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COMING CHANGES FOR GREENBELT WEST
by Michael P. McLaughlin, City Manager
Published in the January 19, 2006 Greenbelt News Review

As readers of this newspaper are aware, three proposals have been presented to the City of Greenbelt that, if approved, would completely change the area of the City that lies west of Kenilworth Avenue and south of the Capital Beltway to Greenbelt Road. This area has come to be referred to as Greenbelt West. While two of the proposals have been publicly discussed and covered in this paper and others for a number of years, recently there has been renewed interest in the specifics of the proposals. Below is the first of a series of articles that are being authored by the City of Greenbelt in an effort to ensure that key details of the proposals are available for public consideration. This first article will deal with the history of the proposals to this point.

In 1996, the owners of the A.H. Smith gravel and sand operation on Branchville Road, just outside the City of Greenbelt to the west, unveiled plans to redevelop its property and, at the same time, make the area to the north, which is directly adjacent to the Greenbelt Metro station and is within the City’s corporate limits, into a mixed use transit oriented development center, commonly referred to as Greenbelt Station.

This was the first of three visions that, if approved, will remake the face of Greenbelt West into a model of a new urbanist mixed use transit oriented communities. The other parties that have submitted plans include the owners of the Springhill Lake apartment complex (Apartment Investment and Management Company or AIMCO) and the owners of Beltway Plaza. In another way of putting it, the City has been presented an opportunity to change one-third of the city.

Since the initial introduction of the plans for Greenbelt Station were unveiled in 1996, the City Council, the community and City staff have spent hundreds of hours to ensure that whatever is ultimately approved in that area is to the community’s liking and appropriate for the area. When necessary, these efforts included legal challenges of initial approvals of the Greenbelt Station project by the Prince George’s County Planning Board and the Prince George’s County Council. The City’s challenge was that approvals had been granted that were not consistent with County regulations. While losing at the Circuit Court and Court of Appeals level, the City ultimately prevailed at the Court of Special Appeals. As a result of these efforts, the plans currently under consideration for the Greenbelt Station area are of a lower density and a greater mix of uses than reflected in the earlier plans.

Then, almost five years ago, AIMCO brought forth a proposal to rebuild the Springhill Lake community. Springhill Lake is an apartment complex of almost 2,900 units. From the time it was built in the 1960’s until now, it is commonly referred to as the largest garden apartment complex east of the Mississippi River. However, the community is now over 40 years old and in need of a significant renovation, similar to the rehabilitation that Greenbelt Homes, Inc., undertook in the late 1970’s. From the earliest discussions with AIMCO, the Council raised the possibility of completely rebuilding Springhill Lake. While this was not AIMCO’s original intent, it soon became the preferred option. As plans currently stand, AIMCO estimates that to rebuild Springhill Lake will require an investment of around $750 million dollars. The vision that AIMCO has laid out is to transform a predominantly garden apartment rental community into a community with a variety of housing options, including as much as 35% of for sale units, and rental opportunities ranging from work at home options to two story loft options to mid-rise apartment living. The plans also include a commercial area in the center of town, similar to Roosevelt Center in the historic portion of Greenbelt, to serve the daily needs of the residents.

Finally, Beltway Plaza, in the last year, has brought forth a plan to redo its regional shopping center. Early plans call for the main entrance road to Beltway Plaza, located between the Silver Diner and Boston Market on Greenbelt Road, to be extended all the way through to Breezewood Drive. This would create more of a main street type shopping environment. It would enable additional storefront retail to be added and some of the areas behind the existing Beltway Plaza mall could be made available for additional residential use.

As all these plans have developed, it is clear that the opportunity is emerging for the redevelopment of Greenbelt West into a model of a well-designed, compact, transit related, community oriented project that epitomizes the objectives of Smart Growth and new urbanist design ideals. These projects have captured the interest of internationally recognized planners and architects who have influenced the very designs now being reviewed by the City Council.

Understandably, there are concerns about these plans. These plans are much denser than what currently exists. For example, AIMCO is proposing to double the density of Springhill Lake. However, in a region suffering from overwhelming traffic congestion where people are looking for solutions to enable people to more easily move through the region without needing vehicles for every trip, focusing density within walking distance or a short bus or bike ride to a mass transit facility like the Greenbelt Metro Station makes enormous sense and is the model for transit oriented development.

Proposals of this magnitude are very complex. As a result, there is typically a need for public agencies to be involved to ensure community interests are represented. Coordination of efforts from federal, state, county and city governments, are vital to the thorough consideration of plans, such as Greenbelt Station and Springhill Lake which is why the City has been involved.

There is much more information about these projects than can be explained in a few paragraphs. You are encouraged to contact the Greenbelt Department of Planning and Community Development to discuss any questions, concerns, or suggestions about the plans.. Depending on the volume of questions, the questions may be used as the outline for future articles or may be responded to on an individual basis. The Planning Department can be contacted at 301-345-5417 or by email at pcd@greenbeltmd.gov.

Again, this article and subsequent articles are being published by the City of Greenbelt in an effort to make sure that Greenbelt citizens are aware of what is being proposed in Greenbelt West, and the involvement of the City in those various plans. Decisions will need to be made at various stages of the consideration of these plans in the near future and over the next six to twelve months. This series of articles is intended to ensure that Greenbelt residents have the information necessary to advise the Council and identify any questions they may want answered.