The Columbia Association Board of Directors Thursday, July 14, approved spending up to $10,000 for a design team headed by long-time Columbia planner Cy Paumier to provide a conceptual plan and sketches for downtown Columbia redevelopment, although some members questioned the move.

Supporters said the plan is necessary to allow the board to stay ahead of the game and ensure CA is involved in the redevelopment process.

But others argued CA should focus on the major areas of downtown it owns — Symphony Woods and the Lakefront — and also should make such opportunities available through a competitive bidding process.

"While I think it is fantastic what is being offered here, I do wonder if we are missing an opportunity to get additional proposals for this," said board member Tom Coale, who represents Dorsey's Search.

Coale and Owen Brown representative Andrew Stack were the only two board members to vote against the funding.

The board approved up to $10,000 in expenses — the threshold at which board policy requires a contract to be open through a competitive bidding process — for the design team.

The team will develop a conceptual plan and sketches for the Lakefront and, if time allows, other public spaces in downtown Columbia. The board is requiring the team to provide a report by November.

"Since we can tap into people who have such a history, … I think it's well worth it with the limits that we've set up within this proposal," said board vice chairwoman Shari Zaret, who represents Kings Contrivance. "It's not open-ended. It is constrained monetarily and it has a deliverable."

Paumier worked as a planner for the Rouse Co. when it developed the original designs for Columbia. The CA staff will negotiate a contract with Paumier for the redevelopment designs under the terms the board approved.

Resident Joan Lancos, of Hickory Ridge, said she was concerned that the board was not seeking other proposals and that the designs are not being limited to CA-owned public spaces.

"CA should not be duplicating the work that other landowners have to do," she said. "To me, it's unnecessary."

Coale agreed: "I don't want to be designing other people's properties."

Stack said the designs should be focused solely on the Lakefront.

But Wilde Lake representative Phil Kirsch said the board needs to look at the whole picture.

"I don't think you can design the Lakefront without understanding how people are going to get to the Lakefront," he said.

Board member Suzanne Waller, who represents Town Center, said the plan is not something CA has to stick with forever.

"If we didn't have a plan, we'd get walked over," she said. "Part of this process is to get us a few steps ahead and to be aware and get others aware that we're a player in this process."

Audio recordings

At the same meeting, the board decided, in a nearly unanimous vote, to post audio recordings of its meetings on its website. The only board member who did not vote in favor of the proposal was Waller, who abstained.

"I just didn't feel 100 percent sure about it," she said after the vote. "Our meetings can be very casual. As you put it into something that can be public, we're going to have to be a little bit more conservative. And also, we're going to have to speak in a way that people can understand."

Waller said she didn't vote against the proposal because she has a "wait and see attitude. If it works, I think it's terrific."

The board also unanimously approved the president's goals for fiscal year 2012, which focus on six areas: Symphony Woods, lake dredging, CSS, resident participation, Hobbit's Glen Clubhouse and budget targets.

Some highlights of the goals include:

• completing the county approval process for Symphony Woods Park in time to have a groundbreaking by March 2012;

• hiring a firm to continue Lake Elkhorn dredging with a detailed project plan and milestones;

• developing a plan to increase visits to the five least used outdoor pools;

• presenting a detailed project plan and timeline for renovation or replacement of the Hobbit's Glen Clubhouse; and,

• reducing energy and fuel use by 3 percent without impacting services.