Mayor Adams and councilmembers Boafo, Harrison, Nbdebumadu, and Turner voted to recommend approval of the South Lake plans, and councilmembers Estève and Woolfley voted against. The 5-2 split was reminiscent of vote tallies from the previous council where Estève and Woolfley typically voted against recommending development applications before the council.
City Council development project votes generally have no binding authority. The decisions typically serve only as recommendations when the plans are considered by the Prince George’s County Planning Board and the District Council.
City Council recommendations, however, typically include more than just an up or down vote on a project. City planning staff and the Bowie Advisory Planning Board generally provide the council a list of recommended conditions for approval. Common conditions for approval include widening of a road, adding a sidewalk, increasing parking spaces, adding a trash receptacle, changing the type of bike rack used, and installing signs.
Developers seeking a positive recommendation from the Bowie City Council tend to accept staff’s conditions for approval, thus giving the city some limited leverage on development projects even though the city has no power to stop these projects. That leverage is lost when the city rejects a development application (e.g., Pecan Ridge), and that leverage is lost when the city decides to take no action on a development application (e.g., Amber Ridge).
A City Council recommendation to reject a development application can also affect a project, but only if the City Council provides reasons that are applicable to the criteria that the Planning Board and the District Council can consider by law for the particular type of application being considered.
School capacity was cited as a factor in the City Council’s decision to reject the Pecan Ridge proposal, but the county adopted rules years ago that prevent development applications from being rejected due to school capacity issues. The county instead charges a per-unit fee for new development projects to fund school capital improvement programs.
“South Lake is going to happen regardless of whether the Bowie City Council takes a stand or not,” District 4 Councilmember Roxy Ndebumadu explained during Monday’s meeting before voting to approve city staff’s recommendations for the project. “We need to have a seat at the table.”
The South Lake development is being built in Ndebumadu’s district.
District 2 Councilmember Dufour Woolfley argued that changes to the project recommended by city staff are minor in nature. “They really don’t address the overall concerns that the community has, and they’ve had for a long time, and that’s of course with traffic and the impact on education,” Woolfley pointed out. “Nor does it fairly represent the real world of retail and how it’s changing, and I don’t see how introducing new retail into our environment is all that helpful.”
The council’s consideration of the two South Lake detailed site plans on Monday was constrained by commitments made by the previous council when the property was annexed into the city. Ndebumadu suggested that voting against the project could subject the city to a lawsuit from the applicant.
After consultation with the city attorney, Woolfley recommended indefinitely tabling a decision on the South Lake detailed site plans as a way of abiding by the terms of the annexation agreement without showing support for the project.
District 1 Councilmember Michael Estève concurred with Woolfley’s approach. “We have to be careful about what we signal to residents, and we have to be careful about what we signal to the community at large,” Estève said. His comments were met with applause from a handful of people present Monday night who oppose the South Lake development.
“We have to figure out the best way to be most effective given our restricted role,” Councilmember Boafo told Bowie Living. “We know that the City Council doesn’t have the power to stop development projects, but we do want to be able to influence plans. Someday the Sears property owner will submit a plan to redevelop that site, and we need to have our voices heard.”
Boafo would like the City Council to work more closely with the Prince George’s County Planning Board to better understand how the council can best address future development. “I’m looking forward to spending time with the Planning Board in the near future,” Boafo said.
Despite differences in how councilmembers voted on the South Lake applications, there is broad consensus in the council that traffic and the state of the schools in Bowie are major concerns.
A public hearing for the two South Lake detailed site plans will be held by the Prince George’s County Planning Board on Thursday, March 19th.
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