Development

Then & Now: Explore how Route 1 has changed since 1998

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Last week, we explored how massive engineering projects and car-centric post-war suburbanization transformed the Route 1 corridor over the past 70 years. Now, we’re going to focus on a more-recent phenomenon which has also fundamentally altered the built environment of the Route 1 corridor: urbanism. For decades between the end of World War II and the new millennium, the Route 1 corridor was shaped by the road, the car and by single-use zoning. You had your office parks, your shopping centers and your residential areas, and never the treble shall meet. But something has changed.

Development
The modernist facade of Prince George's County's Administration Building in Upper Marlboro.

Developers don’t like proposed Prince George’s Planning tweaks

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Editor’s note: Please see correction notice at bottom of article. Developers want the Prince George’s County Planning Board to tap the brakes on a proposed overhaul of the county’s procedures for reviewing new development plans. 

The most prominent changes include the establishment of a formal pre-application conference with county planning staff and new deadlines that prevent developers from making last-second changes to their plans. 

The formalized pre-application conference is designed to create an opportunity for planning staff to learn more about developers’ plans, in turn giving planning staff an opportunity to inform the developers of what types of reports and documentation will be necessary to move ahead with an application. Initially, it will be optional. But that could change if Prince George’s County Council overhauls the zoning map to reflect a new zoning code passed by the previous Council in 2018. The new zoning code requires a pre-application meeting between developers and planning staff.

News
An African-American woman, Angela Alsobrooks, stands holding a microphone infront of a sign reading "Angela Alsobrooks for County Executive."

Alsobrooks says mystery poll is hers; Talks marijuana legalization, PGPD lawsuit

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Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks’ political committee is responsible for a phone poll asking detailed questions about local policy issues, including legalizing recreational marijuana and the relocation of the Washington Redskins. Route 1 Reporter first learned of the poll in late January. In addition to policy-oriented questions, it also asked several questions designed to assess the respondents’ feelings about Alsobrooks herself. Multiple phone calls, emails, text messages and other attempts by Route 1 Reporter to contact Alsobrooks’ office for comment on the poll were met with silence. But Alsobrooks could not stay silent on the matter on the Kojo Nnamdi Show’s Local Politics Hour on WAMU this past Friday, Feb.

Government

Reporter’s Notebook: January brings big stories up and down the corridor

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January has a reputation in the news industry for being a slow month. Well, consider the trend bucked here in the Route 1 corridor. Because it’s the last week of the month, Route 1 Reporter turns its attention to running down the top stories of January. The most-read stories focused on development issues, and who can blame us for being interested in that? Development – or, in the case of many Route 1 properties – redevelopment news is a Rorshach test upon which we project our own insecurities about our communities.

Government

Prince George’s County youth nonprofit grant program expands roster

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Editor’s note: Please see the correction notice after the article. A Prince George’s County youth career and college training program has added to its roster of participating nonprofits. The program, dubbed the Ready for Work Nonprofit Capacity Building Initiative, is a six-year, $15 million effort by Venture Philanthropy Partners. The program’s goal is to build networks of community-based organizations that can help provide or supplement social services. The money will be split into “mini-grants” between four Prince George’s County nonprofits on a project-by-project, each selected through a competitive bid process and specifically focused on providing high school students with academic achievement, high school completion, post-secondary preparation, career readiness and healthy behaviors. 

They newly selected nonprofits are:

The Training Source, College and Career Pathways, Inc., Liberty’s Promise and Community Youth Advance

They join last year’s recipients First Generation College Bound, Foundation for the Advancement of Music and Education, Inc. (FAME), Joe’s Movement Emporium and End Time Harvest Ministries.

News
The modernist facade of Prince George's County's Administration Building in Upper Marlboro.

Required Reading: Graduation scandal fades; Potential obstacle for Hogan’s highway appears

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Remember that graduation scandal in Prince George’s County? Pepperidge Farms remembers. Plus, senators raise objections to Chinese Metro car bid, lawmakers try to slow controversial plans to widen the Beltway, and a big project in Bowie advances. Graduation scandal eases as Prince George’s school system gets praise from state -The Washington Post

Justin M. Hartings, president of the Maryland State Board of Education, lauded the work of officials from Prince George’s County as they appeared Tuesday before the board to discuss a second audit of graduation-related practices. US Senators fear Chinese-made metro rail cars could be used for surveillance – ZDNet

“We have serious concerns about similar activity happening here in our nation’s capital, particularly when it could involve foreign governments that have explicitly sought to undermine our country’s economic competitiveness and national security.”

Economic Development
The exterior of the central dome of the U.S. Capitol is seen from below, its spire receding into a partly-cloudy sky.

Required Reading: More shutdown woes; MoCo’s economy slows; Lessons from St. Jerome go national

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We take another trip on the shutdown misery express courtesy of WAMU, Washington Business Journal reports on Montgomery County’s changing economic fortunes, and a profile of a former St. Jerome educator now making waves in the national Catholic education scene. All this, and more news and views for Prince George’s County residents in our Jan. 23, 2019 edition of Required Reading! Shut Down The Shutdown: Black Federal Workers In Prince George’s County Speak Out – WAMU

“When Lomax arrived for the afternoon session, he joined the many who lined up at various tables to collect free boxed lunches and groceries.