It’s one of the biggest redevelopment projects in the works in Prince George’s County. Even the state of Maryland has put millions of dollars into the redevelopment of the old Prince George’s Hospital Center, which is unofficially considered part of Cheverly.
The town’s borders stop at a fence line to the hospital property, and from Cheverly’s perspective, that will change once the old hospital site, now known as Hospital Hill, is fully redeveloped with new homes, retail and access to the town’s streets.
Plans even call for a handful of residential streets that dead end at the property line to extend directly into the rest of the town of Cheverly, something developers behind the project have said has to happen. Cheverly leaders said the only reason the town didn’t annex the site years ago was because the county advised against it so the redevelopment process would move faster.
Now, the town of Bladensburg could move forward with a plan to annex the site instead.
The move has caught Cheverly and the county off guard, and it would mean Hospital Hill would only be accessible from Route 202 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. If it goes forward, Cheverly warned it will pursue legal action.
“It was always understood it was going to be part of Cheverly,” Cheverly Mayor Kayce Munyeneh said.
Munyeneh said the town has helped fund related surveys and studies.
“Cheverly has also been the community that has suffered the most from the hospital traffic, from the escapees from the hospital, from the helicopter pad, and all the noise and the damages done to our homes,” Munyeneh said. “It was always sort of understood we did the suffering when it was the hospital, we will enjoy the benefit when it is a new development.”
That’s not how leaders in the town of Bladensburg see it.
“You can’t take something from someone who does not have ownership of it,” Bladensburg Mayor Takisha James said.
“I want to be clear, there is no formal agreement for annexation with the town of Cheverly,” she added. “Had there been an agreement, then we wouldn’t have proceeded down this path … It sounds like there may have been some conversations that we weren’t privy to.”
As it stands, it’s easier for Bladensburg to try to annex the land because it’s technically owned by the county’s Redevelopment Authority, not Cheverly nor Urban Atlantic, the developer behind the looming transformation.
“This project would actually help us with what many communities are facing across the nation as we try to address the housing crisis, because it would provide space for us to consider things like new town homes or condominiums, new apartments, perhaps new senior housing,” James said. “This project would also benefit Bladensburg by giving us the space necessary to enhance our retail offerings.”
James said she sees this as a way for Bladensburg to pull in more commercial development. But one problem is the town’s borders stop about a half-mile away from the site, and there are concerns about the legality of what Bladensburg is trying to do.
“It is not contiguous, and unless they are planning on owning part of 295, we don’t really see how they can legally move forward,” Munyeneh said.
That echoes a letter the county executive’s office sent to Bladensburg on Friday, which warned the plan annexes land “for no other purpose than to connect to the remote Hospital Site,” which sits on the other side of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.
A letter from county attorney Rhonda Weaver also said the “area is arbitrarily included and bears no relation to the municipality other than to incorporate the Hospital Site.”
And because the annexation line runs southeast down one single street before hitting the parkway, Weaver’s letter also warned that the unincorporated neighborhood that would be surrounded by the newly-annexed property falls under the definition of an enclave, in violation of state law. On top of that, the county is raising questions about procedural maneuvering to get to this point.
James said she disagrees with all that.
“We have followed the letter of the law in this process,” she said. “We understand it is controversial, but I just don’t agree with that assessment.”
Late Monday afternoon, the developers behind the project reiterated their desire to become part of Cheverly. But there’s fear this move, and the resulting court fight it would create, could tank the development or make it much more expensive.
“I feel like it makes our county look bad, and I hope that we’re able to work it out so that we can invite development to Prince George’s County,” Munyeneh said.
She also said a vote to go forward will be costly for Bladensburg and its taxpayers.
“You could save your town a whole lot of money,” Munyeneh said in reference to James, who Munyeneh said she considers a friend. “We could certainly save a whole lot of money on legal resources, if you just say, ‘You know, this wasn’t well thought out. It wasn’t well advertised. It wasn’t discussed with our neighbors. This is not the way we do this.”
Town leaders in Bladensburg were set to move forward with the plan at a meeting Monday night, but the vote was delayed, James said, in order to give residents more time to provide feedback.
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