Inner Arbor Trust President Says Meetings Not Public

Despite receiving more than $1 million from a publicly-funded homeowners association, the trust charged with developing Symphony Woods will not make their meetings public, according to its newly installed president.

Although the Inner Arbor Trust received $1.6 million from Columbia Association (CA) to help with initial operations, Michael McCall said the trust is a "private, not-for-profit entity" and therefore its meetings would not be made public to residents or the press.

The association raises its funds with mandatory fees paid by every Columbia resident.

Questions about the trust's transparency has led to disagreements between CA's Board members and public controversy.

At the Feb. 14 CA Board meeting, a majority of the residents who testified pressed the board about the concept plan's cost and who will pay for the proposed features.

Neither Columbia Association nor McCall, who is also the plan's designer, has estimated the cost of the plan.

The trust, which is responsible for developing Symphony Woods into an area attraction, appointed four new directors and McCall as its president and CEO at a meeting on May 10. The trust is a separate, nonprofit entity and was granted the right to develop Symphony Woods by CA's Board. CA owns the land that is now Symphony Woods. The trust is currently in the process of trying to be recognized as a 501(c)3 charitable organization by the IRS.

When asked for a copy of the trust's bylaws, McCall said in the email to arrange an appointment to review the bylaws and take notes on them.

"As with most private, not-for-profit entities, the Bylaws will be made available for review and note taking, upon appointment," wrote McCall.

Patch has obtained a copy of the bylaws and posted them above.

Columbia Association declined to comment on the operations of the trust.

Gregg Schwind, the vice-chair of CA's Board and director of the trust, said in an email that Symphony Woods has been the subject of many public meetings over several years, culminating in the Inner Arbor Plan.

"Looking forward, there are public meetings according to the county process, at every step of development as plans are finalized and submitted to the Planning Board for approval," Schwind wrote. "No one is leaving the public or press out of the process; we couldn't even if we wanted to, and no one wants to." 

But, two CA Board members—Russ Swatek and Alex Hekimian—have openly questioned the Inner Arbor Plan. They said the trust's objection to public meetings has confirmed their fears about the trust's management of the development.

"They're using money from CA," said Hekimian. "It's not like it's money they earned from their skill and know how. They got it automatically from CA and CA got its money from a mandatory charge."

Hekimian said he didn't vote for the proposal when the CA board approved it on Feb. 14 because no commitments were made to make the trust open and transparent to the public.

Swatek said the decision to not make meetings of the trust's board public doesn't bode well for the community.

"I think it's indicative that the president is already saying the meetings won't be open," said Swatek. "This is exactly what the community is afraid of."

Tom Coale, a CA Board member and a public supporter of the Inner Arbor Plan, said in an email, "Due to the nature of this organization, and the necessity to conduct vendor selection, contract negotiations, and confidential business dealings... I think it would be difficult to expect them to make their meetings open."

He said it will be important for the trust to hold bi-annual public meetings to detail the board's activities as well as solicit community feedback. He said the responsibility is on CA to make their dealings with the trust as transparent as possible.

In addition to CA funds, the County Council also passed an amendment to the 2014 budget that alloted $4.5 million to develop the Symphony Woods area in a separate account administered by the Department of Finance and the Department of Planning and Zoning. This account allows a maximum of $3.5 million to be used to develop the amphitheater in Symphony Woods and up to another $1 million to fund planning, design and engineering for a new center for the arts.

The budget was approved earlier this month. Patch could not immediately confirm on Tuesday if these funds would be allocated to the Inner Arbor Trust, although a message was left with Mark Thompson, the county's director of downtown development.

McCall said in an email there will be "many" compulsory and voluntary meetings for the trust to communicate with the public, and used as an example a booth set up for two days at Wine in the Woods.

The plan, which was unveiled in January, features an arts village with restaurants, a community center, a new CA headquarters, a dinner theater and a plaza. The rest of plan includes an elevated tree canopy walkway, a large sculpture and an amphitheater in the woods.

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