Prince George’s County council denies detailed site plan for Jyok Sun Buddhist Temple after remand

Prince George’s County District Council on Monday denied a detailed site plan (DSP 20002) for the Jyok Sun Buddhist Temple in Laurel, ruling the applicant had not complied with a prior remand and that the planning board lacked a new record to act upon.

The council’s 8-0 roll-call vote followed presentations by county planning staff, the applicant’s attorney and congregation representatives, and a procedural statement from council counsel and planning staff explaining that the planning board could not meet the remand’s 60-day timeline because the applicant had not submitted the required materials.

The decision matters because the council had remanded the case for four specific items: (1) whether the proposal is exempt from preliminary plan of subdivision approval, (2) whether an approved stormwater management concept plan should be required at certification, (3) whether the DSP improperly included land of an adjoining property owner, and (4) whether the applicant had demonstrated arrangements for overflow parking for larger special events. Those four points framed the hearing and the council’s review.

Jill Kozak, an urban design staffer with the county planning division, summarized the site and the remand points for the council, saying the property is 1.64 acres at the southeast corner of Maryland Route 197 and Snowdon Road and that the proposal was evaluated under the prior zoning ordinance. She told the…