Residents: City strategic plan is vague, lacks university focus

Residents questioned the College Park City Council's strategic plan last night for lacking specifics and not placing enough emphasis on building relationships with the university.

The plan, which has been in development since August, aims to set guidelines and goals for the council to follow over the next five years. It is expected to be finalized in April.

While a poll of city residents showed building a stronger relationship with the university was a low priority for most, the residents who spoke last night emphasized what the university could do for College Park.

Fourteen-year resident Phil Sawicki said he hopes to spend the rest of his life in College Park and expressed some criticism of the plan.

"I hesitate to say this because I know a lot of well-meaning people put a lot of effort in this plan, but when I read it, I was disappointed," he said.

Sawicki explained he saw a lot of what in the plan but little ‘how.' He also had hoped the plan had more of a connection with the school it shares its town with.

"What do you do with the 300 pound gorilla in the road, namely the University of Maryland?" he asked. "The city has problems when it comes to the university."

Mayor Andy Fellows said the vagueness of the strategic plan was intentional.

"The intent of the strategic plan so far is to really be general," he said, while also addressing specific concerns about working with the university. "There's a real strong desire to strengthen the [city's] relationship with the university, and I think the action plan is going to address some of those issues."

Bob Seward, another resident, followed Sawicki's metaphor — which District 2 Councilmember Jack Perry has used in the past — and urged the council to "engage the gorilla." A third resident said students were an untapped resource for the city.

Nearly every speaker echoed Seward and Sawicki, but city research shows most residents have university-city relations at the bottom of their minds, while public safety was at the top.

Of the 25 issues residents were polled about, "Encourage physical and visual integration between the City and the University" garnered the lowest score of extreme importance and "Create a college-town atmosphere" garnered third-fewest.

While no students attended the event, School of Music professor William Montgomery, a 25-year-resident of the city, had the night's most optimistic outlook.

Montgomery, a former Senate chair who helped lead the crafting of the university's strategic plan three years ago, lauded the city's efforts.

"I see this is a time when the university and the city can work together to create whatever is really the best for College Park in general," he said. "I don't think the city would be much without the university and I don't think the university would be much without the city, and I think we're starting to realize that."

Councilmembers said comments from the roughly one dozen residents in attendance would influence the final version of the plan.

"I believe this is an ambitious plan for the city for the next five years," District 3 Councilwoman Stephanie Stullich said. "We heard a lot from the community ...  and we really took that to heart."   

rhodes@umdbk.com