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Welcome to the February 4th episode of This Week@CA, your source for weekly updates on what’s happening at Columbia Association.
We start this week’s episode with the latest updates:
Come out this Friday for the grand finale of the Starlicious Talent Show, which will feature talented kids from Howard County between the ages of 8 and 13.
These finalists began the competition with auditions in January, and now will perform beginning at 6 p.m. at the Columbia Gym’s Youth Arena in the village of River Hill.
Tickets will be available at the door: $5 for adults and $2 for children between the ages of 3 and 13.
Columbia Association is seeking applicants for an at-large position on the Architectural Resource Committee.
Applicants must have a background in covenant enforcement
architecture or other appropriate experience
have their principal residence on CA-assessed property
and shall maintain their property in compliance with the covenants.
The appointment is for one year.
Letters of interest should be sent by Feb. 22 to Michelle.Miller@ColumbiaAssociation.org.
All of Columbia Association’s deals, giveaways and specials can now be found in one place — on Twitter, via @CA_Specials.
Those following the @CA_Specials Twitter account will notice a weekly theme
For example, one week might revolve around CA’s group fitness classes, while the next week could focus on the Columbia Swim Center.
The deals will be available both to CA members and non-members.
Columbia will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2017 but Columbia Archives has begun to mark the occasion
because the story of Columbia begins many years before the first residents moved in.
In February 1963, there was a flurry of land sales in Howard County.
A jump big enough to prompt headlines such as "Secret Land Grab in Howard."
We now know that the land grabs was actually the land acquisition for Columbia
but even that was not the beginning of the story of Columbia
The exhibit at the Archives "The Idea and the Gamble" takes a look at the genesis of Columbia
The convergence of Jim Rouse's thinking and the suburbanization of Howard County
The exhibits highlights speeches made by Rouse in the 1950s about the quality of life
And overcrowded, deteriorated cities and the rise of the suburbs that offered better housing and more open space
But lack the services that contribute to a higher quality of life
The less told story of Columbia is the prospect of the suburbanization of Howard County
The question was how and when it would develop not if.
The exhibit focuses on the 1960 general plan which introduced new zoning uses and called for projections in the
rise of population from 36,000 to 200,000 in the year 2000.
The exhibit's a good start but it only scratches the surface.
The Archives has much more and the public is encouraged to come in and spend some time with the documents
In the early 1960s, the Howard County Citizen Association formed and they had a newsletter called "Box Pop"
They accurately reported that the fight for good zoning never ends.
So what were some of those development issues that they reported on?
In October 1961, at the zoning hearing residents expressed unanimous opposite to the apartment house zoning in the vicinity of Rogers Avenue and Route 40.
November 1961, Howard County is undergoing a metamorphous that has become common throughout the United States
Surbanides are moving into a county where population growth has been static of 100 years
The conversion of some of the best farm land in Howard County into houses, driveways,roads, etc. is symptomatic of the
national problem in which of 1 million years acres of the country's best farmland are chewed up by expanding surbbia
In April 1962, the major issue facing Howard County is what direction its inevitable growth will take
will howard county develop like some of its neighboring counies with thousands of houses virtually on top of each other?
or will Howard County maintain much of its rural residential charm with homes on spacious lots with highways free of clutter
and with farms operating without harassment
April 1963, the battle for orderly growth and spacious peaceful living in Howard County will be grim and prolonged
in the last fews month, in particularly the last few weeks, enormous amounts of land have changed hands
From February to October 1963, the Rouse Company purchased about 14,000 acres.
The story of Jim Rouse and his colleagues took the edges of a city to a county that wanted to preserve its residential rural charm is the next chapter the story.
Follow the columbia archives on Facebook where are tracing the history of 50 years ago, today.
And now for what’s up soon:
The Columbia Association Board of Directors is scheduled to continue discussion of the proposed Inner Arbor concept plan
for Symphony Woods at its regular scheduled meeting on Thursday, Feb. 14, at 7:30 p.m. at CA Headquarters.
There will be an opportunity for resident speakout.
How can local residents, Columbia Association (CA) and the Howard County Government work to effectively slow the flow of damaging rainwater runoff?
And what should people know about the stormwater utility fee that the county government will be enacting?
Those topics will be discussed by experts at “Sustainable Stormwater Management,” the latest in CA’s Community Building Speakers Series.
The forum, which is being co-hosted by CA’s Watershed Advisory Committee
and is being held on Thursday, Feb. 21, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Slayton House in the Wilde Lake Village Center.
Light refreshments will be served. A meet and greet will begin at 6:30 p.m.
That’s it for this episode of This Week@CA.
For more news on what’s going on in Columbia, check out our blog, CA Today, at ColumbiaAssociation.org/CAToday.
This is David Greisman. Have a great week, Columbia!