In its draft master plan prepared in response to the county's vision plan for Columbia's downtown, General Growth Properties has involved experts in every aspect of the proposal, and as a result there are many exciting and creative ideas being generated for Columbia's future. Needless to say, there are still some very serious issues that have yet to be addressed, which include a detailed phasing plan for density, residential units and office and retail spaces with supporting infrastructure such as schools, roads, traffic and funding sources.

I commend GGP for the use of a series of public forums to present their plan, but I urge them to incorporate all comments generated in these forums to improve the plan prior to submission to the County Council and the Planning Board.

Recently, GGP mailed a letter and survey to residents of Columbia asking residents to "feel free to lend your support of the plan by marking one of the options" provided. There were three options and none of the answers permitted a dissenting opinion of the plan.

Given the enormous resources that have been committed by GGP to create and develop the draft master plan, I was taken aback by the fact that the questions in the survey were all of a leading nature and will most likely invalidate any data that is collected from the survey. No matter how many people complete the survey, it cannot be statistically valid and it will not represent any reality in the community.

My fear is that the data from this survey may well be used by GGP to convey a position which does not accurately reflect the opinions of the community to the County Council and Planning Board.

GGP has done a very good job to this point ensuring that people are heard at the public forums. Why have they now chosen to use a data collection tool that even the most unsophisticated observer recognizes as invalid and unreliable?

Cynthia Coyle

Harper's Choice

Cynthia Coyle is a member of the Columbia Association's board of directors.

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