College Park

Analysis: ‘Water Wall’ debate shows power & powerlessness of College Park’s fiscal conservatives

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College Park is not like other Route 1 municipalities. Despite nominally being the “largest” city in the corridor, by virtue of the part-time presence of college students, it’s civic character and discourse is more influenced by the approximately 10,000 year-round households whose residents call the city home. In other words, and at least from a local politics perspective, College Park is a small town. And like many small suburban blue-state towns, a vocal contingent of small-government, fiscal conservative suburbanists occupy a place in the local discourse disproportionate to their ability meaningfully affect local policy decisions. Of late, their voices are most-often amplified on City Council by Fazlul Kabir, one of two representatives from northern College Park’s District One, a mostly-suburban character neighborhood roughly bound by the Beltway, Route 1 and the CSX railway.

Development

After some confusion, Dewey development gets Hyattsville blessing

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In a mostly-procedural – and sometimes confusing – step, Hyattsville City Council gave its conditional blessing to a proposal to redraw property lines on a 4-acre property to accommodate a planned 880-unit mixed-use residential development near the University Town Center Neighborhood. This project is unique in that developers Dewey LC and its parent Prince George’s Metro Center Inc. did not complete assembly of the property they hope to build upon before starting the development application process. This past June, Dewey LC received county approval to redraw property lines – or its “preliminary plan of subdivision” – for a 17.30-acre, horseshoe-shaped parcel of land bordering Belcrest Road, Toledo Road and Adelphi Road dubbed “The Dewey Property”. That property will hold 500 units, according to planning documents. The application considered last night by Hyattsville City Council focused instead on the formerly missing “Dewey East Parcel”, a dagger-shaped, 4.3-acre slice of land today occupied by a large parking lot.

Hyattsville

Hyattsville eyes 2020 Census

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By Amelia Jarecke, contributing writer

Hyattsville is ramping up its efforts to get its residents counted on the 2020 Census. A key focus of the Hyattsville Complete Count Committee, formed earlier this month by the Hyattsville City Council, is to educate residents about the new electronic response option in the 2020 Census. Hyattsville is the latest Route 1 corridor city to launch a Complete Count committee. College Park and Mount Rainier have also taken similar steps. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found 84 percent of U.S. adults intend to participate in the Census.

Greenbelt

Development notes: Three major Route 1 projects moving through pipeline

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A trio of major real-estate development projects – two in Hyattsville and one in Greenbelt – are making their way through Prince George’s County’s development review process. For starters, developers have submitted detailed site plans for approval by Prince George’s County planning authorities for a 350-unit multifamily building near the Greenbelt Metro and the intersection of Cherrywood Lane and Edmonston Road. Route 1 Reporter first wrote about this project back in July, when the developers were seeking approval of their preliminary plan of subdivision, a procedural step where property lines are redrawn or consolidated to accommodate new development. The preliminary plan was approved by planning officials last week. For developer NRP Group LLC, a new face in the D.C. development scene, the project is only its second in region. NRP Group LLC is a large Cleveland-based developer, property management and real estate investment company with a large portfolio.