On a recent Friday afternoon, the scene outside the decades-old office buildings of Columbia Gateway is eerily quiet.

Few people are strolling outside, and there are parking lots as far as the eye can see. The tired late-summer sun shines on the occasional car driving along the streets, which pass “For Lease” signs at almost every other building.

Howard County planners have talked for years about transforming the business district’s 1,100 acres once again, perhaps to create a more downtown feel.

A few years ago, the county pitched the district to Amazon as a possible home for HQ2, the company’s planned second campus. The online retailer picked Arlington, Virginia, over many cities and counties. County Executive Calvin Ball, like his predecessor Allan Kittleman, has said he would like to see the district become a technology hub.

Now the county has launched a process to develop a master plan for the district, which sits snug between Interstate 95 and Route 175.

At a Sept. 18 public meeting, almost 100 people turned out to look over three potential visions for Gateway prepared by a consulting firm. They included:

* The Woonerf, which would feature a “spine” through the center that serves as the primary spot to gather as a community.

* Town Square, which would focus on the center of Gateway as the main focal point and create a “Main Street,” similar to the Merriweather District.

* Nodes, which would build off the existing in-use buildings along Snowden River Parkway and create multiple pockets of places for activity spread out across the area.

County Councilwoman Christiana Rigby said the Woonerf plan excites her because it differs the most from what is already in the county. She said the two other plans remind her of Color Burst Park in the Merriweather District and Maple Lawn in Fulton.

“The winds are going in the right direction for Gateway’s success,” she said. “I really do believe this is an exciting opportunity for our county and our community to decide how we want to grow in this area.”

Located about 5 miles southeast of The Mall at Columbia, the Gateway district emerged at a time when suburban office and industrial parks, mostly reachable by car, were sprouting up around the area.

A short distance away, department stories like Marshalls, HomeGoods and Hobby Lobby line Snowden River Parkway, the northwest corridor of Gateway. Workers can top off their gas tanks at a Shell gas station or get some chicken fingers at Raising Cane’s.

HoCo By Design — the general plan that the county adopted almost a year ago — calls for turning Gateway into an innovation district. County planners say the idea is to create “a regional destination for new research and ideas within an area that is dynamic, mixed-use, connected, and creative.”

Ball said the business park represents the next frontier of major redevelopment in the county.

“This area presents a unique opportunity to create a premier center for job-creating American innovation — from employers to researchers — strategically located in the heart of the Baltimore-Washington corridor,” Ball said in a written statement. “Guided by a representative cross-section of stakeholders and in collaboration with our broader community, we are designing a transformational place that will redefine how people of all ages live, work, learn, play, grow, and thrive in a smart, energy-independent, walkable and connected district of the future.”

The county hopes to finalize a plan for the district by next spring.

All three master plan concepts call for an innovation district within Gateway, as well as mixed-use developments with a focus on residential properties, said Lynda Eisenberg, the county’s planning director.

“We know housing is a challenge in Howard County,” Eisenberg said at last week’s meeting. “How can Gateway be part of providing that type of housing mix [and] emphasize educational and community facilities?”

County planners and consultants are looking at carving out 100 to 200 acres within Gateway to create walkable, livable and workable communities, said Laura O’Blenis, president and CEO of Stiletto, a consultant on the project.

Residents who attended the recent public meeting had a lot of questions about what the transformation —should it come to pass — would look like.

Some attendees were concerned about how new residential units would affect school zoning, and wanted to know whether the new housing would be for renters or home buyers. Others were more interested in the site’s sustainability and small business opportunities. But because the meeting was more to share the three potential plans and gather feedback from residents, there wasn’t much that was tangible in the plan, leaving some people with unanswered questions.

Jackie Eng, who attended the meeting, said she hopes the innovation district will have a balance of high-tech and small businesses and include affordable housing. She called for a deeper discussion between county planners and residents.

“It was a good start but I think we’ll be interested in details,” Eng said.

Grace Kubofcik agreed that an innovation district would likely draw more people with higher incomes, but added that lower-paid employees and their housing needs to be considered in Gateway’s future.

“There is an underlying need in this county to provide opportunities for those who are not in high tech,” she said.

Kubofcik pointed to downtown Columbia, where she noted that housing is not moving forward because commercial properties are not keeping pace with the need. “It has impeded the opportunity of affordability.”

She said she hopes that when Gateway begins its next chapter, buildings within its boundaries are repurposed in different ways.

Rigby, whose district includes Gateway, said there are willing and interested property owners within the business district who want to be part of its growth. She said the county is looking at creating enterprise zone tax credits – which Howard County does not currently have — and believes they “would be a draw for people to invest in Gateway as an opportunity.”

Gateway’s history

The actual construction of Gateway’s makeover wouldn’t be completed for another decade or two, Eisenberg said.

But this isn’t the area’s first facelift. Gateway was initially called Appliance Park East, aptly named after an appliance manufacturing facility constructed on the plot of land.

General Electric built the plant on land purchased from businessman and developer James Rouse shortly after he founded Columbia in 1967. Appliance Park East existed for about two decades, until Rouse bought back the area more than three decades ago, turning it into the suburban office park known today as Columbia Gateway.

Across the site, there are 140 individual property owners. About 25% of the area — or 284 acres — is designated as industrial use, while 84 acres remains undeveloped, according to the planning department. Parking lots cover almost 27% of Gateway, while 574 acres are listed as commercial use, with a breakdown of 64% as office use and 36% as service, retail and other use.

What’s next?

Eisenberg said planners are a little more than halfway through the timeline of planning Gateway’s future. The planning department had its first public meeting earlier this year, and at Wednesday’s public meeting, officials shared the three potential plan options based on feedback they had received over the previous six months, she said.

After the meeting, county planners opened up a survey to gather feedback from residents on the three master plan concepts. The survey closed Sunday night.

She said the planning department will continue to accept feedback from residents, as well as comments from the Gateway advisory committee, property owners and technical teams. A final master plan will be drafted over the winter and sent to the County Council for consideration in the spring.

“The vision is for a network of connected, walkable streets and blocks, and there’s a recognized need to allow redevelopment again to occur in phases,” she said. “HoCo By Design emphasizes housing, as I said earlier, and viewing housing options is really essential to the Gateway long-term viability.”