Central Avenue-Blue/Silver Line Sector Plan and SMA

The project team presented an update on the draft sector plan during the October 10^th, 2024, Planning Board meeting. Updated urban design visualizations as well as proposed recommendations and zoning changes were discussed. As part of the presentation, the team requested a four-month extension to the project timeline to shift the Permission to Print date to March 27, 2025. Watch the meeting recording here. The County Council approved the requested extension on October 29, 2024, via Agenda Letter LTR 10292024.  

On March 13^th and 16^th, 2024, the project team hosted an open house at the Sports and Learning Center in Landover.
The open house was the culmination of the project’s public participation program. Project staff wanted to ensure we heard the community’s voice correctly and collect feedback on the DRAFT vision statements, planning goals, and urban design scenarios.
During the events, staff gave a brief presentation featuring a project overview, the highlights of our community engagement efforts, a market study summary, and a brief explanation of the DRAFT urban design scenarios. View the presentation here!

Following the presentation, attendees were invited to review and provide feedback on the area-wide vision and goal statements via an online or paper survey. Additionally, attendees were asked to review the Local Transit Center and Stadium Focus Area vision statements, market study findings, precedent imagery, and preliminary urban design visualizations. Check out the poster boards here!

The survey questions are based on the material presented on the poster boards. The responses to the survey questions will inform the plan’s visions, goals, policies, and strategies. Staff will begin to develop the plan and expect to release the initial DRAFT for public review in the Fall of 2024.

Review the summary of survey responses here in English and Spanish.

On May 30, 2023, the Prince George’s County Council, sitting as the District Council, approved Council Resolution CR-053-2023, authorizing the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission to prepare a sector plan and concurrent sectional map amendment (SMA) for the Central Avenue-Blue/Silver Line area, which includes a portion of the Town of Capitol Heights and the City of Seat Pleasant. The Council simultaneously approved the goals, concepts, and guidelines and a public participation program for this comprehensive planning project within portions of Planning Areas 72, 75A, and 75B.  

The sector plan area is located along the MD 214 (Central Avenue) corridor between Washington, D.C., and I-495 (Capital Beltway). It will focus on the areas in and around Capitol Heights, Addison Road-Seat Pleasant, and Morgan Boulevard Metro Stations, as well as Commanders Field. To see a map of the sector plan boundary, click the above Maps tab.  

The area’s three Metro stations and select properties surrounding them are designated Local Transit Centers by Prince George’s 2035 Approved General Plan (Plan 2035). Local Transit Centers are defined by Plan 2035 as mixed-use areas that are well connected by transit and offer local-serving retail, limited office uses, and a mixture of medium-density housing options. The new sector plan will reflect the vision and goals contained in Plan 2035, including focusing on new development in designated centers and preserving existing neighborhoods, and will amend applicable countywide functional master plans. 

The SMA is a process that facilitates the rezoning of properties within a plan’s boundary. Typically, this process results in a zoning change for only a few properties, and the remaining properties keep their existing zoning classification.

Now that the sector plan and SMA have been authorized by the Council, the plan preparation process has commenced. The project team will begin to implement the public participation program, and all interested citizens are encouraged to participate in the planning process. Public input meetings and events will be scheduled both in person and virtually throughout the summer and early fall of 2023. Additional online input exercises will be made available as well. The project team is excited to begin working on this project and hear what the community has to say!