[RP TownTalk] Cut-throughs/development

Wed Jul 11 15:50:37 UTC 2012

The majority of University Park Residents send their children to the University Park Elementary School.- I lived there , had a kid grow up there- from Kindergarten  to 6th grade, for the experiance of public school and to save enough money for 7th -12 grade.
After the 6th grade most parents are faced with a the problem -

Every one's kid  takes the test to get into a special program at Roosevelt. If that fails, then  they send the kid to  privet school or school in another county, or state with relatives. some manage to get their kids into special schools for gifted or challenged paid for by the state.
That's just the way it is.

________________________________
 From: Jonathan W. Ebbeler <jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com>
To: Melissa Avery <m.avery at rocketmail.com> 
Cc: "towntalk at riverdale-park.org" <towntalk at riverdale-park.org> 
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2012 5:15 PM
Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk]  Cut-throughs/development

It is not just middle school. Also grades 1-4. 
http://www.upmd.org/docs/11-542-1300117298.xls

On Jul 10, 2012, at 5:00 PM, Melissa Avery <m.avery at rocketmail.com> wrote:

As a past resident of University Park I have to say that a great number of people do send there kids to privet school - following elementary school. that is because the area public middle schools and defiantly the high schools in Prince Georges County offer a sub par education.
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>________________________________
> From: Melissa Avery <m.avery at rocketmail.com>
>To: "jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com" <jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com> 
>Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2012 4:55 PM
>Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk]  Cut-throughs/development
> 
>
>Where are you getting your information?
>What exactly is the education level of these house holds?
>How many occupants are in these houses?
>And by the way for the Washington area $75k is not upper middle class.
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>________________________________
> From: Jonathan W. Ebbeler <jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com>
>To: 'Melissa Avery' <m.avery at rocketmail.com> 
>Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2012 4:46 PM
>Subject: RE: [RP TownTalk]  Cut-throughs/development
> 
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>Sure ‘existing roads.’  But that is a straw man argument.  The project does not get a construction permit without the bridge.  So the real measure is about a mile using the bridge, not 2.5 miles if you drive and more like .5-.6 from the residential sections of the development to the RP and CP Marc stations respectively if you walk.  
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>As far as the grocery store a vast majority of traffic will be pass-by traffic by cars already using the road for commuting to and from work.  There is no direct access to ACP contemplated so I am not sure how that conclusion was reached.
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>The 2010 census numbers contradict your conclusion.  RP has a lower poverty percentage and greater per capita income than college park.  The people moving into RP are very solidly upper middle class with family incomes typically above 75k.  I agree that we better school options but that is only part of the issue.  Over 60% of families in UP send their kids to private schools regardless of how good their elementary school is supposed to be
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>From:Melissa Avery [mailto:m.avery at rocketmail.com] 
>Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2012 4:38 PM
>To: jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com
>Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] Cut-throughs/development
> 
>The metro may be .8 miles from the metro, but if you plan to drive, or take a bus using the existing roads, it is 2.5 miles to the metro. I doubt many people will be taking public transportation to and from the grocery store or cutting through the American Center for Physics parking lot on their bike to get to the metro.
>The school situation is a very old story. Riverdale Park will never attract a strong middle class with out a decent school. That means a school with a track record, I don't think many people will be willing to take a chance on something with out a proven track record when it comes to raising their children and making a huge financial investment.
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>________________________________
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>From:Jonathan W. Ebbeler <jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com>
>To: 'Melissa Avery' <m.avery at rocketmail.com> 
>Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2012 4:18 PM
>Subject: RE: [RP TownTalk] Cut-throughs/development
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>And yesterday it was also stated that this plan clearly violates the master plan which in the analysis I wrote up clearly indicates that it does not.  All throughout the hearing Councilmembers stated that the property was a 2.5 mile drive to the CP metro – which it is not unless you wind around town in circles.  Yesterday it was also stated that the center of the property is .8 miles from the CP metro which ‘is not transit-oriented development.’  Yet in other statements the CMs call the East Campus development ‘transit oriented development’ although the center of that property is the same distance to the metro.  Grandstanding and public posturing does not a fact make
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>No I am not saying anything – I am guessing.  I am not the developer and I do not control what they will or wont build.  I am basing my guess off sitting in presentations, meetings and the negotiating table for hundreds of hours.  I suspect they will build the first 120k sq feet of retail.  I also suspect that they will build the townhomes in phase I.  I think it is highly probable that one of the 3 residential buildings is built within the first 5 years.  All that being said what is ultimately built, including the rest of the retail/commercial and the full residential is 100% determined by the success or failure of the project.  If people demand places to live there and it’s a smashing financial success they will build every square foot and every residential unit they can.  But no one, including the developer can guarantee the outcome good or bad.
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>University Park is not the only school that potentially serves the district.  More to this point we have been attempting to attract interest from charter schools.  If you haven’t noticed by now there are arguments over everything regardless of the sentiment.  The redistricting happens by state level delegates it has little to do with what specific communities get up in arms about.
> 
>From:Melissa Avery [mailto:m.avery at rocketmail.com] 
>Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2012 4:05 PM
>To: jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com
>Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] Cut-throughs/development
> 
>Yesterday at the hearing it was said that there is no agreement letter from the University of Maryland for a bridge.
>What you are saying is that a new shopping center will be built followed by housing over 30 years.
>To us who have lived in the area over 30 years, that does not seem like such a long time and a surprising number of us will still be living here in 30 years.
>University Park has vehemently stated that they do not want children living in this project going to their school. 
>I  doubt that sentiment will change much over the next 30 years. That would mean by the time your grand kids school age there would still be an argument going on over what school district they would be attending if they lived in the cafrits projects.
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>________________________________
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>From:Jonathan W. Ebbeler <jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com>
>To: towntalk at riverdale-park.org 
>Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2012 3:43 PM
>Subject: [RP TownTalk] Cut-throughs/development
> 
> 
>-There is no guarantee that the project will get 995 units.  An adequate public facilities study has not been performed.  I suspect that the APF will allow for it based upon additional infrastructure improvements and offsets etc. but until it is performed we will not know the true limit.  The agreement is for a maximum of 995 so that is the legally guaranteed ceiling of development but it could be well south of that number as well.
> 
>-The project is phased and there was little indication or appetite for full build-out by the developer.  Do I think that eventually they will build it out, sure – but that could happen in 30 years, or never.  The only thing they have committed to is the first phase of retail including the Whole Foods and potentially (but no solid commitment to) 120 townhomes.  This is very similar to UTC in that if you look at full build-out vs. what is there today it is very different.  In the future that site also will look vastly different when the additional residential and commercial/retail components are built.  One of the core failings that project suffered was its phasing and creating an interiorly-isolated Phase I.  In this discussion much of the negotiation was centered around what they committed to for Phase I.  It is the only thing that there is a solid agreement to build.  The trigger for the bridge is driven by the Phase I retail trigger.  The
 developer wanted the bridge and other triggers driven by the residential build-out which indicates the ‘shoulda/woulda/coulda’ bait and switch that is normally employed.  We stuck to our guns on this and tied the trigger to the retail.
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>-2/3 of the traffic as reported by EVERY traffic study performed on the site is driven by the retail NOT the residential (even at full build-out)
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>-2040 Projected traffic numbers WITHOUT any development are within 10% of 2040 traffic numbers with full build-out
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>-Prince George’s County is currently redistricting schools.  While the plans are not finalized Riverdale Elementary will likely not be this area’s school district nor any part of town west of the RR tracks.  
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>-Letters of support and agreement for the bridge from both UMD and CSX were proffered during the District Council Evidentiary Hearing
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>-Additional covenants on the land have been placed by Whole Foods solidifying the signed lease between WF and the Cafritz owners.  
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>-Financing is TBD as the Adequate Public Facilities Study could increase the offsets they are required to contribute to mitigate traffic or impacts to communities .  The current direction we are exploring is to finance it through a TIF which is a geographically delineated area limited to residential and retail tax receipts on the Cafritz property.  It works fundamentally like this:  the future tax receipts of the improved property will be $X dollars, to finance our share of a current project – i.e. the bridge we give up a percentage of that and only collect 8/10 of X.  So if the future benefit to the town is say 2 million a year in tax receipts we would give up a percentage of it – say 10% of that and only collect 1.8mil.  The numbers are for demonstrative purposes only – there are legal limits on the percentage of the TIF.
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>-The property will have multiple points of access on all 4 sides servicing multi-modal transportation options including the trolley trail (running from EYA up to College Park).  Some of these are pedestrian/bike access only, some like Route 1 are more auto-centric (cars and buses), some like the CSX crossing will be both pedestrian and auto-centric.  Additionally a privately-funded shuttle will be running with a 15-minute headway connecting the site to the CP and PG metro stations as well as the RP Marc/Town Center stop.
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