With still no word about the future of the Laurel MARC train station, the Maryland Department of Transportation is in the midst of a regional analysis in Howard and Anne Arundel counties and Laurel city to study any impacts of the redevelopment at the Laurel Park racetrack.
Laurel Park Station developers proposed moving the MARC stop closer to the racetrack as a part of their redevelopment plan to include roughly 650,000 square feet of office space, 127,000 square feet of retail space and 1,000 multifamily residential units. After the plan reached several state and local representatives and Laurel residents, officials and citizens began protesting against closing Laurel's commuter train stop and moving it about 2,500 feet north into Howard County and adjacent to the racetrack.
According to MDOT Deputy Secretary Dennis Schrader, transit is just one of the many discussions mentioned in the redevelopment plan that has been evolving over the last five years.
"One thing that I think is a larger driver here is that as we've looked at this, we've come to understand that there's a major challenge around traffic in that regional area," Schrader said as the department coordinates with Howard, Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties alongside Laurel city. "Developing the scope of this problem will probably take us four to six months. It's probably going to be a lot of hard work over the next six months to figure out what the options are both on the traffic side and the transit side."
Over the next 60 to 90 days, Schrader said, the department's main objective is to "get everybody on the same page."
"It's bringing stakeholders up to speed on the current state of the situation, which is really why I don't want to speculate [on the stop's closure] because we're so early in the process," he said. "We want to make sure the stakeholders know and are involved right up front. It takes a lot of effort to get this many people and organizations coordinated in a project process."
Schrader said moving the Laurel train stop is a part of a larger issue, focusing on the volume of traffic in the city.
Schrader said it's important for the department to make sure the city is protected. When asked about residents' belief that keeping the stop would be protecting the city, he said, "They may have that prospective, but we've got to go through the analysis with them. The traffic is a larger concern right now. We haven't even gotten into the analysis of the transit alternatives."
Schrader said the first step is getting the city's elected and appointed officials onboard, then addressing Laurel residents.
Laurel City Council President Ed Ricks said negotiations are ongoing as the council meets daily with city staff and holds conference calls with state officials "to see that we get an equal share in anything that happen."
"I just want to make sure that these meetings that we're having are protecting the rights of the citizens of Laurel," Ricks said.
As the Laurel Historical Society continues to support the grassroots "Save our Stop" effort, member Karen Lubieniecki, of Old Town, said she hasn't heard any updates.
"The question I have is why are all [the discussions] behind closed doors," Lubieniecki said.
While "there will be some point where [citizen input] would be appropriate," the deputy secretary said the Department of Transportation is keeping all options open.
"We haven't gotten into that phase" of public input, Schrader said. "We just organized the traffic-working group. We still have to get organized around the station and the transit analysis. And, we're still figuring out with Howard County, what stage their development is as well as Anne Arundel County."