Residents ask for more transit, less density

Subregion 6 master plan should preserve quality of life in fast-growing south county, they say

‘‘Depending on the rate of growth, you’re talking about packing a lot of people into a small area,” said Avieon Morgan, who lives near the corner of Brown Station Road and Old Marlboro Pike in Upper Marlboro.

‘‘It’s kind of hard to gauge the actual impact until they start implementing it,” he said.

Craig Langley, a 16-year resident of Marlton, said he was most concerned about preserving the area’s quality of life. ‘‘Obviously every place around here is developing, but if it develops, I still want to have open spaces and development that is not intrusive,” he said.

About 50 area residents attended meetings hosted by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission at Show Place Arena on March 17 and gave feedback on the developing tier portion of the Subregion 6 master plan, a comprehensive blueprint for managing growth in the county in coming decades. The plan is an update of a 1993 plan.

Subregion 6 covers the southeastern portion of the county. A major difference between the developing tier and the rural tier is that the developing tier generally has water and sewer lines – which facilitate growth – while the rural tier does not.

Future growth in the developing tier will be largely dictated by what the Western Branch Wastewater Treatment Plant in Upper Marlboro can handle, Subregion 6 project leader Betty Carlson-Jameson said.

‘‘Sewer capacity has a lot to do with land-use decisions,” she said.

Chris Stallings, a 14-year resident of the Perrywood neighborhood of Upper Marlboro, said he has always been concerned with limited transportation options in this part of the county. The county needs to add more bus routes and run routes for more hours each day if the area is going to continue growing, Stallings said.

‘‘My son had a job in Greenbelt, and if he left work at 5:30, it was almost like he couldn’t get home,” Stallings said.

The county planning department is also developing a long-term master plan of transportation, which Carlson-Jameson said county planners would adhere to as they draw up the Subregion 6 plan.

Residents expressed mixed views on a proposal in the Subregion 6 plan to upgrade Route 301 from a four-lane road to a six-lane freeway.

Joe Brice, a resident of Cheltenham Woods, said he worried that expanding the road might cause some homeowners to lose part of their property or force business owners to relocate altogether. Brice said he was especially concerned about the businesses on Route 301 that are near intersections with Croom Road and South Osborne Road.

‘‘My concern is what businesses will lose their location, what access roads will we have, and how safe and how convenient will it be for us,” Brice said.

But other residents welcomed the possible expansion to improve safety and traffic flow.

‘‘It needs to be upgraded because speed and traffic lights don’t mix well,” said Carmen Mulea of Marlton.

Route 301 has been marked for expansion in the future because it is a regional road and has to continue meeting regional demands, not just local ones, said Glen Burton, a M-NCCPC planner in the transportation division.

‘‘It serves needs beyond Prince George’s County. Our local policy is not going to keep the road from serving regional interests,” Burton said.

County planners are still in the early phase of creating the Subregion 6 master plan. The next step is to incorporate public feedback and draw up a preliminary plan for the community to review, which is scheduled to happen this summer.

Planners are scheduled to hold similar public feedback sessions on the rural tier portion of the plan March 26 at the Baden Fire Hall in Brandywine.