County Releases Downtown Plan

County Exec Ken Ulman is seeking public comment on a draft report for coming up with a community vision for Columbia's downtown.

The document, the product of discussions going back at least to 2005 (and probably earlier), lays out some of the challenges and goals and includes an assessment of traffic. The "framework" really doesn't provide a roadmap to how we actually accomplish anything. That comes later after General Growth (which bought the Rouse Co.) comes up with its own master plan, and the county approves any necessary zoning changes, according to this article in the Sun.

When it comes to land use, planning is not done on Internet time.

Here's an excerpt from the county report, to get an idea of what you'll read:

"The public discourse on Downtown Columbia has shown a clear and strong consensus for a
livelier Downtown, but there are also broad concerns about infrastructure capacity, building
heights, housing affordability and other issues. A new plan for development in Columbia
must reflect the community’s priorities and adequately address its concerns."

Lots of big words there. Lots of disagreements embedded there.