Marlboro Pike could get new look

Mix of retail and residential, as well as themed areas, could line corridor

Plans presented last week at a meeting to gather input on potential new looks for the central Prince George's thoroughfare also show a possible sculpture garden or amphitheatre adjacent to the Spauldings Branch Library at the triangle formed by Old Silver Hill Road, Silver Hill Road and Marlboro Pike.

Planners are updating the Marlboro Pike Sector Plan and Sectional Map Amendment for the area bordered by Southern Avenue—the Washington, D.C., line—to the west and Interstate 495 – the Capital Beltway — to the east.

Allysha Nelson-Lorber, a private-sector consultant helping the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission with the plan, said there are seven "priority areas."

Examples include the Great Eastern Plaza shopping center which planners said they want to see turn into a "health and sports campus" anchored by the Capital Sports Complex and the Silver Hill Cultural Triangle.

Park and Planning suggestions also include a mix of townhouse and street retail shops throughout the roughly four-mile corridor, constructing sidewalks five feet to 10 feet wide and creating marked crosswalks with extended median strips and pedestrian signals.

Planners want to begin formally notifying property owners by early next year about the changes under consideration, which also could require changing in zoning categories. Planners hope to have copies of a preliminary plan available for review before February 2009 when a joint public hearing with the District Council and county's Planning Board is tentatively scheduled.

Nelson-Lorber said conversations might be necessary with some businesses on Marlboro Pike, where a mix of residential and commercial is desired rather than only commercial properties. Nelson-Lorber said as new retail space is built, businesses can explore moving to those locations. She said there is potential for "relocation assistance" but could provide no specifics yet.

While Nelson-Lorber said townhouses are currently more marketable than single-family homes, Ray Bledsoe, a 30-year District Heights resident and president of the Concord Civic Association, said he still wants to see more single-family homes in the plan.

Bledsoe said including single family homes in the mix will create stability but a focus on mostly townhouses could bring crime to the community with people moving in and out.

"Next thing you find out the townhouses are so small the bedrooms are no larger than a bathroom," Bledsoe said. "Most people don't find out until they move into them."

E-mail Natalie McGill at nmcgill@gazette.net