Before the Wilde Lake Village Center can be reborn, its boundaries must be drawn. That first step is where the developer and area residents clashed at a meeting Jan. 11.

The Wilde Lake Village Board defines the village center as the properties including the village green and commercial properties on Lynx Lane, as well as the surrounding properties owned by the Columbia Association, Wilde Lake High School and Wilde Lake Middle School and the interfaith center.

Developer Kimco Realty Corp., however, would like to expand the center’s borders to roadways that encircle the area — Twin Rivers Road to the north, Governor Warfield Parkway to the east, Little Patuxent Parkway on the south end, and Harpers Farm Road on the west.

That proposal would draw a ring of condos, community housing and businesses into the village center mix.

It did not sit well with several residents.

At the Jan. 11 meeting, some of those residents told Kimco leaders they do not consider businesses along Little Patuxent Parkway to be part of Wilde Lake proper and questioned the company’s motive in seeking wider boundaries.

Some residents said they believe Kimco wants wider boundaries in order to build more residential units on their 10 acres.

State Del. Elizabeth Bobo, a former county executive who represents the Wilde Lake area, told the developer she had misgivings about the proposal to redefine the village center.

“I’ll try to ask this question as respectfully as possible: Who are you to propose that all of these properties be within the village center boundaries?” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”

Kimco wants ‘flexibility’

The Jan. 11 workshop was required as part of new development guidelines specific to Columbia’s village centers. The guidelines, approved by the County Council in September 2009, are intended to facilitate discussion between developers and residents. Wilde Lake, the oldest of Columbia’s nine centers, is the first planned for redevelopment.

Kimco initially announced plans to reinvent the Wilde Lake center in 2008, including a mix of 500 apartments, along with offices, retail shops and underground parking. Those plans were dropped in the face of intense community opposition.

Geoffrey Glazer, Kimco’s vice president of development for the mid-Atlantic region, said Kimco is proposing the wider boundary in order to work with larger roadways and to provide flexibility for future development, access roads and possible links to Howard Community College. He also said it would facilitate better connections between the various commercial, residential, recreational and school facilities.

“It just gives a lot more flexibility to look at the area as a whole rather than narrowing it down,” Glazer said. “This is our first swipe at it. (The village board) took their first swipe at it. Now we’ll sit down and hash it out together.”

Kimco’s proposed boundary would include commercial properties such as Century Plaza, Princeton Sports and the property owned by Patuxent Publishing Co., which publishes the Howard County Times and Columbia Flier.

The businesses along Little Patuxent Parkway between Governor Warfield Parkway and Harpers Farm Road are part of Wilde Lake but not subject to Wilde Lake village covenants, according to a 1995 letter from HRD, Columbia’s original developer under The Rouse Co., to Wilde Lake’s village manager.

It was unclear exactly how the changed boundary would affect Kimco’s redevelopment plans — or the businesses that would become part of the center.

At the meeting, Bill Mackey, the county’s chief of comprehensive planning, said he was not prepared to answer the residents’ question about whether the boundary size would affect the density allowed on Kimco’s land.

The county Zoning Board will have the final say on setting the village center boundaries once the development proposal reaches them.

Wanting a grocery

Several people at the meeting were most interested in bringing back a grocery store to the village center, a sore point with many residents since Giant Food closed its doors in 2006.

“I’m wondering if all this planning is going to delay us getting back a supermarket,” one resident said.

Glazer told the residents that Wilde Lake’s proximity to large grocery stores in Harper’s Choice and Hickory Ridge, along with the pending overhaul of Town Center, has made it difficult to attract a grocery store.
 
During the meeting, residents also offered suggestions for amenities they would like to see in Wilde Lake, including a pub, a diner, a toy store, arts supply and performance outlets and the return of Produce Galore, a specialty market that closed in 2008 after about 30 years.

“Don’t duplicate here what’s in every other village,” one resident told Glazer. “Let’s have something that’s unique, that’s special, that’s ours, that will draw people here.”

Resident Eva Skrenta, said she felt Wilde Lake could use an updated look.

“I don’t mind changing the architecture here,” she said. “Maybe a little bit of Wilde Lake flair but, hey, it’s the 21st century. It’s OK to change a little bit.

“We can be very creative in this center,” she said. “The Wilde Lake village center is dying. I’ve been to enough of these meetings to know that.”

Resident Rich Madzel said residents are much to blame for the decline of businesses in Wilde Lake.
 
“We have to shop at these places if we want these stores,” Madzel said. “We need to look at ourselves, folks. We’re the ones to determine who’s going to survive here, not Kimco.”

Another resident, Rhoda Toback, said she felt Kimco’s efforts were being handicapped by some residents’ adversarial and distrustful attitude.

“People want to blame Kimco for the demise of Wilde Lake, but that’s misplaced,” she said.

This article has been updated.

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user comments (4)

user wildelakemike says...

A couple of misconceptions from this meeting should be clarified. Right now, Kimco's ability to construct new residences is limited solely to by the number of residences that can be built in Columbia. This means, theoretically, that Kimco could build up to 2400 units on its 10 acres. Of course, that won't happen. However, the boundary of the village center bears no relationship to the number of residential units that can be built at Wilde Lake Village Center. As for the so-called trend to build smaller grocery stores, I think that to the extent there is such a trend, it is found in urbanized communities. Wilde Lake Village Center is not such an urbanized community; nor will not be part of the urbanized downtown of Columbia that is currently being considered by the County Council. My larger concern is that our leadership in Wilde Lake keeps calling for a grocery store to be built. In the long run, this clarion call is misleading the residents of Columbia since it is unlikely that a grocery can be found for Wilde Lake. Yes, many residents of Wilde Lake would like a grocery store, but doesn't mean one will come. After all, we already let Giant die in that center. That said, we do have David's, a store we can celebrate and support by shopping there whenever possible.

Posted 5:44 PM, 01.12.10 | Permalink

user brdoon says...

What is going on essentially is the Village Center as agora. place for public intercourse and commerce vs. residential (guaranteed profit). What drives the development?...profit. Who lives with the social costs of the development but do not share in the profits?...the community (who favor agora). Why is compromise not possible? There will never be a Wegmans or other large market in Wilde Lake. Shopping at Safeway in Long Gate, Giant in River Hill or Blooms at US 29/MD 216 are too many reisdents of Wilde Lake and other Villages (Town Center). However there is no reason community oriented businesses cannot prosper in the Village Center as 3 story structures with first floor retail and service and upper floors apartments or condos. This is the trend...not smaller markets (smaller markets is pretty much the organic food trend...the real trend is WalMart breaking into the retail food industry in a big, big way!).

Posted 9:49 AM, 01.13.10 | Permalink

user mdresident says...

I can sympathize with the desire to go slowly on the redevelopment. I lived in FL for years, where developers are allowed to run wild and the concern of residents barely registers a blip on the radar of government officials. Even in light of that, however, I have a growing feeling that many longtime residents simply want things to go back to being like they were, and to stay that way forever. It's just not going to happen. I agree with wildlakemike's post that too many residents are singularly focused on getting a grocer in Wilde Lake again. It doesn't seem like something that can be forced. It would be better to remain open to a broad range of ideas that take business and residential plans into account. You know what would go great in that space? An Ace Hardware. The closest one is on Hwy 40 in Ellicott City, and I’ll bet plenty of homeowners around Columbia would patronize the new one. I saw an older, smaller grocery space near where I lived in FL get converted into an Ace Hardware and it did very well.

Posted 1:04 PM, 01.13.10 | Permalink

user mikeh says...

In response to two of the above postings, there is a recent trend toward small neighborhood grocery stores by the larger retailers leveraging their large distribution networks. Starting in 2007, Tesco, the third largest international retailer and based in the UK, has opened over 120 "Fresh & Easy" small format stores in the western US. Walmart has responded by starting similar stores under the "Marketside" brand name. The Marketside website lists a store in Arbutus, but I have not gone there yet. I can only guess the reason for this trend. Perhaps there is a general desire to drive less, partly due to the increasing cost of gasoline and concern for the environment. Both Tesco and Walmart are anxious to project a green image. Both are using energy savings to keep prices low. If this is the case, the smaller stores would be a long term movement, instead of a passing fad. It is certainly consistent with the current plans for a walkable Downtown Columbia. See: http://www.freshandeasy.com/ http://www.marketside.com/ http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/10/06/the-wal-mart-weekly-small-store-format-making-a-comeback/

Posted 3:51 PM, 01.18.10 | Permalink