One Columbia leader said the Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning?s proposal to allow developers to barter for taller high-rises clashes with the original vision for Columbia.
“Practically everybody wants a height limitation,” said Columbia Association Board Member Barbara Russell, who said people are appalled by the 22-story Plaza Residences building planned near Lake Kittamaqundi in the Town Center.
She also referred to Columbia founder James Rouse, who said in his 1963 speech titled “It Can Happen Here” that serious problems in society stem from “the fact that the city is out of scale with people.”
The department submitted a revised proposal for the redevelopment of Town Center that limits new buildings to 14 stories, but allows for taller high-rises if developers provide community space, green architecture or more affordable housing. Green architecture could include using solar panels as an energy source, and the community space could be a fountain park.
Russell said the taller buildings would allow for increased development, which would make traffic unbearable.
But Howard County Director of Planning and Zoning Marsha McLaughlin said traffic would not be affected because the amount of development is limited.
“It?s like playing with Legos. There is a certain amount of development that can occur, and a certain amount of Legos. You can stack the Legos taller, and there would probably be more open space on the ground,” McLaughlin said.
“But you don?t get more legos.”
If tradeoffs are going to be considered, the limit should be at six stories, and no buildings should be taller than 12 to 14 stories, said Mary Pivar, a member of the Downtown Columbia focus group, in which residents meet with the planning and zoning department to discuss the redevelopment of Town Center.
And no buildings should be higher than three stories at the Lake Kittamaqundi waterfront, Pivar said.
“There is nothing negotiable about the lakefront,” she said.
In the new proposal, buildings up to six stories tall can be built next to Lake Kittamaqundi, with buildings up to 12 stories constructed nearby.
