Bowie area projects moving forward after Planning Board approval

By Mike Rauck

The Prince George’s County Planning Board approved applications for three Bowie area development projects after public hearings were held earlier this month.  Approvals were given to the Amber Ridge, Pecan Ridge, and Melford Mansions projects.

The Planning Board approved a conceptual site plan application for Amber Ridge, a 19-acre development just outside the city limits on Route 301 South – just north of Mitchellville Road.  A total of 187 townhouses are planned, and space is being reserved for 20,000 square feet of retail space.  A detailed site plan for the residential component of the property will still have to be approved prior to construction, but the remaining approvals are only contingent upon plans that follow development guidelines.

Retail space including a grocery store was originally planned for the Amber Ridge site decades ago, but property owners changed their focus to residential after they couldn’t secure an anchor.

A traffic light and a cutover to Route 301 North were considered for the project, but the Maryland State Highway Authority determined that the expected traffic did not warrant the cutover.

Caruso Homes and Ryan Homes have been lined up to build the townhouses at Amber Ridge.

A detailed site plan was approved for the Pecan Ridge subdivision, a development of 80 single-family homes located just outside the City of Bowie along the WB&A trail on a 41-acre horse farm currently operated as Temptation Farm.

Developer Caruso Homes proposed a Public Benefit Conservation Subdivision for Pecan Ridge, which is meant to preserve open space and/or site features. According to county law, Public Benefit Conservation Subdivision developments in the Rural Residential Zone like Pecan Ridge must preserve at least 40% of the land, and developers can build on up to 60% of the property with minimum lot sizes of 6500 square feet (0.15 acres). Caruso will conserve 42% of the property for green space.

Among the areas of the property being conserved is a buffer with the Horsepen Hill Farm property, a buffer with the Blue Skys Stable property, and a grove of Pecan trees that dates back to the early 20th century.

A detailed site plan was approved by the Planning Board for the Mansions at Melford Town Center, an apartment complex that includes 435 units in nine separate residential buildings in the Melford section of Bowie.

The Melford Mansions complex is the second apartment complex approved for the Melford Town Center. A detailed site plan for the 389-unit Aspen apartment complex was approved in 2018.

According to an article in commercial real estate publication Bisnow, Andrew Roud from St. John Properties announced that ground will be broken on both the Aspen and Melford Mansion apartment complexes by the end of the summer.  Some grading and work on the storm water system has already taken place.