[RP TownTalk] Cafritz Property Discussion

[Jonathan W. Ebbeler]

Adrianne/Bruce -

 

The description that was written earlier of the bridge alignment was
inaccurate.  

 

The bridge does not have an east-west elevation on the east (Field of
Dreams/ERCO) side of the RR tracks.  The alignment that was approved through
the Detailed Site Plan process by the town and the PG County Planning Board
has it connecting west into the traffic circle on the Cafritz property with
the radius turn starting thereafter running up the rising grade to a point
23' above the RR tracks.  It will run parallel to the RR tracks as Bruce
described for a few hundred feet but the roadbed is again at grade in the
vicinity of the current grass field (north of the tree line, north of the
FOD).  There will be an east/west at-grade road connecting the connections
of Lafayette North/South and the road to Cafritz via bridge.  The only
discussion point left is how to connect the three roads (a 'Y' intersection,
a 'T' intersection, or a traffic circle).

 

The bridge does not swing east/west to Rivertech Court and the visages from
Lafayette will that of a rising roadbed with the bridge radius turned west
towards Cafritz.  The UMD has the legal right as opined by the Maryland
Historic Trust as of the last 12 months to raze the ERCO building and
redevelop the site.  The town currently has no legal ROW to Rivertech Court;
we have been allowed to drive on UMD's private property.  Once their site is
developed there is no guarantee that a road connection would remain.  The
town would of course push for it and demand it but ultimately we have little
sway in land use matters and a ROW is not guaranteed.  As we discovered
through the Cafritz planning process, Park and Planning staff and decisions
makers have been completely unaware that RP wanted to preserve this
connection and no plans had been made or presumed to-date that would ensure
this; in fact earlier renderings of the ERCO re-development had Lafayette
dead-ending with no future access.  This was the one opportunity to
negotiate and ensure vehicular access to M-Square and the College Park Metro
via Lafayette.  

 

The bridge, in general, is a regional transportation solution that helps
mitigate the damage done to the town 50+ years ago with the bifurcation due
to E-W Highway.  It solves public safety access issues, it provides travel
to all points north and south regardless of what side of the RR tracks you
are on and if a train is blocking the tracks, and if the experts are
correct, will mitigate the existing cut-through traffic on Lafayette.
Decisions like these are not made in bubbles and have many moving pieces
that all have to be weighed against each other before a path forward is
decided upon.

 

Put simply, there will not be any folks who live next to the bridge other
than in future multi-family buildings near the traffic circle on the Cafritz
property.  Those buildings are already required to be built to significant
sound attenuation standards due to the RR, traffic impacts to those
residences will be de minimis.  I hope this clears up the confusion from the
earlier post.

 

Best,

Jonathan

 

 

Jonathan W. Ebbeler | Councilman Ward 1

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://riverdale-park.org/pipermail/towntalk/attachments/20130619/11d0153a/attachment.html>