Category: Prince George’s County

Take Action: Support a stronger Climate Action Plan in Prince George’s County

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

Given the urgency of the recent U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, we know we don’t have time to neglect key solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately, you can help Prince George’s County adopt smart growth climate solutions that are a win-win for people, the economy, and the climate. 

Here are two ways to help: (1) send an email to the County Climate Action Commission (if you haven’t already), and (2) attend the upcoming virtual Climate Action Plan community meeting on August 19th.

TAKE ACTION: Voice your support for stronger County climate actions

Transportation (mostly from cars and trucks) makes up the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions at 48%, but the County’s draft plan misses opportunities to reduce emissions with smarter land use and transportation policies. Electric vehicles (EVs) and telecommuting are important but not enough. Smart growth solutions — transit-oriented development (TOD), affordable housing options close to jobs and services, better transit, and safe walking and biking, are effective and equitable strategies to reduce transportation-related climate pollution AND improve livability and prosperity in the county. 

We commend the County Climate Action Commission for including three recommendations to reduce emissions through smarter land use and transportation. But to make an impact, these must be strengthened, including by:

  • Prioritizing walkable, transit-oriented development and affordable housing
  • Expanding employee transit benefits and implementing free fares
  • Expanding transit service
  • Making streets safer for people walking and biking

Want to get more involved? Join the upcoming Prince George’s community meeting on the Climate Action Plan on August 19 evening. 

RSVP: Climate Action Plan Virtual Community Meeting Thursday, August 19th, 6:30 – 8:30 PM

Get more background by reading CSG’s climate recommendations for Prince George’s.

Better Buses for Prince George’s

Better Buses for Prince George’s

Posted on by Cheryl Cort
The Bus 028 photo courtesy of Prince George’s Department of Public Works and Transportation

On July 20, 2021, local and regional bus experts, along with stakeholders discussed where we are and where we want to be with Prince George’s bus service.

View the event recording on YouTube.

Speaker presentations: 

Anthony Foster, Chief, Transit Planning, Prince George’s County Department of Public Works & Transportation

PGC DPWT Transit-UpdatesDownload

James Hamre, Director, Office of Bus Planning and Scheduling, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

WMATA Better Buses for Prince Georges PresentationDownload

John Hillegass, Manager, Regional Mobility & Infrastructure, Greater Washington Partnership

GWP RISE Prince Georges Better Buses discussionDownload

This event was co-sponsored by: RISE Prince George’s, Coalition for Smarter Growth, and MetroNow.

RISE Prince George’s 5/18/21 event with Angie Rodgers

RISE Prince George’s 5/18/21 event with Angie Rodgers

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

On May 18, 2021, RISE Prince George’s convened a virtual event to discuss the future of housing & economic development in the County. The talk was titled: “We can’t have quality economic development without affordable housing: so how do we get it all?” with:

Angie Rodgers, Prince George’s Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Economic Development, and Scott Nordheimer, Co-Founder and Senior Advisor, Urban Atlantic (lead developer at the New Carrollton Metro Station) 

View the recording of the event on Youtube.

 Take the survey: Please answer this brief survey to let us know more about what you want from RISE Prince George’s. 

RISE Prince George’s event with Angie Rodgers – Materials

RISE Prince George’s PPT discussion of mission statement and advocacy theme

New Carrollton Station vision https://greaterwashingtonpartnership.com/capital-region-rail-vision/

Housing Opportunities for All Work Group https://pgccouncil.us/628/Housing-Opportunities-For-All-Work-Group

Housing Indicator Tool: A Dashboard for Measuring Progress Towards Meeting Regional Housing Needs

Missing Middle Housing study: to begin in FY22

RISE Prince George’s

RISE Prince George’s

Posted on by Cheryl Cort
Image: Cheryl Cort

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RISE Prince George’s Platform 2022

On December 13, 2021, we launched our RISE Prince George’s election platform to educate candidates and the public about how to build a better Prince George’s. We will be working with constituents and allies to reaching out to candidates targeted County Council and General Assembly races to build support with our future elected officials to build a more sustainable, prosperous and inclusive County.

Learn more >>>

RISE Prince George’s group meeting.

Mission Statement: RISE Prince George’s is a group of County residents and allies advocating for policies and practices that build shared, sustainable prosperity in Prince George’s County by creating safe, walkable, inclusive and transit-oriented communities.

Vision: We seek to build a prosperous, equitable and sustainable future Prince George’s that contains:

  • Multiple thriving transit-focused downtowns (North, Central, and Southern parts of the County)
  • Inclusive, safe, and connected neighborhoods and municipalities
  • Preserved open spaces and natural areas

Assumptions: With 15 Metro stations, another 11 Purple Line stations on the way, and 8 MARC stations, the County’s transit assets are THE competitive advantage – for promoting future job growth, local economic development, and generating needed increases in the County’s tax base. Prince George’s also has the benefit of planning for a future which currently forecasts increased job growth, demand to live near transit, and the need for more homes near jobs and transit.

Objective: Through developing a strategy for shared prosperity and equitable development that is generated from and advocated by and for Prince Georgians (and their allies), we can create a virtuous cycle of economic growth which retains homegrown talent and businesses, attracts new investment, and improves both people and places  – especially those historically excluded from wealth and opportunity.

Equitable economic development through transit-oriented development (TOD) will create the base of public and private resources that are necessary to support high-performing schools, community-oriented public safety services, increasing the amount of high-quality housing for people of all incomes close to jobs and essential services, as well as better employment, entrepreneurship, retail amenities, and wealth-building opportunities for all County residents.

How RISE Prince George’s will accomplish its vision: We will work with our members to educate, engage and mobilize for a policy agenda that reshapes policy and budget priorities to build on the County’s assets – transit, established communities, and the kinds of anchor institutions which drive job creation and economic growth.

We meet regularly (every 4-6 weeks), host programming (both virtual and, eventually, in-person) to educate/engage our members, and, in turn, formulate action plans for specific policy change campaigns.

Summary of potential long-term policy agenda:

  • Win equitable placemaking and transit-oriented development projects that begin to demonstrate what an inclusive walkable urban and smart growth future in Prince George’s could look like
  • Win land use and housing policy changes to sustainably grow the economy, livability, community benefits and equity of opportunity among residents
  • Win key transportation investments and policies to greatly improve the quality, safety, affordability and reliability of public transportation and access to daily needs, especially for low income people and communities

We embrace the Prince George’s Rising proposed county-wide Alliance for Equity and Prosperity, and see our group contributing to it, specifically focused on the TOD organizing strategy for equity.

Join us! Sign up here.

We Won! Prince George’s to move ahead with long overdue zoning rewrite

We Won! Prince George’s to move ahead with long overdue zoning rewrite

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

Great news: the Maryland General Assembly voted to pass HB 980, and enable Prince George’s County to implement its new zoning regulations!

HB 980 amends an existing state ethics law unique to Prince George’s. Like other jurisdictions, the County needed to repeal and replace its entire zoning map to implement its new zoning regulations. But this action ran into a potential conflict with its unique zoning ethics law that does not apply to any other jurisdiction. 

To address this, the Prince George’s House Delegation introduced HB 980 and helped advance the bill from the House to the state Senate. In the Senate, under the leadership of Senator Paul Pinsky, the bill was amended to address concerns and ensure broad support. The legislation was retitled: Prince George’s County – Public Ethics – Application Payments and Transfer and Zone Intensification Requests. Most significantly, the amended bill offers an extra safeguard by prohibiting the County Council from approving zoning intensification (to build more on a site) requests that differ substantially from the zoning category already adopted in 2019.

In addition to Senator Pinsky, we are also grateful to Senator Malcolm Augustine, Delegate Erek Barron, and Delegate Joseline A. Pena-Melnyk for their thoughtful engagement to create this successful outcome. 

The zoning rewrite is important because it helps the County better guide transit-oriented development and create more walk- and bike-friendly designs. This not only benefits Prince George’s but all of Maryland by focusing more of the region’s growth around transit stations and close-in communities. More transit-oriented development reduces how much people in our growing region need to drive, and gives us more opportunities to walk, bicycle and ride transit for more of our trips. This all reduces greenhouse gas emissions and pressure to build on greenfields. A modern zoning code also means thriving places and a stronger economy. 

We are grateful to al those who took taking action to ensure Prince George’s can use the tools it needs to guide a more sustainable and prosperous future. 

Take Action: Don’t let the MD General Assembly kill Prince George’s zoning rewrite

Take Action: Don’t let the MD General Assembly kill Prince George’s zoning rewrite

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

No matter where you live in Maryland, join us in supporting Prince George’s County. Montgomery County and the City of Baltimore recently updated their zoning codes but the General Assembly could in effect block Prince George’s from doing so.

The Prince George’s House delegation is sponsoring a bill (HB 980), on behalf of County Executive Alsobrooks, the County Council and the Planning Commission. This bill will allow the County to finalize and vote to approve the Countywide Zoning Map Amendment. This singular action is needed to repeal and replace the county’s outdated zoning code. The bill is advancing through the Maryland General Assembly but needs to get all its final votes by the end of the session on April 12, 2021.

Take action now: email your Maryland legislators!

Here’s the issue:

Prince George’s County has worked for six years and spent millions of dollars to painstakingly modernize its outdated zoning code to better support transit-oriented development, and walk- and bike-friendly communities. The zoning rewrite also makes it easier to understand; and sets time-limits on development approvals which today can last forever. But a state ethics law, which only applies to Prince George’s County, would prevent councilmembers who have received a campaign donation from any affected property owner in the County (approximately 300,000 different properties and 250,000 different owners) from voting on the Countywide Zoning Map Amendment that implements the new zoning. No other jurisdiction in the state has this very restrictive law.

The proposed legislation is limited to enabling the County Council to vote for the Countywide Zoning Map Amendment – the total repeal and replacement of old zones with the new, updated zones. The County Council and Planning Commission have established, by local legislation and approvals, a decision process that will take public feedback, evaluate all properties and make recommendations on designations to place all properties in the County into one of the new zones most equivalent to its existing zone (i.e. Residential, Commercial, Industrial or Mixed-Use zones). 

It does not affect any other zoning decision and this does not apply to everyday, individual zoning and development review matters that come before the Council currently or in the future.

Email your state legislators today!

Without this legislation, Prince George’s will be stuck with outdated zoning, frustrating efforts to make zoning more understandable and preventing the county from shaping a more sustainable and competitive future.

The fate of years of work to bring Prince George’s zoning into the modern era hangs in the balance. Please email today!

Thanks for all you do,

Cheryl Cort

Policy Director, Coalition for Smarter Growth

P.S. Click here to view our testimony and get more of the details.