[RP TownTalk] EYA in Hyattsville

[Chris Currie]

It is interesting to look at parallels between the EYA and Cafritz
projects, and there certainly are some.  The main one is that both projects
featured a developer who was promising to bring in amenities that were not
previously found in Prince George's County and appealed not only to current
residents' consumer desires but also to their sense of self-esteem.  That
was such a powerful dynamic that it overrode other concerns that residents
typically have about large, impactful new developments.

I think that in the case of EYA, one has to distinguish municipal elected
officials from county elected officials.  The former, for the most part,
were vigilant about protecting the community's interests with respect to
the project.  On the other hand, the County Councilman -- recently elected
after spending a record amount of money, raised almost entirely from big
developers -- told EYA officials at the very first public meeting -- long
before the M-NCPPC staff report, or the Planning Board recommendation, or
the District Council consideration of the project -- that he was grateful
to them for the proposal and would do everything possible to ensure that it
was approved.  From that point on, the City of Hyattsville had virtually
zero influence over the evolution of the proposal.  EYA knew that the
County decision-maker was in their pocket and, contrary to the way the
vetting process normally works, with each public meeting they actually
*retracted* elements of the proposal that were designed to please the local
community.  It was breath-taking to behold.

This dynamic didn't take hold in the Cafritz process, and I believe one of
the main reasons why was that not only Riverdale Park citizens and
officials were forthright in representing their town's interests, but that
your County Councilman was clearly not in the developer's pocket.
 Interestingly, Hyattsville's Councilman was the one who led the approval
fight for Cafritz.  That should be reflected at some point down the road in
future campaign finance reports.

Where Hyattsville had an influence in the Arts District Hyattsville project
was before it was even proposed.  The property owner, Bert Lustine,
initially approached Hyattsville with a plan to develop four gargantuan
apartment buildings on the site.  The Hyattsville Planning Committee
approved the plan, but the Mayor and some Councilmembers at the time
(myself included) were staunchly against it.  Mayor Gardiner worked behind
the scenes very aggressively and skillfully over the course of months to
reshape the development concept, which happened at least twice thereafter,
until Lustine agreed to the new-urbanist, mixed-use scheme that EYA was
recruited to build.  As a result of that effort, the Arts District
Hyattsville project was conceptually very sound, even if the details did
not shake out entirely to the City's satisfaction.

Incidentally, Mayor Gardiner was very aware of the parking shortfall, and
worked aggressively -- with the very little influence he had left after
Councilman Campos' unconditional approval of the development plan -- to at
least get EYA to agree to reserve a pad for an eventual parking garage.
That effort for a parking garage continues today ...

Chris Currie
Hyattsville



Message: 11
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2012 10:28:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: Nina Faye <ns_faye at yahoo.com>
To: Sue Collins <wheadle at yahoo.com>, "jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com"
        <jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com>, "towntalk at riverdale-park.org"
        <towntalk at riverdale-park.org>, Melissa Avery <m.avery at rocketmail.com
>
Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] Cafritz Vote
Message-ID:
        <1341941287.51580.YahooMailClassic at web162005.mail.bf1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Sue and Melissa, I agree with many of your points.? I do not know the
elected folks in Riverdale Park; we live in Hyattsville.? I certainly know
how many of our elected people acted and spoke during our extensive
development.? UTC is a poorly planned mess from my perspective and that of
many of my fellow residents.? With EYA, many of us repeatedly spoke before
our Council of the need for adequate parking in the early, middle, and late
planning stages.? Guess what?? Now everyone is scrambling to try to create
more parking.? We told them there wasn't enough planned and that it would
fail without adequate parking.? We were told that everyone would walk and
ride bikes.? I was proEYA because I had worked in downtown Silver Spring
when that EYA project was built.? Hyattsville did not get that aesthetic or
quality, partially,?I have been told, because our elected officials kept
meddling.? We begged for traffic studies and traffic remediation.? We
 were ignored until it was too late.? As to county politicians, haven't we
all been reading about developers, kickbacks, payoffs, and fraud in the
newspapers for years?? I am certainly not accusing or implying anything
about?anyone involved in this deal, but the climate in the county has led
to cynicism on the entire topic.? The increased traffic from UTC and PG
Plaza Metro development has been a nightmare for us.? There are business
vacancies at EYA, UTC, and College Park.? I would like a Whole Foods near
by, but what they are insisting on, as I understand it, is a huge parking
lot along Route 1--awful.? The rest is too much density, and it is NOT a
short walk to Metro.? Anyway, ladies I agree with you.? Early this morning
I e-mailed Campos what I thought of his vote.
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