Evening star., 1946-11-03
Broader zoninq
Plan anDraftedf for
Prince Georges
Parks Commission
Project Includes
Planned Community

A new zoning ordinance for Prince
Georges County, mainly broadening
the scope. of residential zoning, has
been working out in tentative form
It was announced last night by
Irwin I. Main, chairman of the
Maryland National Capital Parks
and Planning Commission.
The new regulations" Robert M.
Watkins, Prince Georges member of
the commission, explained. would
give the regional park district in
Prince Georges County the kind of
modern zoning control, in keeping
with present and future require
ments, that civic leaders and citi-
zens' groups have been seeking"
The regulations, specifically re
enact with amendment" the county
coming ordinances of 1880 and 1912.
Mr.. Main said that a public hear
ing will be held after residents of
the county have had opportunity to
study the proposed ordinance, then
1t will be submitted to the county
commissioners.
10 Residential Zones.
Under the new regulation there
will be 10 residential zones instead
of the present three. These would
include an agricultural zone, rural
residentials zone and two types of
multiple dwelling or apartment
house zones.
A new feature, OF the regulations
would be the establishment of a
planned community zone for large
scale neighborhood developments.
This would permit a latitude of
dwelling types, neighborhood shop
ping facilities. schools, Fairgrounds
and other community requirements,
all within the same zone but sub
ject to overall density control.
Fred w. Tuemmler, the commits
sion's director of planning for the
commission. explained that the new
zone, will create, a neighborhood
stability which is the objective of
good planning, since all of the re-
lated parts of the neighborhood or
community will be planned at one
time in areas included in this zone" :"
Transition Zone Created.
A transition zone" is also created
for sections that have already been
developed but which have reached
q state of "obsolescence." The COM
mission further defined this to mean
a community or part of a COM
munity which has come to be used
for purposes not in the original
scheme.
Appropriate transitional use would
be provided under the plan for the
old buildings in such an area as
long as they remain. a
Two commercial zones have been
set up in the new regulations, one
for the old buildings in such an
area as long as they remain.
Two commercial zones have been
set up In the new regulations, one
for local retail stores, shops, and
Offices to meet neighborhood re-
quirements, and the other for gen.
eral commercial purposes.
The Industrial zone, in the ordi-
nance, has been broken down into
two classifications, one for light and
the other for heavy industry.
Section Deals With Parking.
One section has to do with auto
mobile parking, while still another
daels with locations and sizes of ad-
vertising signs. ~"
Trailer and tourist camps also are
regulated in the ordnance.
The proposed ordnance" Mr..
Tuemmler said reflects the tremen-
dous growth and change that has
taken place during the 16 years
since the current regulations were
enacted"
''At that time,' he added, Prince
Georges County had population of
about $4,000; today it is over 10000.
Hand-in-h hand with the increase in
the number of people living and
working in the county has been the
rapid urbaniZation and growing
complexity of land uses"