RST Development seeks NACPD rezoning for 7591 Annapolis Road, pledges mostly affordable housing and community space

A Prince George’s County zoning hearing on July 23 heard RST Development LLC’s request to rezone a 4.29-acre property at 7591 Annapolis Road from Neighborhood Activity Center (NAC) to NAC Plan Development (NACPD). The applicant presented a concept for a multifamily building of up to about 300 dwelling units, a roughly 3,000-square-foot space intended for either a nonprofit tenant or community meeting use, and public-benefit commitments including affordable housing and electric-vehicle charging infrastructure.

The applicant’s attorney, Thomas Haller of Gibbs & Haller, opened the applicant’s case by describing the rezoning request and the existing site, saying, “This application seeks to rezone a 4.29 acre parcel of property located at 7591 Annapolis Road from the NAC zone to the NACPD zone.” Haller also read the draft PD conditions proffered by the applicant, including the affordable-housing commitment and the community-use space.

Why it matters: the rezoning would allow a planned development with design flexibility the applicant says is needed to produce the proposed building and public-benefit features. The project would be sited near transit and major roadways (including the Purple Line corridor and the New Carrollton station area), and the applicant argues the site suits multifamily development and on-site community programming. Neighbors raised concerns about tree loss, pedestrian connections to the adjacent West Lanham Hills Park, and additional multifamily density in a corridor where several recent projects have been built.

Proposal, public-benefit commitments and timing

Scott Copeland, principal and managing member of RST Development LLC, told the examiner RST’s proposal would reserve the vast majority of units as long-term affordable housing: “These units will be reserved for households that earn…60% of the area median income.” Thomas Haller read proposed PD condition 1 into the record: the applicant would provide affordable housing with rents set at an average of 60% of the Greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan statistical area AMI and “at least 98% of the residential units of the proposed development shall be affordable to these specifications.”

Copeland said the project team intends to record a land-use restriction tied to financing (for example, low-income housing tax credit covenant) to secure affordability, explaining those covenants are typically recorded at…