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Overview
Project Overview
The new mixed-use zone will implement the policy recommendations of the 2002 General Plan and recent master plans, with an emphasis on the General Plan concepts for Centers and Corridors, and to other mixed-use and special district areas as appropriate. The primary focus would be on the essential elements of form and design necessary to foster a sense of place and should constitute the regulatory standards for development, such as building siting and placement, urban landscaping and streetscape standards, and appropriate parking ratios and regulations. Incentives to encourage the application of these recommendations will also be explored.
The overall goal of the new regulations is to establish the form of the structure and create a sense of place. Most design and architectural considerations provide embellishments to the structure and are secondary to issues of form. However, it is the physical form of the building on the site and along the street that contribute to the sense of the place and the comfort level of the residents and visitors. Master and Sector Plans will continue to establish the detailed guidelines for land use, urban design, and development, while the new zone will provide an appropriate baseline set of standards to ensure the highest quality of development.
Simplicity of understanding and ease of applicability throughout the development review process are essential elements of this new zone. The new zone will be integrated into the existing Zoning Ordinance for Prince George's County without creating additional complexity to the development review process, and will incorporate illustrations and design sketches as necessary to supplement or replace text and fully explain the requirements and standards of the zone. In addition, the new zone may be applicable anywhere within the county (i.e. can be applied by staff through a Sectional Map Amendment, or by property owner request to implement the recommendations of an appropriate plan), and will not require the use of an overlay zoning technique such as a development district. The new zone should not discourage or eliminate the ability for property owners to make minor alterations to their property, and should not subject these minor alterations to the same procedures and requirements as new development.
Background:
Existing zoning tools and techniques in use by the county are inadequate to fully implement and achieve the vision and recommendations of the 2002 General Plan and current Master and Small Area Plans (including Sector Plans and M-U-TC Development Plans), often because they have too much (or too little) flexibility inherent to the zone. The result is often single-use, horizontal development rather than the vertical mix of uses desired by the county. These tools are also largely motivated by conditions specific to "Greenfield" development, or for infill development in existing, older communities of the county.
Current zoning techniques intended to foster a mix of uses and transit- and pedestrian-oriented design in Prince George’s County typically require the development and application of an overlay zone, each of which essentially becomes a separate ordinance. These “mini-ordinances” result in confusion and complexity in the application of development regulations, which compounds with the approval of each new set of standards and guidelines codified in an overlay zone. Over 16 separate and unique regulatory plans have been approved for portions of Prince George’s County, each of which establishes a different set of regulations from those espoused in the county Zoning Ordinance, and three additional plans are under way.
Overlay zones and other techniques currently under use require the creation of a development concept plan or individual conditions of approval that are unique to each application. The creation, approval, and administration of the current techniques create a significant drain on staff time and resources. The complexity involved in these tools makes them difficult to understand and administer, and the increasing dependence upon these tools fosters confusion and misunderstanding. This also leads to significantly longer review times for new development.
Design regulations in the county consist of mandatory, legally enforceable “standards,” and more flexible, advisory “recommendations” or “guidelines” aimed to achieve a certain character of development for an area, but which are not legally enforceable. One of the difficulties encountered is how best to achieve the desired character of development without strictly regulating every aspect of design and development. Furthermore, there are few incentives for developers to meet the design guidelines intended to achieve the community vision for how an area should develop.
Interviews with the developer community during the development of many recent plans suggest that there is strong desire for certainty in the Development Review process, particularly with regard to development regulations. A balance between consistent development standards that achieve high-quality development and the risk of over-regulation and inconsistent interpretation of standards is a key objective of the new mixed-use zone.
Overview of Existing Zoning Tools:
Overlay Zones:
- The Transit District Overlay Zone (TDOZ) was originally designed for use adjacent to Metro/transit stations to promote the use of public transit facilities, encourage transit-oriented development adjacent to transit stations, and to increase the return on investment in the transit system. The TDOZ requires the creation of a Transit District Development Plan (TDDP).
- The Development District Overlay Zone (DDOZ) was designed for selected development areas to introduce and foster vertical and horizontal mixed-use development. DDOZs are implemented and administered through a comprehensive zoning map amendment (a Sectional Map Amendment, typically produced concurrently with a Master Plan or Sector Plan).
Both of these overlay zones are design-oriented in that they place a great deal of emphasis on architectural detailing, and they precede the approval of the 2002 General Plan. Although intended to give direction to landowners and the county during the development review process, their application to date has been inconsistent, occasionally contradicting both the General Plan and applicable Master Plan and Sector Plan recommendations for land use. Administration of these tools has been difficult because of their complexity, and continued use is discouraged.
Mixed-Use Zones:
- The Mixed-Use Infill (M-U-I) Zone was approved in 2002 to allow for mixed-use development and promote Smart Growth principles by encouraging the efficient use of land, public facilities, and services in areas that are substantially developed, and is the newest zone in the county Zoning Ordinance. The M-U-I Zone typically requires the use of an overlay zone (DDOZ or TDOZ), but may also be used on property owned by a municipality or by the Redevelopment Authority of Prince George’s County, without the presence of an overlay zone. Where the M-U-I Zone has been used with an overlay zone it has been difficult to establish and inconsistently applied. Despite its drawbacks, the M-U-I Zone is currently considered by staff to be perhaps the best mixed-use tool available to the county.
- The Mixed Use—Transportation Oriented (M-X-T) Zone was established to promote mixed-use development and redevelopment of land in the vicinity of major interchanges, major intersections, and major transit stops. The M-X-T Zone requires at least two out of three uses (office, retail, and/or residential). However, there is little guidance on the form of mixed-use development, and application of this zone has often resulted in an unsatisfactory product with little to no mix of uses (mostly residential development). The M-X-T Zone does not require the use of an overlay zone, and is scattered throughout the county.
- The Mixed-Use Town Center (M-U-TC) Zone was established for the redevelopment or creation of town centers, focused on ensuring a mix of commercial and residential uses to establish a safe and vibrant 24-hour environment and promoting the preservation and adaptive reuse of selected buildings in older commercial areas. The M-U-TC Zone requires concurrent drafting of a development concept plan. There are currently four M-U-TC areas in Prince George’s County, three along the US 1 Corridor in the northern portion of the county and the fourth in Suitland, adjacent to and including most of the Suitland Federal Center.
Administration of the M-U-TC Zone requires a great deal of staff time. It was originally intended to function with the active involvement of a municipality and a citizen design review committee. In areas where there is no municipality, such as Suitland, administration of this tool has the potential to overwhelm staff that must take a larger role in the process.
- Comprehensive Design Zones (CDZs) are a group of zoning tools created to use recent planning and zoning innovations and to encourage the optimal and imaginative utilization of land to improve the total environment, lessen public costs associated with land development, and fulfill area plan recommendations. CDZs may be found throughout the county, and development in a CDZ often takes the form of single-use development. Findings required for development are vague and open to broad interpretation.
There are nine classifications of Comprehensive Design Zones, ranging from low-density residential development with a base density of 0.5 dwelling units to the acre, to Major Activity Centers that allow a density of up to 125 dwelling units per acre.
The process for development in these zones is complex, with construction typically, but not always, subject to site plan review, either Conceptual and Detailed Site Plan review or in the case of the CDZs, a three-tiered review process consisting of a Basic Plan of development, Comprehensive Design Plan, and Specific Design Plan. Development in the M-U-TC Zone is typically a permit-review process that is first submitted to the citizen design review committees established for each M-U-TC area. Two of the DDOZ plans allow for permit review in lieu of site plan review when certain conditions are met, and all overlay zones contain certain exemptions to the requirement for site plan review.
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