Prince George's County Hearings Scheduled for Zoning Rewrite Bills

The County’s effort to modernize and update its 50-year old zoning law and subdivision regulations stumbled out of the starting gate, as Council members questioned whether the three-bill package was being rushed to introduction. At its April 24 meeting Council members hotly debated the bills, the process and the chances of reaching agreement on the legislation by the deadline of Oct. 23.  After some hesitation, the bills were introduced on a 5-4 vote.

 The Council has been working with the Planning Commission and its consultant for the past four years to develop a new zoning law and subdivision regulations that are more streamlined, consolidate zones and development standards, and incentivize economic and transit-oriented mixed-use development.  By all measures, it’s a daunting task.  If enacted, the laws will impact every real property parcel in the County and what may be done with the property in development.

The bills have been introduced as:

• CB-13-2018 - Proposed Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance Rewrite
• CB-14-2018 - Proposed Countywide Comprehensive Map Amendment Process
• CB-15-2018 - ProposedComprehensive Subdivision Regulations Rewrite

The County Council will host multiple Committee on the Whole Work Sessions on the Zoning Ordinance Rewrite legislation to receive public comment on May 14, July 10 and July 17.  See the flyer  for more detail.  The Council has also established a web portal  to provide the public comprehensive information about the zoning rewrite.  According to the timeline for implementation, if approved, it would require an additional 18 months through a comprehensive Countywide Map Amendment process to implement the zones in the new zoning ordinance. 

The following chart compares current and proposed zones.  We strongly suggest that members review the zones on the chart for their properties relative to the zones and zoning regulations in CB-14-2018 .  AOBA staff will continue to review these documents and welcomes member input.  Contact AOBA Maryland VP Ron Wineholt at rwineholt@aoba-metro.org .