Dear Editor,

Bowie residents concerned about the traffic and quality of life impact of 285 apartments at the Marketplace and 400 homes on the Jesuit properties along Route 450 should be equally or more alarmed about the preliminary plan for 1,800 residential units at Melford. This plan is going to be discussed by the Bowie Advisory Planning Board on January 10 and the City Council on the 17th.

Melford is on the Northeast corner of Routes 50 and 3/301, isolated from the rest of Bowie, with a single entrance at the end of Belair Drive. The Conceptual Site Plan’s approval of 2,500 apartments and townhouses in this cul-de-sac office park is being challenged by citizens of Bowie in the Court of Special Appeals. Still St. John Properties is pushing forward by submitting a preliminary plan for about 1,800 of those units.

The Melford Village traffic analysis found at full build out that the residential component alone would generate 14,000 car trips per day. City planners recommended against approval of the Marketplace apartments because traffic on Stonybrook Drive and Superior Lane would exceed level of service “C”. The Melford preliminary plan will have the same impact on these streets, and more, as residents try to circumvent congestion on Routes 3, 450, and 197; a traffic analysis of Belair Drive already proved this to be true. We believe for that reason alone the preliminary plan should be disapproved.

The County’s General Plan says Melford is one of three unconnected parcels forming a “Local Town Center,” along with the Bowie Town Center and Gateway Plaza. Guidelines for these Centers call for a dense “core” and a less dense “edge”– so why is the dense residential development at the edge on the Melford parcel?

We need to hit the “pause” button on all of these developments and consider their collective impact – not one at a time. We also need a plan showing how Melford’s proposal for dense residential development contributes to the overall Bowie “Town Center.” A new master plan is on the horizon for 2018 so this presents the opportunity.

Deborah & John Rice