Council Members Call on Residents for Help Major City Hall Decision

By: Vanessa Adjei

“This decision that is before you will have a huge impact on the future of our community,” College Park resident John Rigg declared with great concern. Rigg was one of more than a dozen community members who spoke out at Tuesday nights’ city council meeting. Ironically, his concerns were regarding the building in which he was standing. The question of whether or not City Hall should be relocated or rebuilt has left residents at a stalemate and the future of the new project uncertain.

About 30 members with spreadsheets, graphs, and index cards reading “pros and cons,” gathered at 4500 Knox Rd. at7 p.m., Oct. 28, in the second floor chamber room waiting for the meeting to start. A list of residents, wanting to speak, quickly filled up. One by one, names appeared on the speaking list of residents eager to persuade city council members.

The public forum began with a detailed presentation on the possible City Hall site selection ideas. The information included the building’s history and issues currently faced. Images of expansion and relocation ideas were shown to give residents a better understanding of the possibilities.

Next on the agenda was the introduction of a new idea, the relocating the building to Calvert Road. This created an array of mixed feelings throughout the room.

Once the presentation was complete, Mayor Andrew Fellows opened the floor for questions, comments, concerns, and ideas.

“It took me 25 minutes to come from College Park Woods to Knox Road because of traffic,” said Suchitra Balachandran, president of the West College Park Civic Association.

For residents like Balachandran, who don’t live in downtown College Park, location plays a large factor in their attendance at council meetings. Prior to the meeting, Balachandran had the opportunity to look over the future site ideas with her colleagues.

“Moving City Hall to the Calvert Rd. site opens up more possibilities. More things can be done on a larger space,” said Balachandran.

The building will have 1.23 acre,s if voted to rebuild on its current lot and is estimated to cost $7.9 million. If it is decided that the Calvert site is the best move, the new building will be built on a 3.73 acre lot and at a lower estimated cost of $7.1 million, according to the city council.

John Krouse, a resident of 53rd Avenue, also drove 25 minutes to attend the meeting.

“You have an office space issue and you have a public meeting accommodation issue,” said Krouse.

He wanted the board to try and view this issue from a different angle.

“Consider the possibility of decoupling the office space issue from the public space issue and see where that might lead you.”

By doing so, Krouse thought residents would gain better accessibility when trying to reach to city officials.

With most of the community members being for the new move to Calvert Road, there were a few who disagreed.

Don Schmadel, a research scientist at University of Maryland (UMD), has live in the Calvert area for about 17 years.

“It’s a nice, quiet residential area,” said Schmadel.

Due to the amount of traffic that city hall received daily, Schmadel worries that rebuilding it near his home would disrupt his neighborhood.

“Let’s leave it as a residential area and protect it,” he added.

Carlo Colella, Vice President of Administration and Finance at UMD, was against moving to the Calvert site.

“Moving away from downtown College Park sends a different message.”

With downtown College Park being a place for tourists to experience the great retail stores and restaurants, it gave them a sense of what College Park was all about.

“It’s more of an abandonment of the confidence that downtown will be depriving dynamic vibrance in the downtown area,” said Colella.

The more residents spoke, the more difficult the city hall decision became. As the last round of speakers wrapped-up, council members thanked everyone who gave them new angles and ideas to think about. City officials have urged College Park residents, to email their thoughts on the decision to cpmc@collegeparkmd.gov. There will be a site selection discussion on Nov. 18 to make further decisions.