Columbia is in a critical period of change as it plans to transform its suburban Town Center into a sophisticated urban center.
The town has a new general manager for General Growth Properties, Douglas Godine, who formerly served as vice president of the Rouse Company.
Godine visualizes a pedestrian-friendly urban environment for Town Center when it develops over the 30-year process.
“It will have the feeling of a true town center, which I don?t think it has now,” he said. “We want to try to create a town center that would be the downtown for the rest of Columbia and for Howard County.”
Godine said he hopes the revival of Town Center will appeal to the next generation in Howard County.
“We?ve got to show them that change can be good and beneficial. We?ve got to address the young people; they are the future of Columbia,” he said.
The planning process is now in the hands of the Downtown Columbia Focus Group, a group of citizens that meets with GGP and Department of Planning and Zoning staff to share goals and concerns.
Recently, the group met to discuss the cultural amenities it wants to include in the plans for downtown.
“It makes sure that the vision plan represents what the community is looking for, and that it represents what can be accomplished,” said Mina Hilsenrath, chief of the Department of Planning and Zoning?s Division of Environmental and Community Planning, and a staff liaison for the focus group.
The next meeting of the Downtown Columbia Focus Group will be held from 3 to 5:30 p.m. May 24 at the Wilde Lake Interfaith Center on Twin Rivers Road in Columbia.
