The Plan For The Downtown Plan

Talks about what to do about downtown Columbia are about to heat up again.

We are reposting this from a Town Center e-mail:

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I wanted to let you know that the Planning Board signed their recommendation on ZRA 113, which the Council received yesterday. Our staff has posted it on the website and it can be found on the ZRA page under ZRA 113(Part 2--ZRA Recommendation)...

In addition, I want to remind you about the upcoming County Council Briefings to be held at the Board of Education at 7 PM, which I hope you will be able to attend.

· October 13, 2009,—GGP will brief the Council on the Downtown Columbia Plan as it will be submitted to the Council

· October 14, 2009,--The Economic Development Authority will share its Downtown Economic Impact Study and the Columbia Association will share its plans for Symphony Woods

The October 13 and October 14 briefings will be televised live on GTv as well as being webcast through the County Council’s website using Granicus video streaming technology. The webcast can be viewed live or “on-demand”...

Because I know that this legislation is important to you and others in the community, please share this information with your friends and neighbors. I hope that the information contained in the briefings will be valuable to you as you contemplate the future of our Downtown and prepare to share with the Council your thoughts and suggestions.

In preparation for Tuesday’s briefing, it is my understanding that the finalized Downtown Columbia Plan(GPA) and Zoning Regulation Amendment(ZRA) will be available for posting to the Council’s ZRA web page on Tuesday morning(the Council office is closed on Monday for Columbus Day).

Because Howard County law requires that the Council introduce legislation that contains the ZRA request, I anticipate that the legislation will be filed on October 22nd for introduction on November 2, 2009. I know that there will be many people who will want to share their thoughts with the Council and although the briefings next week will not have time for public input, the Council will be establishing a public hearing schedule that will accommodate anyone who wishes to participate.

Thanks for your continued interest in Downtown Columbia. I look forward to seeing you this week…..MK

Mary Kay Sigaty

Howard County Council

District 4

410-313-2001