs. These will be held during the 2nd/3rd week of June and July.
By October, a presentation to stakeholders and public sharing of work/documentation will be completed.
By December this year, the group aims to obtain signatures from the University, City, County, and 21st Delegation.