A Downtown School Site Discussion

HayDuke doesn’t like the idea of putting a school in the Crescent site in downtown Columbia. He ends his post by saying he is open to being convinced that a school site should be an option, so let’s start a discussion and collectively brainstorm about this idea. First, I think we need to clear out early assumptions.

HayDuke assumes the design of the school as not a “nice, little neighborhood school buildings that double as community meeting places and ballfields for organized and non-organized play”. Instead he assumes it will be a massive, unwelcoming, aesthetically-grotesque complexes that are more akin to penal institutions than educational ones (as many of the new schools he feels are built are). I think this is a false assumption. We can design the school whatever way the community thinks is best. School Board member and candidate for the County Council Mary Kay Sigaty has spoken about the need to examine a different type of school design for any school downtown. Why cannot the school double as a community meeting place? Many community groups use school space for their events at schools all over the county. In fact, one of the needs brought up at the last focus group was the need for community centers. More people living downtown will mean more community groups needing spaces to meet and the school and also serve this purpose. Also more people means more demand for ball fields. If we are building green topped buildings, why cannot we locate a soccer field on the roof of the building enclosed in a Plexiglas wall. On my metro ride everyday I pass a basketball court located on the roof of a building enclosed with a wall high enough to keep the ball in. This increases the use made out of the space and provides playing fields for downtown residents.

HayDuke also assumes the school will be “surrounded by massive lots of surface parking”. This isn’t necessarily the case. If the school is an elementary or middle school, which seems most likely the case, then the parking will be needed for staff and some parents who are volunteering, but the parking could be designed so that it is a garage that seconds as Merriweather parking in the evenings. With concerts being forced to end by 10pm due to the current noise ordinances (which I remember being said at the first focus group meeting, but I am sure HayDuke, who is master of all things Merriweather will correct me if I am wrong) then concert will need to start by 7pm and with concertgoers starting to arrive an hour before a concert at 6pm and more office workers these days working later not all parking geared for office workers will be available for concert parking, but school parking (particularly for elementary and middle schools) could provide a great supplement.

HayDuke assumes that with space limited it is best to keep schools out of downtown. This is a mistake, because space is limited in all of Columbia (some might argue in all of Howard County), so unless we bus the kids long distances space will need to be found in Columbia. One of the nice things about Ken Ulman pushing for comprehensive planning of downtown rather than the piecemeal that was happening before he pushed for the charrette, is we can plan for the space so we don’t worsen the overcrowding of our schools. Though a site at Sunny Spring has been mentioned for a school, until we have a better grasp of the numbers of students created by the new residential units it is wise to plan for a school site that can be phase in if later needed. (Since the Crescent looks likely to be part of the later phases of the downtown redevelopment, the Crescent school location has the added bonus of being something that can be held in reserve in case it is needed and if it isn’t needed it can be used for other needs.) I also would add that a downtown school site 1) adds to the vitality the area, 2) adds activity to the community as kids walk to school, 3) add eyes to the street in the mornings and afternoons, 4) adds economic incentives for businesses such as toy stores, bakeries, ice cream parlors, comic bookstores, kids bookstores, hobby shops, arts and crafts supply shops, music stores, and sporting goods stores to locate downtown where kids might stop in after school. I grew up in Owen Brown and often would walk over to the Baskin Robins or the bookstore after school when I was in middle school.

The bottom line for me is that if you build more residential you are going to get more kids needing schools. Kids add vitality to a neighborhood and we should be careful not to segregate them out of our downtown. One of the complaints of those of us who grew up in Columbia was there was not enough stuff to do and a good design can help chance that. Most lively downtowns have kids and schools and if we design the school right we can make it fit in to the rest of downtown without sacrificing other amenities. In fact, it might be a great way to enhance the surrounding area. The schools parking can serve Merriweather. The school could have a blackbox theater or jazz space. The school could have a pre-teen activities area like the Teen Center at The Barn. The school if locates on the east side of the Crescent could have a nature center connected to it. The school can be used at meeting space. We can be creative with a space scarcity and by doing so get more bang for our buck out of land use.

We are on our way to a new downtown and we can in typical Columbia fashion find new solutions. We should not be limited by what has been done before. We must also not fall into the mistakes of Bush's Iraq War "planning" and base our plans on rosy estimates. The last thing we want are more overcrowded schools or a road infrastructure not able to handle the new users. Lets plan for the maximum need and then a little more so that we don't get caught with longterm problems. Creative fixes are easier and cheaper to do if we plan them in advance before constructution than trying to retrofit solutions.