Columbia Association

2018 CA Budget Public Hearing (The Villager, 2018-02)

2018 Columbia Association Budget Public Hearing Summary and Other News

The article will be published in the River Hill “The Villager”, 2018 February Issue.

Columbia Association News

The Columbia Association’s (CA) board of directors has been discussing the 2019-2020 budget for several months and held a budget public forum on January 18.

During the public forum, the CA board heard the following testimonies:

  1. One village association asked for specific facility upgrades and funding for special programs. They also expressed dissatisfaction with the assessment share and contingency fund decisions made by the CA board earlier in the budget process.
  2. Several organizations asked for continued support of the Columbia Council of Arts and the Columbia Downtown Partnership.
  3. The Howard County Pickleball Association asked for support of pickleball activities by sharing courts with tennis court or building a dedicated indoor pickleball court.
  4. The CA Aquatics Advisory Committee requested a new 25-yard indoor swimming pool. In 2017, CA and Howard County conducted a joint study for 50-meter pool and could not find an appropriate location.
  5. Several people and organizations, either supported or opposed CA giving more than $500,000 to Inner Arbor Trust for pathway construction in Symphony Woods. A playground in Symphony Woods was also discussed. For information purposes, a 1-acre playground costs around one million dollars.

The CA board is expected to vote on the budget at the February 22 board meeting. The board would still like to hear your input. Send your comments to: Board.Members@ColumbiaAssociation.org.

River Hill News

Dalia Shlash, the River Hill board’s open space liaison, held a community meeting on January 18 to discuss site selection and upgrades for two tot lots in River Hill. Based on feedback from residents and CA, the Indian Summer Drive tot lot (RH25) and the River Run tot lot (RH4) are the locations that the association will likely recommend to CA for upgrades. The Association did hear from residents requesting upgrades to the South Wind Circle tot lot (RH22). The Association will consider requesting upgrades to this tot lot in a future phase.

The River Hill community association continues to actively share its views on the River Hill Square and Erickson Senior Living developments near the village.

Chao Wu, Ph.D.

River Hill Representative to Columbia Council and Columbia Association Board of Directors

Email: superbwu@gmail.com Website: http://www.chaowu.org

Disclaimer: This letter only represents Dr. Chao Wu’s personal opinion. It does not represent River Hill Board of Directors nor Columbia Association’s Board.

Summary of CA Board Meeting 2018-1-25

Resident Speakout

  1. Linda Wingel, from Town Center Village Board, talked about the Lakefront development. The new plan was quite different from original plan (2010). She did not like it.
  2. Marcie White, from Oakland Mill, supported Inner Arbor Trust funding, expressed satisfaction with CA’s pathway improvement along Lake Kittamaqundi.
  3. Tim Lattin, talked about Climate community activities happened after CA endorsed the Paris Climate Pact.
  4. Joel Hurwitz, HoCo Indivisible, talked about climate committee, lakefront design, possible handling of American City.

Reports:

The board heard reports from the presidents, Inner Arbor Trust and

Update from Lakefront Design Guidelines.

  1. One 1/18/2018, DPZ recommended approval of the Lakefront Core Neighborhood Concept Plan, Neighborhood Design Guidelines, Implementation Plan and Final Development Plan.
  2. The scale and height (both in meter and in story) has been a debating topic.
  3. Parking is another debating issue.  There will be no public parking, but private parking public available.
  4. Wincopin Connector will come back. “The Wincopin extension will improve connectivity for all transportation modes and increase the viability of retail uses along the new street. This new portion of Wincopin, adjacent to the Lakefront Plaza, should be designed to extend the plaza up to the building face of the future development, with corresponding design elements that could include flush curbs, special paving/pavers, and/or bollards. Having the ability to close down this section of the street will allow for greater flexibility for programmed events, temporary outdoor dining, and community festivals.”
  5. People Tree will stay in the Lakefront Area.

Board Action:

  1. The board approved the appointment of the Kings Contrivance Representative to the Watershed Advisory Committee.
  2. The board approved transfer of capital funds in watershed-related capital projects between fiscal years.
  3. The board approved several land easements.
  4. The board asked staff  to draft a charter for a climate advisory committee for approval in February board meeting.

Board Discussion:

  1. Organization to invite to the April 2018 Stakeholders Dinner: Board of Directors of Howard Community College, Executive of Howard General Hospital.
  2. CA Dashboard (700-800 employee membership)

3. The staff will come out with a metrics or an indicator how our members participates.

ca_membership_market_share

3. The average NPS score is 43.

CA_NPS_Score

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary of 2018-1-18 CA Budget Public Forum

2 Comments

I am just capturing some key points from everybody who spoke that night.

Group:

  1. Town Center Village Association, Lynn Foehrkolb. They are requesting a playground in 2019-2020 year in the Symphony Woods. They want to work with Inner Arbor Trust to expedite the pathway there.
  2. Oakland Mill Village Association, Jonathon Edelson, They talked about contingency fund and assessment share causing issue to their village. They wanted a second-level restroom ,  replacement floor covering the Loft, dumbwaiter replacement, security system upgrade, replacement HAVC in the Loft, Assessible restroom in Talbott Springs neighborhood center, funding for a property standards evaluator and continuous ice rink improvement.
  3. King’s Contrivance, Briand Dunn, ( speak on be half of himself), support funding for Columbia Downtown Partnership and IAT.
  4. Howard County Economic Authority, Larry Twele, asking for continuous support on the Columbia Council of Arts and Columbia Downtown Partnership
  5. Howard County Pickleball Association , Joanne Grcisser . They have 150 members now, around 17 showed up in the meeting, 14 are CA members. They want share space with tennis court or concert some tennis court to pickleball court.
  6. Columbia Festival of Arts, Director, Dave  Phillips, Director, Susie, Board of Trustee,
  7. Howard County Citizen Association, JD Smith, Brian England (they were not representing HCCA board). They wanted CA to stop giving IAT more money until it proves it can raise substantial private funds., support Cy Paumier’s original plan (this is not HCCA board stand), enforce covenant at industrial and business area, connect business with safe side walk and pathway in Columbia.
  8. CA Aquatic Advisory Committee, Bill Santos, he stated 2013 study found no options for 50-meter indoor pool, supported a 25-yard indoor pool, either in Locust Park Pool or adjacent to the Dasher Green Pool. Feasibility study will cost 50,000.
  9. Columbia Downtown Partnership, Phillip Dodge, executive director. talked about thriving downtown and need support.
  10. CA Health and Fitness Advisory Committee, Jessica R., support Athletic Club renovation

Individual:

11)  Karen Douglus, volunteer of Columbia Festival of Arts, found 200 volunteers for the event.

12 ) Jervis Dorton, against more money to IAT, like to serve in an advisory committee for IAT if such committee exists

13) Joel Hurewitz, a) the overpass bridget at Harper’s Choice should be repaired (cheaper) b) against money to IAT (IAT should be self financed now) and encouraged supporters donating the home at will c) Phase out money to Columbia Downtown Partnership, d) get more electric utility cars/trucks

14) Bill Woodstock ( left earlier)

15) Cy Paumier, promoting the original Symphony Woods Plan

16) Heidi Knott, Oakland Mill, supporting Oakland Mill board budget request. Older village need more repairs now.

17) Nina Basu, Inner Arbor Trust President and CEO, support investment/funding to IAT, festival of arts and downtown partnership, can build a playground if the money is there( cost  1 million dollars for 1 acer playground) , request funding for pathway and rain garden ( half a million dollar)

18) Deb Jung ( pronounced Young), talked about great downtown events, Athletic Club needs a social space, support IAT plan, and promoting leaf collecting service to CA resident.

2018 CA Budget Public Forum 3

 

Where Does CA’s Money Go

Where Does CA’s Money Go?

This article is published on the January 2018 issue of  “The Villager”.

In this issue, I am writing to show how costly it is for the Columbia Association (CA) to maintain and fix its current facilities.  This article partially responds to the question I heard during the holidays, “Where does CA’s money go?” Many residents see their annual charge continuing to increase and the gym membership is more expensive than ever.

As a CA board member, I want to make sure the association is spending its money wisely. CA has an annual budget of approximately $70 Million. Besides our human resource costs (the organization has around 270 full-time employees and 700 part-time employees), the Association must continually make capital improvements that come at a cost.

In June 2016, the CA board was presented with a 5-year capital improvement plan. Based on recently conducted facility assessments, the plan estimated the following replacement costs (in 2016 dollars) for 7 buildings:

Athletic Club replacement                  $24M

Ice Rink replacement                          $16.5M

Art Center replacement                      $3.3M

Stonehouse replacement                     $6.5M

The Other Barn replacement              $4.5M

Teen Center replacement                    $3.5M

Maintenance Facility replacement     $11.5M

As an alternative to full replacement, the report also identified needed improvements, upgrades, and repairs for each of these buildings. Ultimately, the CA board only approved funds for improvements to the Ice Rink (FY18) and the Athletic Club in (FY18-19). The proposed FY19/20 budget finishes this work and starts improvements for the Art Center and Stonehouse. In addition to these facilities, CA still has the Supreme Sports Club, Slayton House, Kahler Hall and many other facilities which need upgrades and repairs.

Five Year Capital Spending Budget

The 5-year capital improvement plan estimated that the following capital budgets were needed just to maintain, repair, and upgrade existing facilities:

FY2018           $23.2M

FY2019           $19.6M

FY2020           $17.8M

FY2021           $16.5M

FY2022           $17.5M

These budgets do not include things like dredging Lake Elkhorn, the rental of CA’s headquarters building, or construction of any new facilities. Over the next ten years, the organization needs $5M just for pond management. Using this information, a priority list was established and the CA Board budgeted money for the Ice Rink and Athletic Club. In FY19/20, we plan to spend $4.7M on the Supreme Sports Club. Into the foreseeable future, CA will continue to have multi-million-dollar capital requirements to repair/upgrade/maintain our facilities and associated items. Any decision to construct a new facility will require additional capital funding and as well as operating funds.

Renovation or New Construction

Of course, when presented with the costs of fixing/repairing/upgrading a facility, the CA Board should look at whether a replacement would be more cost effective. In fact, when considering how to proceed with the Hobbits Glen Clubhouse and Owen Brown Tennis Bubble, the CA Board decided that replacement made better economic sense. Therefore, a new Hobbit’s Glen Clubhouse was built, and a new indoor tennis facility is under construction in the Village of Long Reach.

Happy New Year and I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Chao Wu, Ph.D.

River Hill Representative to Columbia Council and Columbia Association Board of Directors

Email: superbwu@gmail.com Website: http://www.chaowu.org

Disclaimer: This letter only represents Dr. Chao Wu’s personal opinion. It does not represent River Hill Board of Directors nor Columbia Association’s Board.

 

2018-1-The Villager Cover

2018 CA Scholarship Application starts now

 

Press Release: Apply now for Columbia Association scholarships rewarding teens for community service efforts

Applications are now being accepted for the 2018 Maggie J. Brown Spirit of Columbia Scholarship Award.

Columbia Association’s scholarship program offers up to six $2,500 awards to graduating high school seniors who exhibit exceptional efforts in providing community service to benefit Columbia residents and those in the Columbia area.

The students must live on CA-assessed property or have a parent/guardian who works full-time on or owns CA-assessed property. Applicants must be graduating in May/June 2018 from an accredited public, private or parochial high school, or be or home-schooled in accordance with COMAR 13A.10.01. The students must have a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 or better.

Applications are available online at ColumbiaAssociation.org/scholarship. Completed applications must be submitted by March 15, 2018. For more information, call 410-715-3161 or email SpiritofColumbia@ColumbiaAssociation.org.

CA employees, members of CA’s Board of Directors or family members of employees or members of the Board of Directors are not eligible to receive the award.

About Columbia Association

Columbia Association (CA) is a nonprofit community services corporation that manages Columbia, Maryland, a planned community that is home to approximately 100,000 people and several thousand businesses — and was named the No. 1 small city to live in by Money Magazine in 2016. Additional information about CA is available at ColumbiaAssociation.org.

River Hill Tot Lot Upgrade

http://www.villageofriverhill.org/funding-requested-for-tot-lot-improvements-in-river-hill/

The River Hill Community Association’s Board of Directors remains committed to improving children’s play spaces in River Hill. Based on feedback obtained from residents in September, the Association in October formally requested that the Columbia Association (CA) include capital funds in the FY19/20 budget to upgrade two tot lots in the village with more modern play equipment. The goal is to update one tot lot in each neighborhood—Pheasant Ridge and Pointers Run.

While awaiting approval on project timing, CA recommends that the River Hill community proceed with determining which two tot lots to upgrade, which should be slightly larger in size, centrally located, and have the highest utilization.

We welcome your thoughts and suggestions on the tot lot upgrades and on possible locations. Please e-mail feedback to Dalia Shlash, River Hill Board Member and Open Space Liaison, to dalia.shlash@gmail.com with your suggestions on potential locations no later than January 1, 2018. A community meeting to discuss site selection and upgrade timing will be held on January 18, from 6–7 p.m., in the Board Room at Claret Hall.

In my opinion, one candidate of the tot lots for upgrade is between Indian Summer Drive, Summer Sky Path and Distant Thunder Trail.  I would love the upgraded tot lot including a cover to prevent too much sunshine and rain and some benches to sit down when needed.

Please see the attached photo for location:

one_tot_lot_candidate

one_tot_lot_candidate_zoom

 

December Community News Update (The Villager 2017-12)

December Community News Update

This article is published on the River Hill Community Association “The Villager” 2017 December issue.

Columbia Association Side

At the request from many community members, the Columbia Association (CA) Board of Directors recently affirmed the Paris Agreement on climate change and remains committed to clean energy. I am glad that CA has been a pioneer for environmental protection and clean energy adoption. I hope this act will encourage individuals in our community to take steps to reduce their personal carbon footprint by doing such things as walking more and maintaining reasonable room temperatures. Walk our walk, not talk our talk.

Other recent CA Board highlights:

  • Held a discussion on New Town Zoning with Howard County DPZ and Consultants;
  • Discussed and approved the new and simpler Assessment Share for the Columbia villages;
  • Discussed the village associations’ contingency fund (around half million dollars) and decided the funds will be distributed among the 10 villages (each village gets 5%) and CA (gets 50%).
  • Discussed and approved a 20% Cap on Cash Reserves for the villages.
  • Discussed major capital projects and new operating initiatives received to-date in the Proposed FY 2019 and Conditional FY 2020 Budgets

School System Side

Many community members have kept an eye on or become involved in the school redistricting process since summer. The Board of Education made the final decision on attendance areas for the 2018-2019 school year on November 16. Here is how the River Hill area is impacted:

  • Pointers Run Elementary will receive Polygon 127 from Clements Crossing Elementary.
  • Clarksville Middle School will receive from Lime Kiln Middle School Polygons 117, 118, 120, 123, 126, 127, 296, 1117, 1120, 1123, 1296.
  • High school overcrowding will be mitigated by the JumpStart Program and Direct Enrollment Program. River Hill High School will receive students from other crowded high schools.

Happy Thanksgiving! Be prepared for the cold winter and enjoy the happiness of the holidays.

Chao Wu, Ph.D.

River Hill Representative to Columbia Council and Columbia Association Board of Directors

Email: chaowu2016@gmail.com Website: http://www.chaowu.org

Disclaimer: This letter only represents Dr. Chao Wu’s personal opinion. It does not represent River Hill Board of Directors nor Columbia Association’s Board.

Photo: The big tree inside the Mall of Columbia.

Where does CA’s money go?

Thanks to CA board chair Andy Stack’s email, I am putting something together to show how expensive CA  is facing to maintain and fix its current facilities.  This article partially responds to the question “where does CA’s money go” I heard during this Thanksgiving holiday. Many residents see their annual charge keep increasing and the gym membership is more expensive than ever.
As a board member of Columbia Association, I want to make sure the Columbia Association is spending its money wisely. Besides our human resource cost ( we have around 270 full time employee and 700 part time employee), here are some capital project in the pipeline. Note CA has around 70 million dollars annual budget.
————————————————————————————————————————————–
A 5-year capital plan was discussed in June 2016. CA board were presented with 7 facility assessments which had estimated replacement values. All replacement estimates are in 2016 dollars and do not include all costs.

Large Capital Project on the line

 Athletic Club replacement        $24 M
Ice Rink replacement                  $16.5 M
Art Center replacement             $3.3 M
Stonehouse replacement           $6.5 M
The Other Barn replacement    $4.5 M
Teen Center replacement          $3.5 M
Maintenance Facility replace   $11.5 M
The reports identified millions of dollars of improvements/upgrades/repairs which were needed for each of these buildings. CA board have only approved funds for the Ice Rink and the Athletic Club. The proposed budget finishes these and starts the work on Art Center and Stonehouse. In addition to these facilities, CA still have the Supreme Sports Club, Slayton House and Kahler Hall among other facilities which need upgrades/repairs.

Five Year Capital Spending budget

Overall in June 2016, CA estimated that the following capital budgets were needed to maintain/repair/upgrade existing facilities and other items.
FY-2018  $23.2 M
FY-2019  $19.6 M
FY-2020  $17.8 M
FY-2021  $16.5 M
FY-2022  $17.5 M
And these figures did not include things like dredging of Lake Elkhorn and CA’s headquarter building as well as any new facilities. We are in need of five million dollars for pond management alone in the next ten years. Our FY-2018 capital budget was not $23.2 M as CA could not afford that sum. We are fortunate that current economic conditions allow CA to have FY-2019 and FY-2020 capital budgets of $20 M each year. It is not clear that economic conditions beyond FY-2020 will allow CA to continue to have such large capital budgets.
After the Swim Center and Athletic Club, CA will continue to have multi-million dollar capital requirements to repair/upgrade/maintain our facilities and associated items. And all these costs without any new facilities. A New facility would add millions of additional dollars to any future capital budget and many new facility may be a money loss machine due to its nature.
The CA Board has been very insistent that CA fix/upgrade/repair/maintain its existing facilities before considering any new facilities in the past.

Some considerations in the past

Of course when we are presented with the costs of fixing/repairing/upgrading a particular facility, the CA Board should look at whether a replacement would be more cost effective. When considering the Hobbits Glen Clubhouse, whether to repair/upgrade or replace, the CA Board decided that a replacement made better economic sense. And so a new clubhouse was built. Similarly, the CA Board decided that a new Indoor Tennis facility was a better choice than trying to upgrade/maintain the existing Tennis Bubble. In the situation with the existing Swim Center, the CA Board came to the opposite conclusion; it would be better to repair/upgrade the existing Swim Center than build a new Swim Center.

Poor and Rich Psychology Pendulum

There is an old saying: it is easier to live from poor to rich and it is more difficult to live from rich to poor.  Many of us may just take many great things in the community for granted since the area has been on the rise and prosperous for a long time. Now, as CA has many old facilities which are competing for the limited resources for repair or renovation, we may face tough choices if the economy changes its directions.
One very simple example now is we don’t  have the leaf collection service. I am surprised that either CA or the county government do not provide such service since we are advocating for green neighborhood. The consequence is that we have piles and piles of leaves in the fall. I spent several hours to put those leaves in 20 bags. It will be much cheaper and convenient for many residents (especially for seniors) if CA or the county government sets a date and collects those leaves.  I talked about this problem among CA board members and CA staff and one reason we did not have it: the service is too expensive.

Columbia Association affirms Paris Agreement on climate change, remains committed to clean energy

I am glad that CA has been a pioneer for environmental protection and clean energy adoption. I wish this act will encourage individuals in our community takes the same step to reduce our personal carbon footprint by walking more, turning down room temperature in the winter and turning up room temperature in the summer. Walk our walk, not talk our talk.

CA board also considers to set up a climate advisory committee.  We look forward to community engagement.

The following is the official press release.

——————————————————————————–

https://www.columbiaassociation.org/columbia-association-affirms-paris-agreement-climate-change-remains-committed-clean-energy/

From the beginning, Columbia Association (CA) has proudly shouldered the responsibility bestowed by Columbia’s founder, James W. Rouse, to “respect the land” and care for the environment.

As part of that responsibility, CA’s Board of Directors voted on Oct. 26 to affirm its support for the Paris Agreement, which seeks to combat climate change by limiting the rise of global temperatures that has occurred during the industrial era.

“Columbia Association has worked for years to reduce our energy footprint as well as enhance our environmental efforts,” said Andrew Stack, chairman of Columbia Association’s Board of Directors. “We are encouraging our community and communities around the world to do their part in supporting the Paris Agreement and global efforts to combat climate change.”

CA has been a leader in clean energy for several years. All of CA’s electricity use is offset with green power, thanks to a two-megawatt installation at Nixon Solar Farm in Western Howard County; solar panels at Amherst House and River Hill Pool; and the purchase of wind renewable energy certificates. As a result, CA has reduced its carbon footprint by more than half.

This reduction in emissions is also due to significant efforts to reduce energy consumption. CA is part of the Department of Energy’s Better Building Challenge, committing to a 20 percent reduction in energy use intensity across its building portfolio between 2012 and 2022. Columbia Association has made significant progress and is presently at an 18 percent reduction through the use of ENERGY STAR equipment, LED lighting, combined heat and power technology, and advanced operational practices.

This commitment comes despite the challenges these efforts pose. CA owns more than 50 community buildings, as well as 23 outdoor pools, many of which date back several decades. Due to their age and usage characteristics, these buildings historically have been very energy intensive. Columbia Association staff are continuing to find ways to make them more energy efficient and sustainable while serving the community.

CA also spreads the word about the importance of clean energy to its team members and in the Columbia community. In recent years, CA has launched the Columbia Solar Cooperative, which helps residents install solar panels at a reduced cost, and directed residents to the rebates and incentives offered as part of BGE’s Smart Energy Savers Program, which includes home performance energy audits, appliance rebates and other energy efficiency incentives.

“These efforts are an investment, but they are also an investment in the future,” said Milton W. Matthews, president/CEO of Columbia Association. “Our energy use is significant. During the previous fiscal year, Columbia Association’s total energy consumption — electricity, natural gas, propane, fuel oil, gasoline, and diesel — was equal to that of more than 900 average homes. Any changes we make for the better will be worthwhile. We hope the Columbia community will do the same. The more who join in, the more of a difference we can make together.”

ca-logo-footer

 

We Need to Improve Our System Modeling (The Villager 2017-11)

We Need to Improve Our System Modeling

This article is published in the River Hill “The Villager”, November 2017 Issue.

In this column, I will briefly present information about two system modeling problems that negatively impact the River Hill community from Columbia Association (CA) and Howard County Public School System (HCPSS).

Case I: Columbia Association Assessment Share Formula.

A CA work team has been analyzing the formula that determines the amount of money that is distributed to each village association from the assessments paid by Columbia property owners. This Assessment Share forms the foundation for each village’s income stream, with additional revenue generated by rental of the village-managed buildings, newsletter advertising, and various programs and services. As the River Hill Board of Directors was preparing a response to the CA work team on the revised formula, there was a debate on how to simplify the formula. CA board members hear complaints that the current formula is too complicated and a simpler model is needed.

The fallacy is that simplicity results in a better or more accurate model. During the River Hill Board’s discussion, one example of over simplicity identified was with the computation of the newsletter printing costs that was factored into the formula component . The proposed formula uses a flat rate:

formula 1

where x is the printing rate and N is the number of copies. So, if we print 2000 copies, the cost is 2000 * x dollars. If we print 10000 copies, the cost is 10000 * x dollars.  Based on this, the more copies a village needs (a.k., the larger population the village has), the more beneficial the assessment share formula will be. However, in reality, we know printing rates vary depending on the volume of the copies. A slightly better model will account for varying rates, for example:

formula 2

where we have two different printing rates, , for different printing volumes. Usually,  x1 is larger than x2.

As a result, the over-simplified model in Equation (1) gives unfair advantage to villages printing more newsletters. Villages with smaller populations, such as River Hill, are negatively impacted. Similarly, other over-simplified models were used to compute other cost components of the assessment share formula. As a result, the final recommended formula does not accurately reflect the true expenses of each village.

Case II: School Population Prediction.

When Renee Kamen, Manager of Office of School Planning of HCPSS, attended a recent redistricting forum sponsored by the River Hill Community Association, she stated the HCPSS student population prediction model is accurate within 1% error, which implied the predictions model is very accurate. However, based on research by River Hill residents, Pointers Run Elementary School (PRES) consistently receives around 10% more students than predicted by the HCPSS model in recent years. So, the overall accuracy of the model masks the populations in some schools. After examining the actual enrollment numbers at PRES during 2002-2012, analysis shows a continuous decline in student population. However, the student population bounces back very quickly after that. In the HCPSS student projection model, student population at PRES decreases continuously into 2018. Obviously, the HCPSS prediction model does not take into account the current enrollment trend at PRES.

In this case, for each individual school, no matter how accurate the overall prediction is, it does not matter. It only matters when the model predicts the right student number at the school. If not, the model fails. The school system needs to find a way to modify, improve and validate the current student population prediction model as it is being used to support school redistricting.

I hope this article gives you some idea of how an over-simplified or inaccurate model can impact our community and the importance of  getting the mathematical modeling correct.

 

Chao Wu, Ph.D.

River Hill Representative to Columbia Council and Columbia Association Board of Directors

Email: chaowu2016@gmail.com  Website: http://www.chaowu.org

Disclaimer: This letter only represents Dr. Chao Wu’s personal opinion. It does not represent River Hill Board of Directors nor Columbia Association’s Board.

CA Board Meeting Summary of 2017-10-26

Resident Speakout:

  1. Tim L., talked about CA’s effort to reduce carbon footprint, great development in Long Reach Village, signing the Paris Agreement, possibly creating a CA Climate Advisory Committee.
  2. Joel Hurwitz, talked about signing the Paris Agreement.
  3. Richard D., talked about signing the Paris Agreement. CA needs get words out on our on this.

Columbia China Sister City Update

CA board members Dick Boulton and Alan Klein, together with the China Sister City Delegate returned with signing a MOU with our potential sister city- Liyang, China.

Meeting Agenda:

Discussion From The Department of Sports and Fitness

  1. JumpStart program to attract or retain membership
  2. Fitness on Demand
  3. Next level conditioning
  4. Outdoor Yoga at Steven’s Forest Pool and Haven
  5. Older Adult Classes… Aqua Fitness, Aqua Arthritis, Body Vive, Restorative/Gentle Yoga, Build your bones, LaBlast and more
  6. Small Group Training… Parkinson’s Punch, Fit Boxing, TRX-boxing, Kettlebells and more
  7. Exploring GymGo model
  8. Fir 3- year olds, Tennis Whizz training program
  9. 2018 Spring Monthly Skate Park competition

The Paris Agreement

The Columbia Association (“CA”) Board of Directors (the “Board’) voted unanimously to authorize the President/CEO to sign the “Open letter to the international community and parties to the Paris Agreement from U.S. state, local and business leaders” (the “Letter”), which is attached to this Resolution. The Board finds that the content of the Letter is in keeping with the accomplishment of CA’s purposes to respect the land and promote the welfare of the people of Columbia and its environs and with CA’s ongoing efforts to reduce its impact on the environment. Having made these findings, the Board hereby authorizes the President/CEO to sign the Letter on behalf of CA.

FY19-20 Budget Discussion

The board discussed FY19 and FY 20 Draft Capital Requests and did not approved it.

Allocation Formula

The board approved the new allocation formula and 3 year phase-in plan.

Contingency Fund

The board approved abandoning the contingency fund. The board approved distributing the money to villages ( each village gets 5%, CA gets 50%).

Reserve Cap

No decision now.

CA Board Work Session Meeting Summary 2017-10-12

Resident Speakout:

  1. Bill Santos, Wilde Lake, CA Aquatics Advisory Committee, talked about 2012 aquatic study, recommended a new pool.
  2. Tim Lattimer., Long Reach, urged the board to sign Paris Climate pledge, to create a CA climate advisory committee.
  3. Cliff Wright, Hickory Ridge, talked about the Paris Climate Accord.
  4. Richard Duitschmann, Owen Brown, urged to sign “We are still in” declaration.
  5. Dalia Shlash, River Hill, requested funding for tot lot upgrade starting from 2019.
  6. Larry Liebesman urged to sign “We are still in” declaration.
  7. Earl Sneeringer urged to build or use a Pickle ball facility with 6 or 8 courts, converting Owen Brown Bubble, or build one CA Sports Park.
  8. Joel Hurewitz, urged to sign the Paris Accord.
  9. Catherine Heilveil, graduate from River Hill, urged to sign “We are still in” the Paris Agreement.
  10. Pat Hedrsdy, Steven Forest, talked about “We are still in” pledge.

Agenda:

Energy Management Program Overview,

  1. launched 2012, to reduce energy usage, energy costs and environmental impact.  1 degree room temperature increase will need 2-3% extra energy cost. Right now Columbia Gym is set at 68 degrees (Recommend 68-72 degrees by industry standard).
  2. Energy cost snapshot: Supreme (15321 MMBtu) 23%, Swim Center (10155 MMBtu) 15%, Athletic Club (7787 MMBtu)11%, Columbia Gym (7241 MMBtu) 11%, Ice Rink (5045 MMBtu) 7%, all others 33%.
  3. Renewable Energy.
    1. Nixon Solar Farm generates 2500 MWh of electricity or 25% of our power
    2. Wind RECs purchased for remaining 75% of power
    3. Existing on-site generation at River Hill and Amherst House.
  4. Installing Electric Charge Station, 15K per installation , began to charge users at 0.20 per kW. Used to be free to users. BGE helped to reduce the overall program cost.
  5. 10-12 KW generated  by the solar array at the River Hill Swimming Pool. The energy can power one average household .

2019-2020 Budget Discussion (over 1 million dollar projects):

Category 1:

Columbia Swim Center Phase III renovation: 1.2 million dollars

Category II:

Athletic Club Renovation:  It was estimated that we need 24 million dollars to replace Athletic Club, without considering parking lots. We spent 2 million dollars, plan to spent another 5 million dollars for renovation in 2018-2019.  I was thinking that 50-year old building should be scraped from the ground and rebuilt.  There is a time we should cut loss and build something new.

Supreme Sports Club Renovation: 4.7 million dollars.

Haven on the Lake: 1.0 million dollars

Lake Kittamaqundi Planning and Dredging: 1.09 million dollars

Columbia Wide Pathway Renovation: 1 million dollars

Headquarter Building -Reserve for Deposit: 1.1 million dollars

The board was not able to finish discussing all the budget tonight, will continue the discussion next Thursday.

The board discussed the Dashboard metric briefly.

 

 

 

 

 

New and Later Columbia Gym Close Time

Columbia Gym New and Later Close Time:

  1. Monday to Thursday 11:00PM;
  2. Friday 9:00PM,
  3. Saturday 7:00PM and
  4. Sunday 9:00PM.
  5. Starting from 2017-10-16.

Hope this new time works better. Thanks for those who followed my article and wrote email to CA staff asking for a later closure time.

Thanks for CA staff working hard to meet residents’ needs.

A Bridge to the Future (The Villager 2017-10)

A Bridge to the Future

This article was published in The Villager of River Hill Community Association, October 2017 Issue.

After the first village, Wilde Lake, was built 50 years ago, Columbia has become a very large city with more than 100,000 people, 2000 business and a very vibrant community. The Howard County Citizens Association (HCCA) made a documentary film about the last 50 years and challenged the community to think about how Columbia can continue to be built for a bright future.

To ensure a bright future of Columbia for the next 50 years, we need a planned and visionary development in both education and housing aspects.

First, our educational system must adapt to the changes we anticipate. With fast advancement in automation and artificial intelligence, future life and work will be quite different from today’s. Manual labor and tedious work will be replaced by the computer and robotics. Computer literacy will be a must for many future workers. So, our education system will need to adapt to educate the workforce of the future. We need to ensure our school system is guided by student-focused principles:

  1. motivate all students to achieve their full and diverse potential
  2. expanding learning opportunities to all students by utilizing all available resources

Second, all housing and commercial developments should provide the infrastructure needed to support the uses, especially the need for schools. This can partially be regulated by tightening the Adequate Public Ordinance (APFO) which is currently being debated by the County Council. I testified on behalf of myself at the County Council and made the following points:

Three loopholes should be removed:

  1. Include the high schools in the capacity test. I am not sure why high schools were not included in the test more than 10 years ago.
  2. Remove the waiting time for development. Now, when a development does not pass a capacity test, it will automatically pass after waiting for four years (in reality, three years) without a second test
    . This practice should be abolished.
  3. Include the Medium and Low Income Housing (MLIH) units in the development unit cap. For each new development, it is required that 15% of the units be MLIH. However, this 15% (i.e., around 300 units) is not presently counted in the annual cap of 2000 new residential units.

Two Numbers should be revised:

  1. The school capacity limit should be set at 100%, not 115%.
  2. The developer fee should be raised substantially. For comparable housing units, the developers in Howard County are paying less than 10% of the development fee in Montgomery County. Housing prices in Howard County are not cheaper than those in Montgomery County to justify this huge fee difference.

I support development since only continuous economic, housing and social development and improvement will solve many problems we face today. However, the development should be planned with a long -term vision. Unregulated development will lead to chaos. Tightening APFO now will give our legislators a rare opportunity to address the problems created over the last 15 years.

Some neighborhood news:

County Executive Allan Kittleman proposed a new site for the High School 13 on Landing Road in Elkridge and asked the Howard County Public School System to delay high school redistricting until this high school is built in 2022. Previously the proposed location for High School 13 was on Mission Road in Jessup.

The school redistricting process has created many heated debates, anxiety, and expectations in the county. I encourage everyone to be civil and respect others’ opinions during this difficult time. The superintendent, Dr. Martirano, will provide his final redistricting recommendation to the Board of Education on Oct. 3.

Columbia Association (CA) is developing the FY19 and FY 20 budgets. The CA Board has heard from residents and villages about their funding needs. We will continue work on our budget until early next year.

CA Board Members also looked at the Lakefront Core Design Guidelines during the September board work session and will provide feedback to the Department of Zoning and Planning on the development.

The River Hill Village Board is working with CA and residents to upgrade two existing tot lots to meet residents’ needs. The Village Board will solicit resident feedback on upgrades.

Thanks for reading. I am looking forward to hearing your feedback.

Chao Wu, Ph.D.

River Hill Representative to Columbia Council and Columbia Association Board of Directors

Email: chaowu2016@gmail.com Website: http://www.chaowu.org

Disclaimer: This letter only represents Dr. Chao Wu’s personal opinion. It does not represent River Hill Board of Directors nor Columbia Association’s Board.

The picture was taken on 10/1/2017 morning at the Centennial Lake while I joined the Centennial Runner Group for Breast Cancer Awareness fund raising event.

 

CA board working meeting summary 2017-9-14

Resident speakout:

Several people talked about concerns related Lakefront Core Neighborhood Design. Joel Hurewitz proposed to put a library in front of the Lakefront. I really love this idea.

Budget inputs:

  1. Town Center Community Association proposed to build a playground in the Symphony Wood. CA has never provided any play areas for the Warfield neighborhood, which within a year will be adding an additional 650 units to the already existing 795 units at the Metropolitan. The Downtown Plan does not provide land for a playground except for the Promenade in front of the Metropolitan. The Town Center Community Association also requests that CA work with the Inner Arbor Trust to expedite the completion of a pathway to make Merriweather park at Symphony Woods accessible and user friendly asap. Further, tomorrow ( 9/16) 11:00-3:00PM, Wilde Lake Old-Fashioned Family Pinic welcomes you.
  2. Wilde Lake Community Association has a list of projects needing CA support.
  3. Oakland Mills Community Association also submitted their budget request. They wish the proposed neighborhood sign across CA will finish in 3 years, not in 10 years. I totally agree with them.
  4. Columbia Housing Center is requesting 200,000 for two years (total 400k. Their proposed annual budget is 600k) to promote integrated racial families move to Columbia. This is following 40 year Oak Park Regional Housing Center model outside of Chicago. They are actively looking for funding.

Board Discussion

The board discussed concerns with the Lakefront Core Neighborhood Design.

 

 

 

 

What Columbia is all about (by Dick Boulton)

What Columbia is all about

by Dick Boulton, Columbia Association Board Member , from Village of Dorsey’s Search

When you are in Columbia, you know you are in Columbia.

There is a cohesiveness, a sense of place. Columbia does not look or feel like a typical suburb where multitudes of developers have strived to maximize ROI on their own little pieces of turf. It does not look like Route 40 where every property jarringly competes for individual attention. Instead, synergy prevails.

Stuff fits together in Columbia. There is a calmness, dignity and continuity to the overall design. Things appear in the places they ought. Residential areas, village centers and the urban core are segmented to complement but not intrude upon one another. Commercial areas are visible but compact and unobtrusive. Major throughways wind through the terrain with attractive landscaping and limited access. Driveways are restricted to secondary roads. Unsightly distractions are set back and screened from view. Utilities are buried underground. There are no billboards. Signage is discrete.

In Columbia, the natural landscape is treated with respect. Open space has been set aside. Wetlands are preserved. There are beautiful lakes and many miles of walking trails and bikeways. There are also playgrounds, swimming pools, tennis courts, playing fields, fitness facilities and other recreational amenities – all designed and situated to meet the lifestyle needs of Columbia residents.

While outparcels occasionally intrude, they are fortunately scattered and only serve to contrast with and prove the appropriateness of the Rouse master plan.

The beauty of the Rouse plan is that it was built around people. Ours was to be a community where people could live, grow and prosper. Commerce was secondary to the concept. Businesses were for providing services and employment opportunities to residents, but residents were the primary concern. Rouse even put making a profit fourth on his list of four key objectives. The Rouse organization has since been divided between outside enterprises that feel varying degrees of stewardship over the original vision. It is for this reason that the County and the Columbia Association must step up and step in to assume responsibility. Rigorous oversight is essential; wise development must be the norm.

Columbia has grown dramatically over the past 50 years, but growth has been largely well-managed. With most of the residential areas built out, focus is now on development of the urban core. This seems to be working out well enough, but care needs to be taken to see that further construction remains within the context of the Columbia vision. This should apply as well to the Gateway area, which is also being eyed for development. Too much of the easternmost section of Columbia demonstrates the effect of lax enforcement of codes and covenants. Snowden River Parkway is a case in point.

Central to Columbia’s urban core is the Symphony Woods/Merriweather Pavilion acreage. The present scheme needs to be reviewed for feasibility and affordability. Rouse had intended this land to become Columbia’s Central Park, and It is critical to the function and vibrancy of our urban core that this expectation be met. We also need to improve public transportation to reduce local traffic congestion and provide high-speed connections to Baltimore and Washington.

Columbia began as a utopian dream, but with inspired leadership, it has been surprisingly successful and is today a model for building other communities that focus on inhabitant wellbeing. Columbia has prospered for over fifty years. It is now our responsibility to make sure it continues to for the next 50.

By Chao Wu: Considering the heated debate (on Industrial Mulching and APFO, school redistricting) on Howard County Council on 9/9/2017, the issue is really that we need a planned development and a long term strategy for our county. Then what is the status of implementing the Plan Howard 2030? We need hold politicians accountable.

2017 October China Trip to Liyang City by Columbia China Sister City Delegation

In the past two weeks, two people asked me the progress of the Columbia China Sister City’s program. It is going pretty well.

Our Columbia China Sister City Delegation will begin their 2-week China Trip (Beijing, Xi’an, Nanjing, Liyang, Suzhou, Wuzhen, Hangzhou, Shanghai)  in October. This delegate consists of state legislators, Columbia Association Board Members and staff, reporters and our residents. I really appreciate their interest in this trip. The trip is paid by each individual member.

From the idea of starting the “Columbia’s China Sister City” to this incoming trip, I really appreciate so many people’s contribution to make it happen: the China Sister Planning Committee Chair Ms. Jun Han and vice chair Mr. Hui Dong and other committee members, Columbia Association’s International MultiCulture Advisory Committee chair Laura Smit and other committee members,  Mr. Len Lazarick ( from MarylandReporters.com) who got some many high profile people into the trip.

For some personal reason, I may not join the trip unfortunately and I wish them the best of the trip. If situations change, I may jump into the airplane and meet them in Liyang, Jiangsu, China.

 

2017 August-Sept CA Schedule

Aug 14        Ice Rink reopens

Aug 16        Volunteering Made Easy seminar         6:00 PM

Aug 21        BOC meeting                                       7:30 PM

Aug 31        Walking Tour KC (Huntington Pool)     10:00 AM

Sept 5         Swim Center reopens

Sept 9         50th Birthday Color Columbia Plein Air Paint Out 8:30 AM

Sept 13       Columbia at 50 Film; HCC  (Must register)     6:00 PM

Sept 14       CA Board Work Session            7:30 PM

Sept 14       Walking Tour Harper’s Choice (Hobbits Glen Pool) 10:00 AM

Sept 18       Audit Committee meeting           7:30 PM

Sept 23       Bike About; Lake Elkhorn            9:30 AM

Sept 28       CA Board meeting                       7:30 PM

Columbia Development Tracker 2017-08

This is created by Columbia Association staff  and I am putting a short summary here. https://www.columbiaassociation.org/about-us/planning-development/columbia-planning-development-tracker/

Upcoming developments

  1. The Mall in Columbia is seeking facade alterations. Village: Downtown Columbia
  2. Retrofit of Mimi’s Cafe building in Gateway Overlook Shopping Center, Village: Long Reach
  3. Howard Hughes Corporation proposing a long-term temporary parking lot with 181 surface parking east of Broken Land Parkway and south of Divided Sky Lane. Village: Downtown Columbia
  4. Conditional use request for religious activities at Locust United Methodist Church located north of Martin Road and east of Freetown Road. Village: Hickory Ridge
  5. Dar Al Taqwa located north of Route 108 across from Cedar Lane Park, expanding their facility and parking area. Village: Harper’s Choice
  6. Howard Research and Development Corporation asked for one additional residential unit at the Poplar Glen apartment. Village: Hickory Ridge
  7. HRDC asked amend 19 additional residential units to the Godfather’s Garden Center site south of Route 108 and west of Phelps Luck Drive. Village: Long Reach
  8. A home located at the end of Encounter Row is seeking approval to add two new decks. Village: Oakland Mill.

There are more development beyond these. The full list is attached for your reference.

DevelopmentTrackerJuly2017Final

I do find Howard Hughes Corporation and Howard Research and Development Corporation in some developments. Interesting.