ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 14, 1996 TAG: 9604120046
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: COLUMBIA, MD.
SOURCE: JOHN HENDREN ASSOCIATED PRESS
James Rouse planned everything but a cemetery when he carved this suburban community out of farmland in 1968. The graveyard where he is being buried wasn't added until 1986.
Rouse, who died last Tuesday of Lou Gehrig's disease at age 81, began with a vision that has been copied and modified by countless planners after him: a suburban oasis of integration and open space where different religions worship at ``interfaith centers'' and residents park in communal lots. Walking paths meander around the lakes and forests that nestle against villages of $500-a-month apartments and $400,000 homes.
But Rouse's vision has collided with reality. And the lack of a cemetery is only a small part of the story.
In its 28th year, Columbia faces rising crime, resentment over the private homeowners association that runs it and the tight rules it sets, and economic segregation. Now there's even traffic congestion.
``I loved it before, it was quieter. There weren't so many overpasses. ... But we love Columbia,'' said Ruth Dreifuss, who has lived there for a decade.
The town, a bedroom community for commuters to both Washington and Baltimore, has grown to an estimated 90,000 residents. But it is still run by the Columbia Association, a community group formed by The Rouse Co., the real estate business James Rouse founded in 1939.
The company is not a member of the association, but it still owns 2,500 undeveloped acres in the 14,000-acre community, plus 200 acres that include the town mall and most other retail property.
A vocal minority of residents last year unsuccessfully revived an effort to incorporate Columbia, which would have made it Maryland's second-largest city. Rouse opposed the move.
Residents pay annual fees averaging $1,000 for a single family home, for maintaining recreational areas and other amenities, and many of them want more say over how that $32 million in fees each year is spent.
Unlike property taxes in incorporated cities, the fees are not tax deductible.
Many residents also dislike the one property-one vote system used to elect members to the citizens' board that sets the association's sometimes obscure policies.
Those rules include time limits on holiday decorations, and a ban on parking recreational vehicles in front of homes.
And Columbia is split into villages, each of which also sets its own rules. In the Owen Brown village, for example, grass must be cut to a certain height, a special committee has to approve new paint colors for each house, and woodpiles can't be higher than your fence.
Columbia Association President Padraic Kennedy points out that the incorporation effort was never popular enough to get on the ballot.
``The fundamental premises on which Columbia was founded clearly are still there,'' Kennedy said. ``Columbia was meant to be a caring, racially integrated community and it stands out as a beacon in that respect.''
Columbia's violent crime rate, at 1.9 incidents per 1,000 residents, remains a mere fraction of the 23.4 reported in 1995 in nearby Baltimore County, which also includes Baltimore, and the 7.3 average statewide.
Still, the overall crime rate has risen in recent years, with violent incidents that can sound more urban than suburban. In December, a woman was killed by a former neighbor; police said it began as an argument over a parking space.
Critics also say the dream of an integrated suburban wonderland has fallen short.
Columbia was residentially mixed when other municipalities were still trying to integrate schools. By the time of the 1990 census, it was 75 percent white, 18 percent black, and 5 percent Asian.
``But there are pockets that have become low-income and unfortunately mostly black,'' said Larry Madarass, a Howard County Community College professor who has lived in Columbia since 1970.
Columbia has not fulfilled Rouse's vision in the religious sphere, either: Fourteen congregations share Columbia's four interfaith centers, but several others have opted out.
``A church loses somewhat of its identity being eaten up into what I would consider a corporate model,'' said Darrell Baker, senior associate pastor at Covenant Baptist Church, which built its own house of worship.
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. River Hill was the last village of Columbia, Md., aby CNBplanned community, built by the late James W. Rouse. The community,
which was started in 1968, has grown to 90,000 residents and some
things have happened there that weren't planned.