Chris Currie almost 6 years ago

A major omission is the long-standing pedestrian-safety problem due to lack of sidewalk on 42nd Ave. between Crittenden and Decatur and on Decatur between 42nd and 42nd Pl. Given just the number of children who use that route to and from school in the morning, and the lack of alternate, safe routes to the civic center of Hyattsville from the southside of the Historic District, I would hope that the City would follow its Sidewalk Enhancement Policy in at least this one case. In fact, 10 years ago the Neighborhood Design Center formally requested the City to install sidewalks there as part of the trail-access project on Crittenden St. I've heard a number of neighbors complain about how uncomfortable it is to drive that block of 42nd Ave. due to the narrowness, lack of sight lines, and frequent presence of children and other pedestrians on the roadway. It's not great for drivers or pedestrians. But let's at least fix this for the children in our community, if nothing else.

0 Comments 22 Votes Created

The WSSC redevelopment is a great opportunity to expand the city's housing stock within walking distance of the Arts District and the historic core (as well as the West Hyattsville Metro Stop). The proposed design thoughtfully compliments existing houses and returns the WSSC site to its historic use -- single family homes.

I know many families who find the historic district attractive and would love to live in this humane and walkable community. Given limited listings, they often struggle to find a property and move elsewhere. This project will allow for a greater number of these families to find a home in Hyattsville. This will help make the community more vibrant and help sustain the Route 1 businesses that make the Arts District such a wonderful place, but sometimes seem to struggle with getting enough business.

If there are crowding issues with the schools, that needs to be addressed by the school board. If it doesn't that is a failure of our local governing institutions and the blame should be pinned there, not on a private development. It is a duty of local government to plan and allow for growth and development. Locking the city into some status quo, isn't really what governing is supposed to be about. There are lots of beautiful historic properties in Hyattsville, but the decaying WSSC is not among them.

I do fully agree with other commentators that the city and county should look into making it easier to renovate and expand existing buildings and houses.

The need to balance environmental impacts, emergency management measures, affordability, and a myriad of other difficult aspects of this project are important. Werrlein Properties won't be able to make every resident happy with their development project, but that shouldn't be the reason that the project is rejected. There will be change to Hyattsville, it isn't easy and will often be uncomfortable.

Despite the potential to be a great location for a new school, it isn't a political or fiscal reality at this time. Turning the building into a 100 unit apartment/condo will only aggravate the feared traffic concerns and makes and even greater change to the character of the neighborhood. While the historic preservation of old building is important, not every building is worth saving.

The issues that Werrlein Properties does need to address to make this property viable are the storm-water management, environmental impact, and flood mitigation concerns. The obvious place to start would be to only build outside of the 500-year flood zone, this would leave most of the upper property for development. To address the environmental impact I suggest utilizing local expertise and implement a better ecological transition from the Magruder Park bog into an expansion of the parks green/wild space on the lower property. Finally, the storm-water management issue must be addressed because the lower lot is one the lowest points in Hyattsville and it is not a matter of if but when there will be flash flooding. Green roofs, community or household cisterns, advanced bio-retention areas, and other methods must be implemented.

There are many dedicated and experienced people in Hyattsville, Werrlein Properties must continue to make use of their skills to help make this a project that is not only acceptable to the community but a proud achievement that makes Hyattsville an even better place to live.

The design elements of plan one with the central stage from design two would great. Adding the string lights would be a cool element too.