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</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">Friends and neighbors,</font></font></p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">I write today to provide some information about the Cafritz
project application that many of you have been following closely.<span style> </span></font></font></p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">First let me remind you that tomorrow evening the council
will meet at 8 PM to take a position on the project. By that I mean we will
send a letter stating our views to the MNCPPC planning board that is scheduled
to review the project on Thursday afternoon.<span style>
</span></font></font></p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">I wish I could write and tell you precisely what the outcome
will be, but I cannot. I would like to share the following information with you
to consider.</font></font></p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Yesterday, I contacted the attorney representing the Cafritz
project and told him that there were too many outstanding issues for me to
recommend to my council that it support the project with the well-publicized conditions
(you can review this as <span style="color:rgb(83,83,83)"><a href="http://www.riverdaleparkmd.info/Letter%20from%20Town%20Council%20to%20Planning%20Board%20(Draft%20_3)%2011-18-11.pdf"><font color="#535353">Letter
from Town Council to Planning Board (Draft #3)11-18-11</font></a> on the town website).<span style> </span></span>I told him that I want his client to
join us in asking for a continuance—that is a postponing of the review before
the planning board—on Monday.<span style> </span>This will
allow us to continue to work on settling the issues that are not adequately
settled, and hopefully reach a point that we can all agree on.<span style> </span>I told him if Cafritz will not join us in
requesting a continuance that I will recommend to the council that they reject
the proposed rezoning that will allow the project—simply put if they will not
go along with a continuance to settle outstanding issues, I will ask the
council to vote NO on the project.</font></font></p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">I would like to point out that both University Park and
College Park have already asked for such a continuance and I understand
Hyattsville will send such a request in tomorrow too.<span style> </span></font></font></p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">What drove me to take this stance is plain and simple traffic
management.<span style> </span>I have said repeatedly that
I would love to see a quality project go forward that DOES NOT RUN OVER
RIVERDALE PARK AND THE SURROUNDING COMMUNITY, but I am not comfortable that we
have adequate conditions to protect those of us who live here and love our town.<span style> </span></font></font></p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">The major stumbling block is the need for a crossing (presumably
a bridge) of the CSX tracks to the east that will allow for a new way in and
out of the project. All the towns concerned, as well as our state legislative
delegation, and the representatives I have spoken to from the County Executive’s
office, have all made clear that such a bridge is an absolute necessity for
this project to work—that is to make sure the project does not <span style> </span>“run over our community”. <span style> </span>Despite assurances from the Cafritz team that
a crossing will be forth coming, I am convinced that as things stand right now
we cannot be assured that a crossing will be forthcoming in anything like a
reasonable amount of time so as to defuse the new traffic burdens the project
will place on the town.<span style> </span></font></font></p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">I remain committed to working with the applicant and any
interested stakeholders to solving outstanding issues, but as of now the decision
lies with the Cafritz team to either provide more time and work out the
outstanding differences or we, Riverdale Park, need to vote NO on this project.</font></font></p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">Best wishes to all,</font></font></p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">Vern</font></font></p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Calibri"> </font><br>-- <br>Vernon Archer, Mayor<br>Town of Riverdale Park, Maryland<br>
</p>