[RP TownTalk] District Council to Vote on Cafritz, Monday, July 9, in Upper Marlboro
Don Lynch
dlynch at garretroomstudios.com
Fri Jul 6 13:13:42 UTC 2012
You left out one essential point.
The council should never have allowed such a devastating traffic
possibility to go forth.
I am not relieved to hear mitigating measures.
I don't see any heroes here.
Don
-------- Original Message --------
> From: "Jonathan W. Ebbeler" <jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com>
> Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2012 8:20 PM
> To: towntalk at riverdale-park.org
> Subject: [RP TownTalk] District Council to Vote on Cafritz, Monday, July
9, in Upper Marlboro
>
> The RP Town Council is the only authority who may make changes to town
roads
> (which Queensbury is one). The Council may turn roads one way, put
speed
> bumps, rumble strips, restrict access at certain times or altogether,
put
> more stop signs, stop lights, or any other measure that is deemed
> appropriate. The State Highway Administration has that same authority
over
> MD-1/Baltimore Avenue, MD-410/East-West Highway, and MD-201/Kenilworth.
I
> have not been privy to any conversations that indicated that Queensbury
is
> to be widened. That would be antithetical to the M-U-TC zoning's
purposes;
> wider roads encourage higher speeds and are by their inherent nature
> less-pedestrian friendly.
>
>
>
> To address some of the more technical questions that were raised:
>
> -the traffic counts are a highly debatable number (there were multiple
> studies done with different results). Even the worst case scenario
however
> did not put the trips anywhere near 2000 additional trips on Route 1
>
> -there are mandatory restrictions in place concerning new traffic
generated
> by the proposed development
>
> -a new private shuttle will be funded by the developer to run between the
CP
> Metro/Marc, PG Plaza Metro, and RP Marc station
>
> -all the traffic studies projected that many of the housing units will
be
> serving the offices at M2, UMD, and commuting into DC. Much more
traffic
> was generated based upon the retail (2/3) vs. the residential (1/3)
>
> -there are mandatory steps that have to happen prior to construction
permits
> including an Adequate Public Facilities study and a traffic study (for
town
> roads) that address infrastructure and public safety issues
>
> -Route 1 at Van Buren will have a stop light with pedestrian crosswalks,
the
> Town Council and Public Works is aware and currently working on
addressing
> pedestrian crossing from Town Center to the Town Center Market
>
>
>
> I walk to and ride the MARC train most mornings with 2 members of the
M-U-TC
> committee, three other members have the businesses at Town Center;
> membership was specifically contemplated to include people who
inherently
> understand the local design and pedestrian issues that the zoning
> contemplates. Every application that has been before the committee has
> focused its comments on two primary areas: 1) design and 2)pedestrian
> orientation. However, the M-U-TC committee itself can only advise on
> pedestrian safety issues when there is a development application - it is
up
> to the Town Council to vote as a whole as to how to take the opinion.
>
>
>
> The Council has moved over the last 12 months to begin to address these
> concerns. SHA has been brought before the Council multiple times to
listen
> to our concerns. I would like to point out that a direct consequences
to
> this was the Rt1/Queensbury intersections being painted with at 'Don't
Block
> the Box' signage. This by itself does not solve the problem but it is a
> single step towards abating the problem. I believe there should be red
> light cameras as well and selective traffic enforcement. For the
> Queensbury/Town Center intersections we are awaiting the results of a
> traffic study to better avail ourselves of solutions. Keep in mind that
the
> town does not have unlimited resources; we have a maximum of 3 officers
> patrolling every shift and pulling 1 or 2 officers to write traffic
tickets
> means other parts of the town and public safety are not being served.
>
> I appreciate the general civility that has been shown. I realize that
there
> are some that disagree with the development but it is always important
to
> realize that many of us are neighbors and friends and see each other on
a
> weekly basis at the farmer's market etc. Disagreement is expected, and
I
> believe incredibly healthy in any discussion. Any single issue as
> complicated as the rezoning of close to 40 acres is going to bring up
> enormous challenges, questions, concerns, fears etc. It is important
> however to move forward from any disagreement still as friends and
neighbors
> since although there may be disagreement on one issue there is likely to
be
> agreement on many others.
>
>
>
> Jonathan
>
>
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