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Frederick's Board of Aldermen responded coolly last week to a $21 million development proposal recommended for Carroll Creek Linear Park.

Developer Mark Carroll LLC's plan includes 119,000 square feet of mixed-use space with 27 residences and 14,000 square feet of retail and commercial space to be built behind the current multilevel amphitheater in the middle of the park.

The project was recommended by a selection committee composed of city department heads. Since May, the committee has been reviewing two proposals to fill a 0.39-acre parcel next to the Carroll Creek Park amphitheater.

The city sought to fill the space with development that could enhance the arts scene along Carroll Creek. Proposals had to include a concession space, public restrooms and an artist changing area for the amphitheater. It also required a storage area for the city's Department of Parks and Recreation.

The Mark Carroll project, which would sit south of the amphitheater and front All Saints Street, was one of the two responses to a request for proposals in March.

Mark Carroll's project beat out an $11 million proposal for a 37,359 square-foot Performing Arts Center, proposed by the Carroll Creek Charting Committee and financed by the Ausherman Family Foundation.

The project proposed a 350-seat performance space and a multipurpose black-box theatre, and would operate as a nonprofit.

The Mark Carroll project outscored the Performing Arts Center 81-60, based on the criteria set by the city. The Performing Arts Center scored lower primarily because it did not include a requirement outlined in the city's request, and depended heavily on public funding, selection committee members said.

The committee was made up of the directors of economic development, planning, budget and purchasing, parks and recreation, facilities administration and the mayor's executive assistant.

The recommended project, which included required, desired and not even solicited amenities, was essentially rejected by the Board of Aldermen last week, who said they wanted more information about the Performing Arts Center before they made a decision. The Ausherman-financed proposal was made public in May, and had been shopped around to some aldermen throughout what was supposed to be a confidential review process.

Rand Weinberg, the attorney representing Mark Carroll, LLC, discouraged aldermen from turning the process into an "open competition," emphasizing that the competition was governed by the city's Request for Proposals process.

"My position is we believe they should follow the rules as set forth in the Request for Proposals that the city put out and my clients responded to," Weinberg said Monday. "Not to redo the competition again. If that's the procedure they wanted, they should've set it up that way."

Richard Griffin, director of the city's Department of Economic Development and a member of the selection committee, explained to the aldermen last week why the Mark Carroll project was more in line with what the city advertised.

"While [the Performing Arts Center proposal] provided most everything, they did not provide for the parks maintenance facility that had been requested," Griffin told aldermen.

Griffin also said the committee had concerns about the center's reliance on government and taxpayer funding, especially in tough economic times. The Ausherman Family Foundation would front the construction and startup costs of the project, but the center would ultimately operate as a nonprofit. The Mark Carroll project stands to generate about $136,500 in tax revenue per year.

Some aldermen said the Mark Carroll project, while impressive and in line with the city request, didn't quite address their intent for the space.

Alderman Alan Imhoff (R) — who said the plans for the Performing Arts Center were sent to him, but he did not view them — came out strongest against the Mark Carroll recommendation, saying it grossly exceeded the vision for the lot. He said the intent was always to enhance the amphitheater for outdoor and live performance space with lighting and public facilities.

"For me, it doesn't address the question of how to improve the performance space at the theater ... It does some nice stuff around it," he said. "Both of the designs are just too intense."

Others said they saw some complications ahead, because the Performing Arts Center group had made its plans public, which is prohibited in the Request for Proposals. According to the city's advertised request, "proposals shall not be available for inspection ... until ... an award has been made."

Alderman Donna Kuzemchak (D) said the aldermen should go back and look at both proposals, compare them with the bid request that was advertised, and see where the city went wrong. But, she said she believed that because some aldermen had seen the Performing Arts Center plans throughout the selection process — though she did not — there could be problems with moving forward.

"The purpose of putting out [a Request for Proposals] is to make sure there's not bias toward a group ahead of time," she said. "I'm not sure by looking at the situation that it's not putting bias into it. If other people saw the plans before [last week], there are some problems."

Alderman Marcia Hall (D), who admitted that she had seen plans for the Performing Arts Center, said that she thought both proposals were imaginative, but could foresee problems with some aldermen seeing the plans in advance. Alderman C. Paul Smith (R) also said that he had viewed the plans before.

The group presenting the Performing Arts Center confirmed that it had sought input from the community and aldermen about the project, but did not know how it was leaked to the media in May.

"We were shocked at the aldermen's response," said Carrie Delente, who chairs the Carroll Creek Center Charting Committee. "We figured it would just be pushed to the next administration."

Plans for the site remain up in the air, and all parties involved said they did not know when the plans would come before the aldermen again. Aldermen do have the right to reject proposals and ignore irregularities in the selection process, according to the Request for Proposals.

Mayor W. Jeff Holtzinger (R), who did not attend the meeting when the recommendation was made, said that aldermen should be careful with how loosely they follow process.

"If there was a recommendation by the group who considered it, to me, the appropriate thing to do would have been to accept or deny the recommendation," Holtzinger said. "You have to be very careful when you bid things, and how you handle it from that point. There was an expectation given, and if we didn't follow that, there may be some ramifications."

E-mail Erica L. Green at egreen@gazette.net.