Cafritz Conundrum

Well, the Cafritz family will be updating our community next Saturday on the status of their project. Whether our much sought “input” has been considered as they revised the project is debatable. Apparently, the number of residential housing units has been roughly halved, while the commercial space remains the same (or slightly expanded).
Mmm, those traffic [...]

Updating the Route 1 Sector Plan

Planner Chad Williams of M-NCPPC will make a presentation on the Central US 1 Corridor Sector Plan and Sectional Map Amendment on Monday for the University Park Town Council (event details here). The public is invited and Mayor John Tabori hopes residents of neighboring communities will attend as well.
Williams will discuss the possibility of extending [...]

Meet Mac Alpine, or Past Lives of the Cafritz Property, Part 1

You can still see the old gate posts at the corner, hidden by a holly bush and a stand of bamboo. One post says Calvert, while the other reads Mac Alpine. They mark the entrance to Mac Alpine, the mansion once located at Route 1 and Albion Road.
I spent time in the University of Maryland [...]

Calvert Hills: Not Just Another Link in the Chain

Calvert Hills is a small section of College Park situated between the famed Cafritz property and the Old Town of College Park. In 2003, the neighborhood was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The neighborhood’s defining feature is the old trolley trail, a raised berm that was recently upgraded with a $90,000 grant [...]

The Cafritz Candy Store’s Closed

Well, temporarily at least. The Landy and Cafritz developments have been approached very differently. But both are adjacent to communities of single family homes and will have large impacts on their neighbors. The Cafritzes invited us to dream a bit, perhaps because they wish to change their zoning. At Thursday’s summation meeting, community input [...]

Doughnuts & the 1st Cafritz Community Input Meeting

I attended the Cafritz development community input meeting last Saturday and wanted to post an overview for other community members.
Jane and Calvin Cafritz, two members of the Cafritz family, opened with a welcome. The team members running the workshop portion were friendly and appeared interested to hear public comments. As an added bonus, [...]

Shopping List for the Cafritz Property

The following are my thoughts and some background on the Cafritz property that I’ve put together and may or may not represent the situation. We will learn more on Saturday but this will give those interested a little briefing on the property and some of the issues before the meeting.
Background
The original property was a [...]

A Big Week for Rt. 1 Communities

Mark your calendars. This week brings us two important opportunities to be heard:
Wed., May 30 7-10 pm College Park Route 1 Corridor Transportation Study (click for pdf)
Sat., June 2 10 am-2 pm Cafritz Property Community Input Meetings Please encourage your friends and neighbors to come out and voice their opinions. Spread the word [...]