Council Says Road Improvements Planned For Greenbelt Station Are Error

Greenbelt Station developers should not be forced to make road improvements based on a traffic evaluation error, according Greenbelt City Council in a 6-1 vote. The matter is up for a vote before Prince George’s County authorities on Thursday afternoon.

Council supported changes that would remove the need for Greenbelt Station project developers to make road improvements at Md. 193 at 62nd Street in Greenbelt and to Md. 193 at Rhode Island Avenue in College Park.

In addition, developers would no longer be responsible for making lane additions at MD 193 at Cherrywood Lane on the Greenbelt side or at MD 193 at 60th Street on the Berwyn Heights side.

The widening of MD 201 at Sunnyside Avenue would no longer be required in Phase I of development, but would be moved to Phase II.

Councilmember Rodney Roberts dissented in the vote, saying he could remember discussions council had about Levels of Service (LOS) standards in the past, and he wasn’t in favor of going from LOS “D” to “E” even back then.

SunTrust, owners of the Greenbelt Station's South Core, raised the issue of changing the standard after catching an error in the method for evaluating traffic impacts, according to council’s agenda comments for its Monday meeting.

If successful, council’s latest action would effectively increase the tipping point for the amount of traffic permitted on roadways before improvements are required. The increase is termed LOS “E”, the former level was "D".

“I hear smart growth and all this but you know it's not smart when you can't move," Roberts complained.

Mayor Judith “J” Davis told Roberts the issue was something that had to be wrestled with because along with development comes density and traffic.

“If you make it easy for people to use their cars, then that's exactly what they will use,” Davis told Roberts.

“If you make it maybe a little inconvenient to use their cars, maybe they will use the public transportation or maybe they will move where their job is or their jobs will move where they are," Davis added.

Councilmember Ed Putens urged council not to rehash a battle that had already been fought, but to address the error at hand.

"This was an error that someone made, we don't know how or why but it is quite appropriate that it be corrected,” Councilmember Leta Mach said before moving to accept staff’s recommendation and support the changes.

At its Thursday meeting, the Prince George’s County Planning Board and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission will decide whether to move the issue forward.

Council’s contention is that prior to 2002 Greenbelt Station would have been obligated to meet what is termed LOS “D”, meaning a peak critical lane volume of less than 1,450 at signalized intersections in the area affected by the development—in an hour’s time.

But after the county’s amended its standards in its 2002 General Plan, the standard for “Developed Tier”, which Greenbelt falls under, changed to LOS “E”—and a critical lane volume of less than 1,600 is now permitted, according to Celia Craze, Greenbelt’s director of planning and community development.