Virtual Walk-A-Bout #2 - Crossing Route 108

For the second part of our Virtual Walk-A-Bout pretend you are at the village center.  Perhaps you are pushing a stroller, riding a bike, or utilizing a wheel-chair.  You would love to go to the other side of Route 108 to shop, eat, or browse.  Let's see how that would work.

 You would start your voyage somewhere around here.  This is one of the main ways to leave the village center by car.  On the right of the photo is the Capital One bank.  The left of the picture is Great Star Drive.  The pedestrian access to here is relatively good, with crosswalks and traffic calming features to keep you moderately safe.

So, you walk down the sidewalk to the intersection of Great Star Drive and Route 108.  In this photo, you are looking left, or South, down route 108 now.  Notice there is a crosswalk to get across Great Star Drive.  What you can't tell from the picture is the sidewalk ends right there at the other side of Great Star.  You can't continue further down 108, and you can't backtrack along Great Star Drive, unless you want to walk on the grass, of course.  This would prove difficult for someone in a wheelchair, on a bike, or with children.

 Now, you turned right, and are looking across Route 108, at Great Star Drive.  On the left side of the photo you can see Kendell's Hardware store.  On the right side of the photo you can see the former Gateway School site.  Time to cross 108.  Fortunately, there is a crosswalk.  This is one of only two crosswalks across Route 108 anywhere near Clarksville.  The other crosswalk across Route 108 is at Signal Bell Lane, one intersection south of Great Star Drive.  There is no crosswalk across 108 at Linden Linthicum Lane or south of 32.  If you want to cross in one of these areas your only option is to either make a long detour to one of the two crosswalks, or take your life into your hands and j-walk (which is STRONGLY discouraged).

Even though there is a crosswalk here at Great Star and Route 108, it is still difficult to make it across.  Route 108 is extremely busy.  The "walk" light stays lit for only a few seconds.  An able bodied individual has to run across to 108 to make it in time.  An individual with difficulty walking probably would not be able to make it across in time.

 Phew!  You made it across Route 108.  Now you are looking at the former Gateway School site.  As of the writing of this blog post, Howard County is still negotiating with Green Stone Ventures on the site.  It is likely though, that there will be significant development in this area very soon.  The development will likely spur an increase in traffic at the intersection of Route 108 and Great Star Drive, making it that much harder for pedestrians to access this side of Route 108.  As soon as details are made public over the exact intentions of the developer in this area, we will update the blog, and let the world know.

 Again, we are looking at the Gateway School site.  In the distance you can see Kendall Hardware.  Will Kendall hardware or the shopping center site to the north be redeveloped or integrated as the Gateway School site is developed?  Can their development be integrated in a harmonious, pedestrian friendly manner, conducive to the economic and social success of the entire area?

We are looking at the grass just between the west side of Route 108 and the old sidewalk next to the Gateway School site (a sidewalk, by the way, that is about 30 feet long and connects to no other sidewalks).  Notice this big white grave-stone looking marker.  It is one of only four remaining mile markers in Howard County.  For more information about this historical object read this article from "Preservation Howard County."

 Next, we will continue our tour south along Route 108.   Here we are looking at Kendall Hardware.  Notice that, if we want to walk south along Route 108, say to go to Pizza Hut, pick up our car from the mechanic, or walk to the Park-And-Ride at Ten Oaks, there is no way to go without walking along the grass.  There is no sidewalk (on either side of 108) and no pedestrian amenities.

Stay tuned for the next post of our Virtual Walk-A-Bout, in which we will highlight various features further south on 108, and venture south of Route 32.

Virtual Walk-A-Bout #1 - The Village Center Proper

The next few posts will highlight various areas of our community.  These are areas that we do not necessarily want to change, but are areas of interest.  If you have any thoughts in regards to these areas, or the comments made about them, please comment away!

Remember, while reading this virtual walk-a-bout, to think about 4 topics:
1. Economic Viability
2. Connectivity and Circulation
3. Visibility and Signage
4. Design and Land Use Issues

Here you see one of the main access points into the Village Center off of Great Star Drive.  Notice the painted crosswalk and the crosswalk warning bumps.  The River Hill Traffic and Safety Committee recently won "Volunteers of the Year" in River Hill, due to their hard work making River Hill safer.  The Committee, along with the Village Board, the staff of River Hill, and the Howard County Department of Public Works have worked hard to put in numerous improvements to our community, including the area directly around the Village Center.  Pedestrians in the area now have the advantage of walking across Great Star Drive on newly painted crosswalks, kept safe by a variety of new safety features.

You are looking at the road directly "behind" the Village Center, Daylong Lane, looking north.  Claret Hall is on the left of the photo.  At the top left of the photo is the Columbia Gym.  Daylong Lane is often utilized as a through street, or as a "short-cut" from Great Star Drive to Linden Linthicum Lane.  Kimco, the owner of this part of the Village Center, put in traffic calming features, such as stop signs, and speed bumps/humps.  The speed bumps, until recently, were quite high, and many complained about damage to cars.  Recently, after discussing the issue with the Village Board, Kimco agreed to flatten out the speed bumps, and convert them into speed humps.

You are looking behind the Columbia Gym, at the north end of the Village Center.  Directly in the middle of the photo is a storm water management pond.  When this photo was taken, in early November, the area looks quite aesthetically pleasing.  In summer, though, the pond often becomes overrun with green algae.

We are fortunate to have a Columbia Association amenity in River Hill, the Columbia Gym.  This gym is heavily used, and the north parking lot of the Village Center is often quite full.

This photo highlights the courtyard in the middle of the Village Center.  It is a lightly used gathering place.  Currently, the Village Center has no retail vacancies.  A few questions to think about: Do you feel safe in the Village Center at night?  Is there any changes that would make you shop in the Village Center more or less?  Are you happy with the Village Center the way it currently is?  Is there anything you'd like to see changed about the Village Center?

You are looking at a patch of undeveloped land between Giant supermarket and Ruby Tuesday's restaurant.  Most of the land the comprises the Village Center is owned by Kimco.  This undeveloped tract of land, and Giant itself, are owned by Giant.  Would you like to see changes to this patch of land to make it more pedestrian friendly?  If it ever was developed, what would you like to see there?


Thanks for reading the first Virtual Walk-A-Bout.  In the next installments, we will be looking further north and south along Route 108, and across Route 108, around the former Gateway School Site.

Master Plan Background

On Saturday, 11/13/10, the River Hill Master Plan Committee held a "Walk-A-Bout" of the community.  In order to conduct the tour, an outline of the topics to be covered  was created.  Here is selections from the text of that outline:

a.  What is the River Hill Master Plan Committee?  The Committee was organized by the Village Board several months ago and is comprised of River Hill residents interested in being proponents for positive future development of the River Hill area.
    b.  Why are we doing this? We want to have a say in future development.  If we don’t speak up, nobody will.  We want to be a voice for the interests of the Greater River Hill Community.  We believe it is always better to be proactive rather than reactive.  The committee gives us a way to be proactive about development.
    c. Let me give you some history of this process.-

i.    When I first joined village board about 1.5 years ago, the big issue in front of the board was the rezoning of the River Hill Garden Center.   The wanted to rezone their property to allow a restaurant to be built.  Flash forward to a few months ago.  It was announced, that about 1/2 mile south on 108, a proposal was put forth to build a funeral home.  Recently, negotiations over the Gateway School site have been ongoing between Howard County and Greenstone Ventures, LLC. Clearly, development is happening in our area, and will continue to happen whether or not we are involved

ii. Meanwhile About 1 year ago CB 29 2009 passed the Howard County Council.  This bill provided a method for Village Boards to define the borders of their Village Centers and create a master plan for the development of their Village Centers.   The passage of the bill was the perfect incentive for us to get started on our master plan.

iii.  River Hill is taking a different focus than many of the Villages.  In regards to our Village Center, River Hill has the opposite problem from many villages.  Where many village centers are growing old and underutilized, our Village Center is thriving.  Where many other village centers are not growing, the area all around us is bustling, with the promise of future development.

iv.  We want to create a master plan for this area in order to help development occur in a manner which is mutually positive for the Residents of River Hill, The Business Owners along 108, and all other interested parties.

    These are the four issues we will focus on as the master plan is developed.  The four issues are:
1. Economic Viability- we want this area to remain successful and viable, especially in the face of competing businesses and growth
2. Connectivity and Circulation - safety and traffic issues
3. Visibility and Signage - environmental and architectural features
4. Design and Land Use Issues -   What do you want in the area?  Does it meet your day to day needs?  What are we lacking, and what do we have too much of. For example, in River Hill, do we have enough banks?

Sorry for the poor quality, but this is an image of the proposed boundaries within the master plan.  These are just preliminary boundaries, and are subject to change.  The inner red line is what we are defining as the boundary of our Village Center.   Additionally, the master plan committee defined a “high impact area” that we would like to focus our plan on.  This area is about a 2 mile diameter circle, with the center of the circle in claret hall.  The "high impact area" is marked by the circular red line. The high impact area ends just past the intersection of Sheppard Lane and 108 to the north and just past the proposed funeral home and 108 to the south.

Next post: we will start a "Virtual Walking Tour."  Members of the committee have taken photos of many of the areas with-in the "high impact area."  We will provide details about these areas in the photos, and what we see as the problems. 

We will attempt to update this blog regularly to keep the community updated on the progress of the Master Plan.  Please remember, we want your feedback.  We want your ideas.  And we absolutely want your criticism.  We are not making this plan for us, rather the plan is for the community.  We want to know what the community wants.  So please, post any comments, thoughts, or questions!  We look forward to hearing from you.

Master Plan Committee Charter

Charter

River Hill Community Association

Master Plan Committee

    The River Hill Community Association (“RHCA”) Board of Directors, being fully authorized and empowered under Article 3 of the RHCA Articles of Incorporation and Article 3 of the RHCA Bylaws, and in order to enhance the well being of the River Hill Community by addressing issues relating future development, hereby approves and adopts this Charter to establish the River Hill Community Association Mater Plan Committee (“MPC”), to wit:

Article 1:  Organization

    The MPC shall be a special committee of the RHCA Board of Directors comprised of interested residents and one or more members of the RHCA Board of Directors and shall be generally organized as follows:

    a.    Name – The River Hill Community Association Master Plan Committee may be referred to as the “RHCA Master Plan Committee” and/or the “MPC”.

    b.    Members - The members of the MPC shall include no more than ten (10) interested residents of the communities making up the River Hill Community Association, members of communities near to properties within the territorial boundaries of the Village of River Hill, residents of properties near to the territorial boundaries of the Village of River Hill, owners and tenants of business properties within and near to the territorial boundaries of the Village of River Hill, and such other persons as the MPC deems appropriate and necessary.  Members will be appointed by the RHCA Board of Directors.

    c.    Authority -

    1.    The MPC, under the auspices of the RHCA Board of Directors, shall have the authority to do all acts necessary, subject to the approval of the RHCA Board of Directors, to develop, implement and achieve the objectives and underlying intent of this Charter.

    2.    Final authority for the approval and adoption of the recommendations, plans and concepts created by the MPC shall be solely vested with the RHCA Board of Directors. 




`Article 2:  Objectives

    The objectives of this Charter and the establishment of the MPC shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

    1.    To define, develop and establish a River Hill Community Advisory Master Plan (herein “Master Plan”) that will serve the best interests of the residents of the Greater River Hill Community Area with respect to future development within and adjacent to the territorial boundaries of the Village of River Hill.  The Master Plan, after approval by the Board of Directors, will be submitted to the Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning (DPZ) in order to be made available to the public pursuant to the Maryland Public Information Act.  Similarly any changes to the Master Plan must be approved by the Board of Directors prior to submittal to Howard County DPZ.

    2.    To define and establish the territorial boundaries of the Greater River Hill Community Area. situated within  Columbia, Maryland, Clarksville, Maryland, Fulton Maryland and Highland Maryland,  for which future development, in or adjacent to said boundaries, may impact and/or influence the objectives of the Master Plan.

    3.    To collaborate with local government entities regarding future development within and adjacent to the Greater River Hill Community Area territorial boundaries which may influence, impact and/or affect the Master Plan.

    4.    To collaborate with local businesses and merchants in connection with future development that may influence, impact and/or affect the Master Plan.

    5.    To collaborate with local residents in connection with future development that may influence, impact and/or affect the Master Plan.

    6.    To collaborate with other adjacent local communities in connection with development that may influence, impact and/or affect the Master Plan.


Article 4:  Legislative History and Background

    Over the course of the past several years there have been several legislative initiatives related to planning and zoning that have both direct and indirect impact on the global communities known as Columbia, Maryland, Clarksville, Maryland and Fulton, Maryland.   The result of these initiatives has included, in part, the enactment of Howard County Council Bills 29-2009 and 59-2009 (ZRA-102) and CB59-2009 (downtown redevelopment).  In addition, there have been many new development proposals and projects in the River Hill, Clarksville and Fulton areas which will have an impact on the residents, business owners and property owners in these areas which may affect their personal interest, property interest, health, safety and well being, and their general quality of life including, but not limited to, day-to-day activities.  For this reason, the RHCA Board of Directs recognizes the need to be actively involved in the planning process for future development in, around and adjacent to the Village of River Hill.

    Pursuant to CB No. 29-209 (ZRA-102), the Howard County Council amended the Howard County zoning regulations to empower and/or allow the owner of any portion of a village center in the New Town zoning district to petition to amend certain approved development plans for the owner’s property; establishing public notice, information, and justification requirements for such petition; establishing standards to be used by the Zoning Board in evaluating and considering such petition; and generally relating to the New Town zoning district.  This Council Bill, as amended and enacted, is incorporated by reference herein for guidance in connection with the planning process and future development of the River Hill Community area and the creation of the Master Plan.


Article 5:  Responsibilities

    Among other things, the MPC will promote collaboration, coordination, interaction and/or communication in pursuit of the establishment and development of the Master Plan, including, but not limited to, other documents and mechanisms that position the community to take an active role in shaping the future composition of property, related improvements and uses in the Greater River Hill Community Area.  The MPC will have the authority and responsibility to produce position papers, correspondence, presentations, comments on documents produced by others, interviews, petitions, testimony and such other matters deemed beneficial to the MPC and the RHCA Board of Directors.  Specific responsibilities include but are not limited to, the following:

    1.    Providing an open forum for the discussion of topics and issues related to future development in the Greater River Hill Community Area.

    2.    Coordinating input from key stakeholders, including residents, property owners, merchants, tenants and local/state government officials.

    3.    Seeking input from representatives of other local communities and/or Columbia Villages that have developed or are in the process of developing master plans.

    4.    Leveraging additional resources and expertise made available by the County, State, the Columbia Association and/or other to be determined sources.

    5.    The development of a vision, goals and objectives for the Master Plan.

    6.    The creation of a framework, process and timeline to realize the successful creation of the Master Plan.

    7.    To collaborate with other committees and working groups that are pursuing common goals of the MPC, including but not limited to the RHCA Traffic/Safety Committee and the RHCA Architectural Committee.

    8.    To be a part of and influence any zoning review processes and zoning amendments to be consistent with the goals of the Master Plan and the objectives of this Charter.

    9.    To define the local territorial properties that should be included in considerations which are a part of the establishment, development and perpetuation of the master plan. 

    10.    To establish and promote concepts that will enhance and/or achieve environmental objectives relating to the master plan.

    11.    To establish and promote concepts that will enhance and/or achieve sustainable energy resources relating to the master plan.

12.    To define historical aspects of the Greater River Hill Community Area that should be considered in the Master Plan.

13.    The MPC will provide quarterly updates to the RHCA Board of Directors.


Article 6:  Amendment and Perpetuation

    The RHCA Board of Directors reserves unto itself the authority to amend this Charter and the role, responsibilities and authority of the MPC.  Further, the RHCA Board of Directors reserves unto itself the authority to perpetuate this Charter and the master plan sought to be established pursuant to this Charter including all aspects of the master plan.

    This Charter has been approved by the RHCA Board of Directors.

APPROVED:  11/1/10

Welcome to the blog

This blog was created by the River Hill Community Association Master Plan Committee.  The hope of the Committee is that is blog will provide a forum for keeping the Greater River Hill Community informed of our plans and intentions.  Additionally, and perhaps even more valuable, this blog is a place where community members can post their thoughts, concerns, and ideas in regard to a Greater River Hill Master Plan.

The River Hill Community Association Master Plan Committee reserves all rights to delete any and all inappropriate or inflammatory comments.  Further, the River Hill Community Association Master Plan Committee is not responsible for the content of any comments made on this blog.  We request that all comments are kept civil and respectable.

We look forward to hearing from the community, and hope we can integrate your ideas and visions into our community's Master Plan.

Thank you for reading!