Some Lanham-area residents are hoping to use the recently released sector plan that will guide development in their area to crack down on messy yards and unsightly trash piles.

The plan's current draft version does not make recommendations for code enforcement in residential areas, but residents such as Michelle Marcotte, 55, of Glenn Dale are arguing it should. They said they don't believe the county is doing enough to monitor and correct violations.

"I wonder if regulations in Prince George's County have kept up with changes in [the county]. We're not a rural county. In a lot of areas, it's quite suburban," she said. "Leaving all of your construction tools on your front lawns — it's not acceptable in a suburban neighborhood."

Marcotte said bulky trash, such as abandoned cars and couches, are left outside for months on her street.

"We need strong neighborhood codes, neighborhood standards and then have them enforced because otherwise things tend to get worse," she said.

The county's Department of Environmental Resources is responsible for code enforcement. Deputy director Thomas Matzen said the department is working with County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) and the Prince George's County Council to continue to expedite the code enforcement process.

"It's taken longer than [residents would] like, but we are making progress," he said.

Matzen said two recent bills have been introduced to expedite the process of documenting homeowners in violation, helping the DER crack down on offenders. For example, Matzen said the DER has reduced the number of days — from 30 to five — that a person has to appeal a violation. The DER is also using the civil citation process — used for most property maintenance violations — more often and has increased fines from $50 to $100 for a first offense, for example.

The Glenn Dale, Lanham and Seabrook preliminary sector plan and proposed sectional map amendment, released in September, updates the 1993 land-use plan for the area and makes recommendations for land use, historic preservation, transportation and parks. The process began in July 2008 when the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission began holding community-wide meetings.

The final plan likely will be adopted in March after County Council approval.

Bob Duffy, an M-NCPPC planning supervisor, said the commission is addressing code enforcement and procedures.

"We heard the residents very clearly, that the plan should attempt to identify what we can do further," said Duffy, referring to the Oct. 6 joint Prince George's County Council and Planning Board preliminary hearing for the plan. "We've heard other citizens in other planning areas raise issues of code enforcement and its impact on quality of life."

Craig Rovelstad, an M-NCPPC planner, said the Prince George's County Department of Environmental Resources code enforcement office and a Virginia-based consulting firm are concentrating on code enforcement at an industrial business area in the southern part of the county that has broken-down cars left on the street, car repairs in open parking lots and fences in disrepair.

"We're trying to achieve code compliance, for it to become standard practice, what people expect," Rovelstad said. "Hopefully property values will improve and the character of the businesses will improve."

Prince George's County Councilman Eric Olson (D-Dist. 3) of College Park said he plans to work with the M-NCPPC to incorporate language about code enforcement and neighborhood quality-of-life issues.

"Planning and land use are important elements of looking at the future, but so is making sure we have strong property standards that are enforced," Olson said.

Erma Anderson, 67, of the Lincoln Vista community in Lanham said she has concerns in her neighborhood about code enforcement relating to single-family homes.

"Housing [codes] aren't enforced in Prince George's County, whatever codes we have," Anderson said. "It's not only important to have it, but to [enforce it]."

Emily Hickey of Seabrook said unfinished construction projects, broken-down cars without license plates and uncut lawns have plagued her neighborhood for at least two years.

Hickey said that she regularly calls the DER and Olson's office but said she is left frustrated.

"It makes the neighborhood unattractive," Hickey said.

E-mail Liz Skalski at eskalski@gazette.net.

To read the plan online, visit: www.pgplanning.org/Resources /Publications/Glenn_Dale _Seabrook_Lanham.htm