Frederick County Public Schools are inviting parents and community members to learn about the redistricting process to determine who will attend the new Butterfly Ridge Elementary School in Frederick. Construction for Butterfly Ridge will start in the spring of 2017 with a scheduled opening in August 2018.
Tuesday, September 27th at 6:30 p.m.Waverly Elementary School
201 Waverly Drive | Frederick, MD
Thursday, September 29th at 6:30 p.m.
Hilcrest Elementary School
1285 Hilcrest Drive | Frederick, MD
The Maryland Department of Transportation’s State Highway Administration (SHA) will begin a $3.5 million project to replace the deck (driving surface) of the eastbound US 40 Bridge/ramp over the westbound US 40 ramp to I-70 in Frederick County beginning early September. The project should be complete by spring 2017, weather permitting.
As construction begins, SHA will close the bridge/ramp and shift travel lanes in both directions of US 40, allowing eastbound and westbound traffic to use the westbound roadway. SHA’s contractor will place a concrete barrier between opposite direction traffic. Two temporary traffic signals at Kehne Road will provide local access to US 40.
Additionally, SHA will close the westbound US 40 ramp to westbound I-70 between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. for two nights after the Labor Day holiday. Crews will detour traffic from westbound US 40 to southbound MD 17 (Main Street) to westbound I-70. The temporary closures allow crews to safely remove the bridge deck surface.
Traffic Will Be Detoured During Construction; Motorist Advised to Slow Down and Stay Alert.
As summer approaches, Justin M. Kiska, President of the Board of The Golden Mile Alliance, released the following statement addressing misperceptions about crime along the Golden Mile:
“From the very beginning, those of us on The Golden Mile Alliance knew one of our greatest hurdles would be overcoming misperceptions and misinformation about the Route 40 Corridor. Over the last year, it has become clear the thinking that the Golden Mile is “dead” and nothing is happening simply isn’t true. With the construction underway on the former State Police Barrack’s site and the imminent demolition of the Fredericktowne Mall to make room for the new Frederick Towne Center, along with a number of other projects moving through the planning stages, it is clear things are happening on the Golden Mile. In just a few years, the area will look very different, as many saw at the GMA’s Golden Mile Development Expo last fall.
“Even with the physical changes going on, there is still a mindset that the Golden Mile area is unsafe. Some people even say they won’t come to Route 40 because of the crime. The facts however, point out the reality of the situation. The Golden Mile Corridor, which is broken down into NAC 5 & 8 when the Frederick Police Department is talking about crime statistics, is no better or worse than any other area of Frederick. Unfortunately, that is not the kind of news that gets reported.
“In 2013, almost half the calls logged by the police in NAC 5, the north side of Route 40, were non-criminal or traffic related. In 2014 that percentage increased and then in 2015, non-criminal and traffic incidents became the majority of calls for which the police responded. The statistics for NAC 8, the south side of Route 40, look almost identical.
“More specifically, crimes like assaults and thefts have dropped each year from 2013 to 2015. Again though, information like this doesn’t always make it out to the general public and people end up relying on anecdotes or rumors as facts.
“Unfortunately, people are not always interested in the facts and details. The Route 40 Corridor has the highest concentration of residents in the entire city. Naturally, that means reports of crime will look higher simply because there are more people. Downtown Frederick and the Golden Mile cannot be compared on a one-to-one basis. It would be the same as comparing an apple to an orange.
“The Golden Mile Corridor has no more or less crime than the rest of the City of Frederick. The Frederick Police Department deserves a great deal of credit for what they do to help keep our streets safe. And what they do is obviously working because we are seeing a drop in crime throughout the city.
“There is no way to change people’s perception of the Golden Mile overnight. As it has taken a great deal of time for new development to come to Route 40, it will take time for everyone to realize crime is not running rampant. The Golden Mile Alliance will continue to work to spread the word and provide accurate information about Route 40. Right now that is to let everyone know the Golden Mile is a safe place to work, shop, dine, and live.”
If you were unable to attend the groundbreaking of the Frederick Towne Center, you can watch the entire ceremony and all of the remarks made at the event by following the link below . . .
By Nancy Lavin, Frederick News-Post
Saturday, April 16, 2016
The small scoops of overturned dirt outside the Frederick Towne Mall were barely noticeable to passersby.
But to the mix of elected officials, community leaders and developers who donned hard hats and picked up shovels on Saturday, the groundbreaking represented the first tangible sign of progress toward reviving the long-vacant site.
The project to demolish the former mall at 1301 W. Patrick St. and redevelop the space as a four-building shopping center complete with a 155,000-square-foot Wal-Mart has been in the works for several years. Until Saturday, though, the outward appearance has remained unchanged, fueling public perception that the redevelopment was stalled or had fallen through entirely.
“Until recently, they really hadn’t had anything to see,” said Justin Kiska, president of the Golden Mile Alliance. “I think this proves that things are really happening now on the Golden Mile and at the Frederick Towne Mall.”
Kiska was one of several local leaders who spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony before a crowd of roughly two dozen people. Others, including Frederick Mayor Randy McClement and representatives from the project developer DLC Management Corp. and property owner Rockwood Capital, shared similar words of praise for the significance of the event.
Richard Griffin, city economic development director, pointed to the additional 500,000 square feet of retail development the project will bring — on top of the 1,600,000 square feet existing on the Golden Mile — as evidence of the continued success of the area’s redevelopment.
“Out here on the Golden Mile, it’s a really amazing retail story,” Griffin said.
The new Wal-Mart and additional 16 retail shops planned as part of the four-building Frederick Towne Center project will create additional incentive for businesses and customers to come to west Frederick, McClement added.
The project has faced several delays since receiving the go-ahead from the city Planning Commission in 2014. The proposal required a series of state approvals and permits, as well as modifications to the complex heating and cooling system to ensure that Boscov’s, which will become part of the new development, can remain open during the demolition and new construction.
Dave Severn, an attorney representing Rockwood Capital, acknowledged that the road to approval had been long and arduous, paved with “an extraordinary series of obstacles.”
A few remaining state permits, most notably from the Maryland State Highway Administration, are still pending, but Severn said he hoped to receive final approval within the next month.
The timeline for demolition and new construction will be largely dependent on when those final details are ironed out. Severn said work on the HVAC system would start “fairly soon,” followed by demolition within the next six months.
The demolition and new construction will take about 12 to 16 months, with the 16 retail pad sites slated to open by December 2017, Severn said.
As of Saturday, the 40,000-square-foot shopping center that is part of the project had no confirmed tenants, according to Adam Greenberg, the mid-Atlantic director of leasing for DLC Management Corp. However, Greenberg said the company was in negotiations based on letters of intent with at least 10 potential tenants.
He said he anticipated finalizing leases within the next few months.
The project also includes two smaller buildings anticipated to become restaurant sites. Greenberg could not comment on the status of those buildings because his company is not handling those leases.
The project will also include a mixed-use path and park space along Rock Creek on the site’s northern edge, according to site plans approved by the city. Other improvements include walking paths, a sheltered bus stop, landscaping and connections to adjacent roads and sidewalks.
By Kevin McManus, WFMD Radio
Saturday, April 16, 2016
It’s considered to be an important step in revitalizing the Golden Mile in Frederick. Elected officials and other dignitaries gathered Saturday morning for a groundbreaking at the closed Frederick Town Mall. The plan is to demolish the old mall and replace it with the Frederick Towne Center, which is expected to have 15 retail spaces, anchored by the new Wal Mart Supercenter as well as Boscov’s and Home Depot.
“There’s more than 1.6-million square feet of gross retail space out here on the Golden Mile, not including what we’re about to take down,” says Richard Griffin, the Director of the Department of Economic Development in Frederick. “We’re going to add about another half-million square feet with this project, bringing our total gross square footage of retail out on the Golden Mile to over two-million square feet.”
DLC Management will develop the property. Its Director of Leasing is Adam Greenberg. “Standing here in an empty parking lot in front of a shuttered mall I find it very exciting to envision what’s to come,” he says. “The view from here will be much different in the not-so-distant future. The view will be that of a vibrant town center where people will come to shop. to dine and to gather.” Greenberg says the project is expected to be completed by December, 2017.
Attorney Dave Severn, whose a member of the Board of the Golden Mile Alliance, says this center could be the go-to place in Frederick once again. “This is the place to be in Frederick for a long. And we’re confident that with this redevelopment plan, it will be that place again, along with the rest of the Golden Mile,” he said. He noted that he liked coming to the old Frederick Town Mall in the past because it offered free gift wrapping on Christmas Eve.
Justin Kiska, the President of the Golden Mile Alliance, hopes that the perception of the Golden Mile as the vacant Frederick Town Mall will change with this project. “That image that has come to symbolize the Golden Mile, for good or bad, is finally coming down,” he says;. “And it is going to be replaced by a exciting,vibrant, and bright new addition to the Route 40 Corridor with the Frederick Towne Center.” He says the Frederick Towne Center will have 40,000 square feet of retail space, and that will mean 15 new businesses,including two restaurant sites, at the Frederick Towne Center.
Later on, Greenberg said no leases have been signed by prospective tenants, but there is a strong interest in the site by some retailers.
Frederick City Department of Economic Development
Tuesday, March 10, 2016
In collaboration with The City of Frederick, Golden Mile Alliance, and Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), three businesses along the Golden Mile received facade improvement grants to enhance the image and improve the economic vitality of the corridor.
The City of Frederick received $100,000 from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development to support an expanded facade improvement program along the Patrick Street corridor. The corridor encompasses businesses within the Golden Mile, Downtown Frederick, and East Frederick.
The Golden Mile Alliance Design Committee approved facade improvement grants for Casa Rico, Petersen’s Carpet & Flooring and Vista Shops at Golden Mile.
The facade improvement program will continue in 2016 as The City of Frederick was recently awarded funding for FY2016 by DHCD.Additional communication, including a call for applications will be provided once funding is made available.
CASA RICO
Repair included a new sign, fresh paint for exterior including the roof and gutter replacement.
PETERSEN’S CARPET & FLOORING
Improvements included new stairs and railings, lighting, planter boxes, window casings and a vestibule entrance.
VISTA SHOPS
Improvements included fresh paint,graffiti removal, and new paint color.
By Nancy Lavin, Frederick News Post
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
The red and brown pepper logo of Chipotle Mexican Grill is coming to the eastern entrance to the city of Frederick’s Golden Mile.
The city Planning Commission on Monday unanimously voted to approve final site plans for a Chipotle at the northeast corner of Baughman’s Lane and U.S. 40, on the same property as Motel 6. The proposal submitted by the Baltimore-based development company Southside Investment Partners includes a 2,300-square-foot building with parking, landscaping and other site improvements.
There are also Chipotles on Wormans Mill Road in Frederick and on Buckeystown Pike in Westview Promenade, according to the Chipotle website.
In an interview after the meeting, Ben Hoskins, president of Southside Investment Partners, described Chipotle as a “top of class user” that is respected in the community. Hoskins said groundbreaking would occur later this year, with an opening slated for early 2017.
Chipotle is leasing the site from Southside Investment Partners. The 999 W. Patrick St. property is owned by West Patrick Hospitality LLC, according to state property tax records.
The commission’s approval came with a series of conditions that the developer must meet before construction can begin. They include requirements for the developer to designate pedestrian routes from Baughman’s Lane and the adjacent Motel 6 to the new Chipotle.
A third condition is that the developer might be required to pay for signs at either end of the median that will be constructed on Baughman’s Lane to prohibit motorists from making U-turns.
The median separating traffic down Baughman’s Lane will be added as part of the project to construct a Wawa on the other corner of Baughman’s Lane and U.S. 40.
The Chipotle project plans also call for a median on the southern access point to the site, restricting incoming and outgoing traffic to right turns only. Several commission members expressed concern that the two medians would cause motorists leaving Chipotle to turn right on Baughman’s Lane, then make a U-turn to head toward U.S. 40.
Commission member Ron Burns proposed a “no U-turn” sign to prevent this. Tracy Coleman, the city’s deputy director of engineering, said she did not know if the street would fail the requirements for U-turns.
Ultimately, commission members agreed to add this as a condition if the city engineering department determines the lane width to be inadequate for U-turns and no signage currently exists.
The project incorporates several design features outlined in the city’s small area plan for the Golden Mile, including improvements to on-site traffic flow and better pedestrian and bicyclist access, according to the report submitted by Brandon Mark, a city planner. The building’s proximity to U.S. 40, with just a 100-foot setback from the street, will also “animate the street with active space,” the report stated.
Hoskins described the design as “fairly standard and prototypical” compared with other Chipotles. Plans call for an 88-seat restaurant with an outside patio, 32 parking spaces and four bicycle spaces.
By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Frederick News Post
Friday, March 11, 2016
Two oft-discussed elementary schools, planned in the Urbana and Hillcrest areas, will be built on schedule and open in August 2018, the county announced Thursday. Advocates have spent recent months fighting vigorously for the schools, which are intended to alleviate student overcrowding.
But the timeline for other schools in the years ahead is still jeopardized.
The county will also delay, until fiscal 2019, renovations to southern Boyers Mill Road, from the “bridge south to Old National Pike,” Gardner said. Three fire stations that were requested, but never included in the county capital plan, also won’t be funded — a Hamptons West fire station, a Jefferson Tech Park fire station and a downtown Frederick station.
County Executive Jan Gardner on Thursday announced the developer partnership. These developers will front the costs of the state share of funding — a total of about $27 million — on three projects: the new Frederick High School, which is under construction, and the two elementary schools, Sugarloaf Elementary School, in Urbana, and Butterfly Ridge Elementary, in Frederick.
That $27 million will be split evenly between the two developers, Natelli Communities and Elm Street Development. The breakdown of the $27 million will be $9.8 million for Frederick High School, $6.8 million for Sugarloaf Elementary and $10.2 million for Butterfly Ridge Elementary.
The developers will put up a letter of credit. The county will borrow the state share of what the schools would cost, and the developers agree to carry the interest on the bond. This is known as “forward-funding.”
Other projects are still endangered in future years, officials said.
Future state money would need to be redirected to pay off the debt — which may take roughly five years, Gardner said — instead of other school construction in the later years.
Beyond the elementary schools, Frederick County Public Schools has sought an addition to Waverley Elementary School, a new or renovated Rock Creek School, and a new elementary school in the eastern part of the county. Gardner also announced Thursday a task force to examine school construction solutions. Still, no one can yet identify where the county will scrounge up more funding.
“I have committed to the developers who have stepped forward that I will help them and be part of the solution to find the out-year strategy, as well,” said M.C. Keegan-Ayer, vice president of the County Council. “Because if we’re not all working together, this boat is going over the waterfall.”
County officials were in months of talks with the developers before arriving at a compromise.
The fee that developers pay when they want to build near an overcrowded school, a mitigation fee, now remains unchanged. Gardner had proposed a sharp increase in the fee late October, to developers’ chagrin. The legislation to alter the mitigation fee is being considered by the Frederick County Council. Council members approved an amendment to that bill to leave the mitigation fee untouched, though it still imposes an automatic annual adjustment of the fee.
The option for developers to use a mitigation fee will end in July. Gardner, who opposes mitigation fees, said she knows the development community has expressed interest in having this extended. Legislation has not yet been proposed on this front.
Gardner’s other proposal, a boost to county impact fees — which are also levied on developers and channeled toward school construction — is still before the County Council, though the increase is spread out over two years instead of one. Gardner said she is including increases to impact fees in her budget, but not mitigation fees.
Natelli Communities, led by its president and chief executive officer, Tom Natelli, is a chief developer in Urbana. Elm Street Development, represented by Vice President Jason Wiley, is the developer of Lake Linganore, as well as Eastchurch, a project on the east side of the city of Frederick.
In interviews, both Natelli and Wiley said that they worked with the county government to develop both a solution to school construction woes and find benefits for builders. Natelli signed on to a county-developer collaboration last fall and recruited Wiley into the conversation.
“There was creative thinking on everybody’s part, including the [county] executive’s staff,” Wiley said. “Our objection was the fee increases that were being proposed that would not be bearable. We had to have some sort of alternative solution. In the business of compromise, everybody kind of gives a little.”
Both local and state officials have fretted over the rising costs of school construction, which they have attributed to market conditions and state mandates. The high costs have been evident in the Frederick High project, officials have said, with the most recent estimate being $112 million.
The school construction situation was critical, Keegan-Ayer said. Urbana Elementary School is at 135 percent of its state-rated capacity, according to September school district data, and Hillcrest Elementary, in Frederick, is at 140 percent of its capacity.
Crunching the numbers also unearthed that the county fell short in funding on the new Frederick High School. Without the developer partnership, Gardner said in an interview, the county would have been able to advance only one elementary school on time. This solution also allows the demolition of the current building and construction of a new Urbana Elementary, Gardner said.
On Thursday, Gardner also named members to an ad hoc panel, the brainchild of two County Council Republicans, Tony Chmelik and Kirby Delauter. This task force is narrow in focus and will examine the possibility of the private sector paying for school construction, then leasing the facilities back to the Board of Education.
A formal agreement will be signed by the county, Natelli Communities and Elm Street within 30 to 45 days, according to Natelli.
Frederick’s Focus, WFMD Radio
Saturday, March 5, 2016
The Golden Mile Alliance’s President, Justin M. Kiska, appeared on WFMD’s “Frederick’s Focus” to discuss the redevelopment of the old Fredericktowne Mall site and other changes coming to the Golden Mile. Follow the link below to listen to the interview.
If you were unable to attend the groundbreaking of the Frederick Towne Center, you can watch the entire ceremony and all of the remarks made at the event by following the link below . . .
