UMd. to Begin Forging Updated Facilities Master Plan

As it does every five years, the University of Maryland is updating its Facilities Master Plan. Members of the plan's seeing committee met with the city council at Tuesday night's work session to introduce some of this year's larger themes, notably environmental preservation and sustainable development.

Though the update is only in its nascent stages – a final draft won't be solidified until next June – the university has amassed a team of consultants to move the process along. Oehme van Sweden, a landscape architecture firm based in D.C. who also worked on the campus at the University of Virginia, will be leading the charge.

J. Frank Brewer, the chair of the Facilities Master Plan Seeing Committee, said it is important that the city and the public to be aware of the university's plans. He said he intends to meet with the city at least twice more in the coming year, once after a tentative plan is developed, and once again to iron out the fine details.

"It's going to be a large process, and a very transparent process, and I want you all involved in it," he said to the council.

Despite the fact that the plan pertains specifically to campus, like many things, it has considerable implications for the city as well. Issues such as this summer's closure of Campus Drive fell under the auspices of the master plan, and many council members are anxious to see the campus develop in a way that will positively impact the city of College Park.

Councilman Marcus Afzali (Dist. 4) pointed out that the plan should coordinate with the city of College Park's newly anointed Strategic Plan, which addresses many of the same issues of transportation and sustainable growth that the Master Plan seeks to tackle.

"We both have the same objectives, so going about them separately seems like a gigantic waste of time," he said. "There's no reason to reinvent the wheel."

Councilman Robert Catlin (Dist. 2) agreed, but was hesitant to express much enthusiasm for a plan that may not come to fruition for some time, especially considering its $750,000 price tag.

"It's hard to say what might happen, because I know from the last Master Plan, there are a whole lot of great ideas in it, and for the most part they got postponed indefinitely," he said.

Catlin cited North Gate Park – an environmental restoration project that was planned to include a bus shelter, wildflower meadows, a rain garden, and footbridge, among other things - as an example of a good concept included in the 2000 Master Plan that is only now beginning to take shape. 

But Brewer remains optimistic. In addition to the already hefty goals of making the campus less reliant on cars and more pedestrian friendly, as well as whatever plans fell by the wayside in the last update, he wants to see the campus become carbon neutral by 2050.

"It's a pretty bold statement, but that's the goal."