The Prince George's County District Council, meeting as committee of the whole on Oct. 14, 2025, reviewed the Planning Board'adopted third draft of the preliminary West Hyattsville'Queens Chapel sector plan and proposed sectional map amendment (SMA) and voted to direct staff to prepare an order of approval that follows the Planning Board recommendation with one revision: approve Washington Gas'as request to rezone its property to the Industrial Employment (IE) zone.

Thomas Lester, project manager in the Master Plans and Study section of the Community Planning Division, and Justin Thornton, deputy project manager, presented the Planning Board'sadoption changes and the record of public testimony. Lester said the Planning Board adopted the plan and endorsed the SMA on Sept. 11, 2025, following a joint public hearing on July 1, 2025, at which staff received 91 pieces of written testimony and heard from 14 speakers.

The council's motion, moved by Council Member Fisher and seconded by Council Member Hawkins, directed staff to prepare an approval order reflecting the Planning Board's recommendations except for one change: grant Washington Gas'as rezoning request to IE for the parcel discussed on the record. Council Chair Kaye Burrows and other council members voted in favor and the motion carried 9-0.

Why it matters: the sector plan and SMA would guide future zoning and development decisions in Planning Area 68, an area that includes parts of Hyattsville, Brentwood and Mount Rainier and surrounds the Prince George's Plaza Transit District. The plan frames land use, transportation, housing and environmental strategies that will shape near-term redevelopment and infrastructure priorities.

Major points from the Planning Board adoption, as summarized to the council:

- Zoning and land use: The Planning Board removed proposed broad rezonings that would have converted nearly all RSF-65 properties to RSFA, finding such widespread change premature pending results of the county's "missing middle" housing study. The Board also added property at 3301 (transcript: "Chillin") Road to a future redevelopment zoning change and to the West Hyattsville local transit center boundary to reflect ownership ties with the Queens Chapel apartment complex.

- Transportation and mobility: The Board added strategies calling for comprehensive traffic impact study(s) on key corridors (Queen Chapel Road, Ager Road, Chilham/Chillin Road and Hamilton Street), introduced Complete and Green Streets language, added a callout for the East Coast Greenway, and inserted feasibility language where the State Highway Administration (SHA) must review recommended improvements. The Board also recommended targeted pedestrian, bicycle and transit-access improvements, including a direct trail connection behind the Mount Rainier Nature Center and an enhanced bus-stop amenity corridor on a segment of Queen Chapel Road.

- Safety and Vision Zero: The Planning Board incorporated Mount Rainier's Vision Zero action items, including intersection improvements and automated speed enforcement recommendations for streets identified in the high-accident network in Mount Rainier.

- Housing and public facilities: The Board added a strategy to evaluate public facility adequacy (schools, parks, infrastructure) to meet demands from new housing, and a strategy supporting the county's Right of First Refusal program that would allow the Department of Housing and Community Development to acquire multifamily rental housing to preserve long-term affordability.

- Environment and sustainability: New strategies encourage zero-emission transit vehicles and creation of a dedicated funding source for green street infrastructure (permeable pavements, bioswales, native landscaping, tree canopy expansion).

Public testimony and record-handling: staff reported five late submissions (exhibits T-1 through T-5). The Planning Board admitted three of those (T-1, T-4, T-5) under Section 27-3502(f)(3) of the zoning ordinance and summarized late testimony in an addendum. Some late letters were treated as correspondence rather than new evidence because they repeated previously submitted testimony.

Washington Gas request: Washington Gas repeatedly testified at hearings seeking industrial-employment designation for a specific parcel (transcript referenced 2130 Chilham Road). Planning staff told the council the Planning Board chose a different recommendation in its adopted version, but the council's motion instructed staff to prepare the approval with the rezoning to IE for the Washington Gas parcel.

Next steps and schedule: staff told the council that, absent further revisions, the District Council could approve the plan and SMA as early as November 2025; if a second joint public hearing is required on any changes, approval could slip into 2026. The council directed staff to prepare a resolution of approval that will be scheduled for a future agenda.

Speakers and attributions in this report are drawn from the meeting record and the staff presentation to the council. No substantive changes to the sector plan text were made by the council at this session other than the instruction to prepare an approval that includes the single SMA rezoning for Washington Gas.