In 1993, the Maryland- National Capital Park and Planning Comimssion (M-NCPPC), which oversees zoning and planning for Montgomery and Prince George's County, approved a Master Plan and Sectional Map Amendment (SMA) for the Town of Upper Marlboro, which lies in the Subregion VI Study Area. This replaced the 1977 plan. You can download an excerpt of the 1993 plan that specifically discusses the Town of Upper Marlboro by following this link (4.2 MB).
Intended as a planning guide, the MP/SMA was developed with the input of residents and other stakeholder groups. Unfortunately, like the plan before it, this document was produced and little progress has been made since then. The overall plan was never implemented. In 2006, M-NCPPC announced it would be updating the plan in July 2007 with a vicinity area plan. Since then, M-NCPPC has earmarked resources specifically for the Town of Upper Marlboro.
On June 23 the Town and Park & Planning (M-NCPPC) held a walking tour of Upper Marlboro in preparation for the update. Featured speakers spoke at every step of the tour. Along with the 40 resident and business participants were 15 staff members from the Town and Park & Planning (including M-NCPPC Commission Chairman Sam Parker). Although not officially beginning their work until July 1, representatives from each of the four consulting firms who will be working on the plan were also in attendance:
- ESDA (www.edsaplan.com) specializes in urban design, planning and landscape architecture;
- RKG (www.rkg1.com) are development economists;
- CHRS (www.chrsinc.com) specializes in historic district evaluations, preservation guidelines, and culture/heritage planning; and
- Sabra, Wang (www.sabra-wang.com) focuses on transportation planning, including pedestrian circulation, traffic calming and parking management.
Visit their Web sites for the wide-ranging projects each company has worked on in the past, many of them in our area.
On October 4 the first public meeting was conducted. Read the introduction letter on the meeting's goals and the SWOT survey form. A total of 48 participants listened to a 40-minute slide show by the four consultant firms before breaking into discussion groups to share their results. You can download the presentation in three PDF files:
An advisory committee was set up of residents, business and property owners, and Town and County officials to initially review the plans and make suggestions for the public hearings:
- Jack Finglass
- Joyce Gladstone
- Peter Herring
- Joe Hourclé
- Daithi Htun
- John Keiffer
- John A. Lally
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- Joseph Pollard
- Lansdale G. Sasscer, Jr.
- Jack Sloan
- Steve Sonnett
- Paivi Spoon
- Tracy Stone
- Jeff Wyvill
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The previous public meeting was held on Thursday, January 10, 2008. The presentation is included below in Microsoft PowerPoint format:
You can also view the voting boards (849 KB), where partiipants laced colored dots for their priorities. Close ups of the three scenarios are in PDF format:
Please fill out and return the two following questionnaires that were handed out at the meeting (click on each question to download the PDF; mail to EDSA, Inner Harbor Center, 400 E. Pratt Street, Suite 902, Baltimore, MD 21202 or fax to 443-539-3351):
Read the comments by the Advisory Committee at February 7's meeting, as well as the final scenario that is being proposed. The consulting firm EDSA has also given its comments. Read them in one PDF file (1.6 MB).
The final public hearing is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, March 27. More information will be posted here when it becomes available.
