Efforts to curtail where developers can build new town house construction in Prince George’s County, Maryland, drew rebuke from the county executive’s office and a veiled warning about potential lawsuits during a hearing on Tuesday.
Two pieces of legislation, both backed by Council Chair Tom Dernoga and Vice Chair Wala Blegay, would impose limits on future development in the name of curbing sprawl. The bill’s backers are seeking to push it through the council quickly, and after a series of revisions and amendments were approved out of what’s known as the committee of the whole, setting up a public hearing and final vote next month.
The hearing offered the county executive’s office its first chance to comment on the bills, and Angie Rodgers, who is the deputy chief administrative officer for economic development, didn’t hold back in her criticism.
Saying the legislation would discourage development in the suburban sections of the county, which she described as “most appropriate” for new town houses, Rodgers said the council’s efforts would push town house construction close to transit, “where our entire economic development strategy has really been focused on achieving higher density, multifamily and mix-used development,” Rodgers said.
“Fundamentally, I think if we begin to take away the housing type that is often the entry point in our housing market for first time buyers, for young buyers, for African American and other buyers of color, then we’ll end up having the same missing middle discussion that other jurisdictions in our region are already having,” Rodgers said.
“Further, I want to point out that the progressive discussion about land use and zoning in this country, and how to push policies that are more equitable and make room for a broader range of households, has focused on eliminating single family zones, and not town houses or other building types that promote more density.”
She later warned the council that this would be “destabilizing for our economic development community” and wasn’t entirely clear why this type of housing was being targeted by the council.
However, a lawyer representing two development projects in the Bowie area suggested her clients were being targeted.
Alyse Prawde of the law firm Joseph, Greenwald, and Laake called two of the bills “illegal legislation” that, in one case, targets a proposed development at Freeway Airport in Bowie; and in another, targets another proposed development near the intersection of Maryland Routes 450 and 193. Each bill she spoke out against, Prawde argued, was solely focused on a singular development she was representing.
She spoke twice, and on both occasions, the council followed up by voting to expedite the scheduling of a public hearing on each of those bills. That means both pieces of legislation are likely to be open for public discussion, where local residents are likely to express support for the measures, and then a final vote, sometime in the middle of May.
In the case of Freeway Airport, Prawde said millions have already been spent on a project that was permitted under old rules in place when the process began.
“Freeway will continue to vigorously seek all legal remedies to protect its property rights resulting from this council’s inappropriate and illegal attempts to target this project,” said Prawde. “This and similar legislation raises the question of whether it’s too risky to invest in Prince George’s County.”
She expressed similar sentiment, almost word for word, about the project proposed for a site where a Frank’s Nursery once operated in the Bowie-Glenn Dale area.
