Tameeka Washington, August 2016
“[...] we will say that we are not opposed to any residential component back there. We are just against any medium density or high density units.”
Statement Good evening. My name is Tameeka Washington and I live in the S Section of Bowie. I would like to speak with you about two issues of great concern to Bowie residents.
The first is the proposed apartment building to be constructed behind the Market Place Shopping Center. The community understands that the formal proposal will not be submitted until approximately September, but we wanted to let the Council know now how we feel about this proposal. As you know we have been circulating a petition and we now have more than 400 signatures from residents in Section A to Section Y; though the vast majority of the signatures are from the S Section as you may have guessed. When speaking to one resident in the S Section after he signed the petition, he said the apartment building was the reason his family was considering moving.
Many other residents just thanked us for taking their concerns to the council. One resident started a Facebook page titled “No to the Bowie Marketplace Apartments”, which has almost 700 members. We will keep canvassing and listening to the concerns of our neighbors until the public hearing is scheduled. One of the main concerns is the impact that this transient community will have our neighborhood. The S section of Bowie is largely made up of single family homes, with most residents staying anywhere from 10 to 40 years. Dumping such a large transient community into the middle of our neighborhood will irreparably alter the character of this stable community. There is also the perception that the parcel is zoned for mixed use so a residential component is inevitable.
This is simply not true. That parcel is still zoned for commercial use.
The County Council passed a bill last year (CB60-2015) that allows this commercially zoned property to be used as mixed use. However, the rezoning has not taken place and will not take place for several more years. I’m saying this because I don’t want the city council or the Bowie residents to feel like we MUST put some residential component back there because that’s simply not the case.
With that being said, we will say that we are not opposed to any residential component back there. We are just against any medium density or high density units. We spoke to the developer about instead putting in low density units such as town homes. The town homes would bring additional income to the developer and homeowners into the community vice renters, which fits more within the character of Bowie. It should be no more than 10 town homes, with a maximum of two stories, and 100 feet from the back of the property lines on Scarlet Lane. The developer rejected this reasonable compromise because his only concern is his bottom line and not the impact this will have on our beloved neighborhood. The residents of Bowie do not support the proposed 285 unit apartment building.
As our representatives, we ask that when this proposal comes before you, that you immediately reject it. The second issue is the proposed 440 homes and townhouses to be built on both sides of Annapolis Road near Sacred Heart church. The additional cars on 450 will cause traffic to grind to a halt. As you all know, we need a police officer to direct traffic every Sunday because the roads can’t handle the current traffic. Imagine once Market Place opens and then you plop 440 homes and townhouses in that area. This would be a traffic disaster.
We know this is not on City property yet, but Bowie would have to annex the property so it can link to our water and sewer lines. The city could probably reasonable accommodate 20 additional homes on that section of 450. Anything more and Annapolis Road would essentially become a parking lot.
We ask that when this second proposal comes before you, that you reject this one as well.
Thank you for your time.