Second Cafritz Appeal Could Cost University Park $20K

By Jenni Pompi 

The road to a Whole Foods in Prince George’s County just got a little rockier.

The University Park Town Council voted 5-2 Monday night to appeal the Cafritz development Preliminary Plan of Subdivision in circuit court. This move comes after the council spent nearly an hour and a half in executive session with council discussing Cafritz legal matters.

• UMD, Cafritz Developers Near Property Sale Agreement
• Find Fourth of July Fireworks Around Maryland
• Two Sex Abuse Cases Reported, Firefighters Rescue Cat from…
• Revitalizing Riverdale Park's Town Center

“To me, it’s the PPS that started everything off,” James Gekas (Ward 2) said. “It’s intertwined so much with the DSP and it’s such an important action for us to do and pursue the case as much as we can so that one way or another we have no regrets.”

Last week, the council voted unanimously to appeal the detailed site plan for the development to the Prince George’s County Planning Board. The DSP includes 126 townhomes, 855 multi-family units and just over 187,000 square feet of commercial space in neighboring Riverdale Park. The commercial space is slated to include the first Whole Foods grocery store in Prince George's County.

The appeal of the preliminary plan, however, will be heard in district court.

Council member Heidi Sorensen (Ward 5), who also supported the measure, advocated seeing the appeal through the entire process no matter the cost to the town, which was estimated by town attorneys to range from $20,000 to $30,000.

“We have to be in it through the end. I don’t think $20,000 to $30,00 is an overestimate, it’s an underestimate,” Sorenson said.  “If I’m going to vote to support it, I’m going to vote to support it through to the end.”

Council members Len Carey (Ward 4) and Roy Alvarez (Ward 7) both voted against the measure, citing the potential costs the town could incur should the appeal move forward.

“I believe that this will be a huge financial burden to the town with minimal results. I don’t think that we would gain anything from an appeal to this,” Alvarez said.

Carey echoed Alvarez’s sentiments about the cost of the appeal, adding that he felt the town could achieve the results it wanted via the appeal of the detailed site plan, which he voted to support at last week’s meeting.

“We are looking at 4-0 vote by the planning board, a  7-2 vote by the council, and $20,000 to $30,000 cost to the town,” Carey said, citing the possible cost of the appeal were the town to pursue it to the end point.

The initial cost of filing the the appeal would be small, according to Gekas, who also said the town could pull out of the lawsuit should the financial burden proved too great. University Park resident Jayson Amster agreed with Gekas and urged the town to support the preliminary plan appeal, saying that initial cost to file the appeal would be $145, plus minimal lawyers fees.

“If you don't appeal the PPS you are undercutting any appeal on the DSP,” Amster said.

Council members David Brosch and Michael Cron agreed with Sorenson, that no matter the cost, the town should pursue the appeal of the Cafritz preliminary plans as far as it could.

“I believe that they need to be held accountable for what they are doing, for what they have done and especially for what they have not done,” Cron said.

The council voted to move forward with the appeal 5-2, with Carey and Alvarez dissenting.