Editor's Note: The District Council concluded its proceedings on the Cafritz project Monday in Upper Marlboro. Below is an archive of Patch's live coverage.
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4:54 p.m.: Bye for now!
With that, the council has adjourned.
4:53 p.m.: APPROVED
The Prince George's County District Council has approved the Cafritz rezoning plan by a 7-2 vote. Stay tuned for more coverage.
4:47 p.m.: Clarification
People's Zoning Counsel Stan Brown clarifies the effect of Campos' motion, which would "approve planning board decision and all of its stated conditions" without modification.
4:42 p.m.: Motion to approve
Campos has made a motion to approve the Cafritz plan. There's a bit of confusion about the precise wording required.
4:38 p.m.: Motion to deny fails, 3-6
The motion to deny the application has failed, 3-6.
4:34 p.m.: 'Not convinced'
Before casting her vote on the denial motion, chair Andrea Harrison says she is "not convinced" that the property should be rezoned for a single user, which is "what it really boils down to."
4:29 p.m.: Filing in opposition
Campos expresses puzzlement at College Park's decision to participate in negotiations with the developer "only to end up filing in opposition for this project."
4:28 p.m.: Campos speaks
Olson concludes his remarks, and Councilman Will Campos takes the mic. Campos says he opposes the motion to deny the application and begins to lay out his reasons for supporting the project.
4:25 p.m.: 'No confidence'
"I have no confidence that a bridge will be built," Olson says, referring to the CSX crossing required by the conditions for approval.
He adds that "we have all seen" examples of developer conditions falling through and later being lifted.
4:23 p.m.: 'Never envisioned for such high intensity'
Olson says the proposal is incompatible with the parameters of Mixed-Use Town Center zoning and is too dense for its surroundings.
"This property was never envisioned for such high intensity," Olson says.
4:16: p.m.: Motion of denial
We're back in session. Councilman Eric Olson has made a motion for denial of the Cafritz application. Debate is now beginning.
4:10 p.m.: About to begin
The council is in a brief recess following earlier oral arguments on the Maryland Book Exchange project, but debate on the Cafritz project is coming up soon.
Original article:
After months of legislative debate and years of planning, the Prince George's County District Council is set to discuss—and likely vote—on the Cafritz rezoning plan Monday in Upper Marlboro.
The meeting is set to begin at 1:30 p.m., though two other items are scheduled before the Cafritz application.
Public hearings on the plan, which lasted 30-plus hours over six days, . The Council now must vote on the application before the July 20 deadline, or it will be deemed disapproved automatically.
If approved, a 37-acre parcel on the north end of Riverdale Park would be redesignated from single-family detached residential (R-55) to mixed-use town center (M-UTC), easing the way for the construction of more than 900 units of housing, a 35,000-square-foot Whole Foods, a 120-room hotel, and additional office and retail space.
Supporters say the project will spur economic growth and bring a desirable mix of retail and residential development to the area—. Critics charge that the plan would impose extreme fiscal, environmental, and traffic pressure on the surrounding communities.
See below for past coverage of the approval process:
District Council
- May 11:
- May 7:
- May 4:
- April 30:
- April 13:
- April 11:
Planning Board
- Feb. 2:
- Jan. 13:
- Nov. 17:
Municipal Boards
- Jan. 11:
- Jan. 11:
- Jan. 10:
Why do council members think this area is full of rich hipsters who want overpriced garbage stores? Yall thought so highly of the University Town Center and no one goes there anymore AND it's facing foreclosure. How long until the Eya Eyesore down RT 1 faces the same fate? Then this monstosity will follow once the novelty wears off. People saw the Bowie Town Center and thought this whole "walking" shopping center was a good idea. But now even BTC is infested with gangs and is unsafe to shop. What's going to happen when you take this crime ravaged section of PG county and put unsuspecting people in the middle of gangland?
and it's not just cafritz! what was the county thinking when it approved "eyesores" like rowhomes and retail space in historic downtown hyattsville? and to destroy beautiful empty lots to do so? for shame! i hope those "unsuspecting" EYA homebuyers are able to flee their "crime ravaged" community before it's too late. oh, well. we can only hope that PG county's whole foods offers the same quality of "overpriced garbage" as offered in the silver spring and annapolis whole foods. no more second-best for us here in "gangland"!
It is worth noting that while there are trees on the Cafritz porperty, it is hardly a pristine woodland. The area was the site of a large housing development for ERCO workers during WWII. THe property is not a pleasant parkland now or anything resembling it. In an ideal world , the entire area might be develooped as a park, with ball fields and green spaces but I doubt the funds exist for such an amenity. The Cafritz project seems fairly well thought out and is an improvement over the many poorly built , badly planned developments that have characterized the growth of PG County over the last 50 years.
Try living on Rockville Pike for a few months and you might be singing a different tune.
your sniping is not adding anything interesting or intelligent to this discussion. Anyone who reads patch and sees your name attached to a post automatically knows the remark will be snide, sniping and irrelevant and or twisted.
i presume from your comment, though, that you have some information suggesting to you that aldi is planning another store in the area. if so, please share!
Personalty I think Cafrits is going for a zoning change so they can dump the tract at some profit.
Can you pick me up some goat cheese the next time you go there.