The Prince George’s District Council and Planning Board Joint Public Hearing on the proposed Countywide Map Amendment (CMA) has been postponed indefinitely. On November 9, 2020, County Council Chair Todd M. Turner issued a statement announcing that the Joint Public Hearing scheduled for November 19, 2020 has been postponed.
Chair Tuner cited the following as reasons for the Council’s postponement of the CMA in his public statement:
- Recent metrics indicating a resurgence in COVID-19 cases;
- Alignment with the advice of public health officials and Phase II COVID-19 public health emergency operations in Prince George’s County; and
- Recent disclosures required under State law which prevent a quorum of Council Members required to hold the Joint Public Hearing with the Planning Board to consider the proposed CMA.
Significance of the CMA Postponement
As referenced in a previous CMA Update, the CMA is the second phase of the Prince George’s County Zoning Rewrite and the last, critical component before the County can implement the new Zoning Ordinance. Functionally, the CMA is the County’s instrument for applying the previously approved and adopted, future Zoning Ordinance – including new regulations and zoning classifications – to individual properties throughout Prince George’s.
Accordingly, the implementation of the new Zoning Ordinance is delayed indefinitely as a result of the CMA’s postponement.
New Zoning Ordinance & CMA Timeline
For the reasons outlined in Chair Turner’s public statement, the Joint Public Hearing on the CMA will certainly be delayed until 2021. The entire CMA process and implementation of the new Zoning Ordinance should take approximately six months from the Joint Public Hearing date. Therefore, at the earliest, the Council’s postponement has likely delayed implementation of the new Zoning Ordinance until the second half of 2021.