A new election year has begun, but partisan politics don't appear to be a factor in the first major local public issue at hand - the Feb. 1 County Council vote looming on the contested plans for remaking downtown Columbia.
The council members expect to vote before election campaigns get rolling, but some citizens and candidates advocate delay to consider the intricate mix of concerns that amendments to the downtown bills contain. If that happens, it could push the issue into the election season or even beyond it. Meanwhile, the debate over density vs. congestion continues.
A Dec. 23 memo from county planning director Marsha McLaughlin in answer to council members' queries shows that the new zones created near MARC train stations and along U.S. 1 six years ago would allow more than 12,000 new homes and apartments in that corridor east of Interstate 95 if site conditions allow - more than double the number requested for Columbia in General Growth properties' 30-year plan.
In another memo on current density in the town center, McLaughlin pointed out that Columbia is generally much less dense than other regional centers of similar land size, such as Silver Spring, Bethesda, or Crystal City and Rosslyn in Virginia.
Councilwoman Jen Terrasa, a Democrat whose southeastern county district includes the southern leg of U.S. 1, said McLaughlin's information is informative. "We're not increasing this [Columbia] any more than [along] Route 1," she said, and the Columbia plan includes lots of community amenities not included in the higher-density zoning along U.S. 1.
Council chairwoman Courtney Watson, a fellow Democrat who represents Elkridge and Ellicott City, said she didn't find the comparison relevant to the Columbia debate.
Of course, Silver Spring and Bethesda are the kind of highly urbanized places some critics of the GGP plans don't want to see in Howard County, and they argue that more time is needed to review the issue, though Alan Klein, spokesman for the Coalition for Columbia's Downtown, said higher density might be right for U.S. 1.
"It makes sense. Those areas are closer to transit," Klein said. The issues in the zoning amendments the council is considering are too complex, he argues, to vote on now. Besides, his group wants the county to draw up legislation instead of voting on a GGP proposal.
Joel Broida, the plaintiff in the legal attempt to block construction of the 23-story Plaza Residence tower, said the current bills contain "lots of lofty ideas," but leave too much uncertain.
Jud Malone, founder of Columbia Tomorrow and an advocate for the GGP plan, sees the calls for delay as just that - stalling.
"It makes absolutely no sense to put this in the midst of an election," he said. If a vote isn't taken now, a completely new legislative package would have to be written and reviewed again by the planning board before the council would see it. That would take months, pushing the issue into election-year pressures. If that happens, he said, he fears the next hue and cry would be for a postponement until the election is over.
"The word 'delay' is just code for 'no,' " said David Yungmann, a founder of the New City Alliance, a group supporting the GGP plan.
"The Time is now," said Michael Davis, an attorney and another member of the group.
Democrats and Republicans meanwhile seem as split as any other observers over whether the GGP zoning should go for a vote on schedule, though council members seem intent on voting, barring some unexpected development.
Anthony Jordan, 29, a first-time Republican candidate, is the only council candidate filed so far, and although he and his wife and two daughters live along U.S. 1, not in Columbia, he feels the issue should be delayed.
"More studies need to be done," particularly on traffic congestion, Jordan said. "There needs to be adequate research to determine how bad traffic would be." He feels the zoning issue could still be wrapped up within 2010, presumably before he would take office in December, if he's able to beat the odds and defeat incumbent Democrat Calvin Ball in District 2.
Ball argues that traffic and other studies are required at various stages as the project gets under way. "There comes a point at which things needs to move forward," said Ball, who lives in Oakland Mills. Ball said some people worry that GGP's project may be too dense and bring congestion; while others worry it is not dense enough to support mass transit or the people needed for a viable downtown. "It goes back to what our vision is for our community," he said.
Jordan's position is similar to that of some of West Columbia's liberal Democrats, such as Del. Elizabeth Bobo. She recently circulated an e-mail she solicited from State Highway Administrator Neil Pedersen stating that his department has not undertaken any review of whether a third Columbia interchange with Route 29 is feasible, though some new way of exiting the town center is thought to be needed for the maximum 5,500 new residences to be built as part of the 30-year plan.
"The County Council needs to make sure the legislation is enforceable," Bobo said, adding that so far, she's not satisfied.
But John Bailey, a GOP candidate for House of Delegates who hopes to displace Bobo, is calling for approval of a downtown plan without further delay.
"Standing in the way of positive progress is wrong," he said in a November news release.
Councilman Greg Fox, the only Republican on the five-member body, said he hasn't discussed the Columbia issue with other Republican candidates.
"Like many issues, it's not one that's, in total, a party-line issue," Fox said. Democrats' opinions vary as much as Republicans' do.
"I'm hopeful we can get through it this month, but time will tell," Fox said.