Sprawling townhouse communities have impacted traffic from Bowie to Brandywine, and efforts to build more of them have influenced recent elections in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
On Tuesday, a bill is being introduced in the county council that would put a two-year pause on future townhouse developments that would be built outside of what the county defines as transit hubs.
“We have most of our townhouse development applications at this point outside of transit-oriented areas, and even outside of some of our local area centers,” said Council member Wala Blegay.
As the county grows, she said, it lacks the needed infrastructure to accommodate that growth, and so people who move into those communities end up complaining about the clogged-up traffic and crowded schools.
It’s a complaint that is currently lodged at elected leaders on a regular basis.
“It’s really about less sprawl and right now Prince George’s County has a lot of sprawl,” said Blegay. The goal of her bill is to encourage denser developments, such as new townhouse communities to focus on areas like the Blue Line corridor where there’s already Metro and other planned infrastructure improvements to accommodate the planned revitalization.
“That’s where we need the denser development, that’s how we’re going to get the retail we want,” she said.
The bill won’t stop construction outside of transit-oriented hubs. Instead, developers would have to focus on building single-family homes instead.
“That fits the character of the area,” she argued.
“In the Blue Line corridor, Central Avenue, we have the infrastructure — so let’s build the town homes there,” added Blegay.
The two-year pause is “not forever,” she made sure to mention, and the issue will be looked at again in 2025, so the impact of the bill can be assessed.
The county executive’s office is still reviewing the measure, and some members of the council who have taken different viewpoints on development weren’t ready to weigh in on the measure yet.
But, Blegay indicated, at least six members of the council support the measure right now.
In a statement, the Prince George’s County Association of Realtors said, “CB 52 is pending a full review by The Prince Georges County Association of REALTORS®. On the surface, however, we are concerned of the implications that this legislation will have in meeting the County’s future housing demands. Where we support incentivizing residential development at our transit hubs, we are extremely concerned by this effort to stifle town home development in other areas of the County.
We have a housing shortage in the DC metro area, not to mention, a severe affordable housing shortage. Town homes typically offer a reasonably priced option for first time home buyers and work force housing. Removing this option will drive up the cost of our existing housing stock and lessen opportunity for home ownership and wealth building.”
