Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-08-21
Prince Georges
Commissioners
Face Dilemma
Lawsuits Possible
From Both Sides
In Zoning WrongIe
BY Ben EronkIin

Inc Prince Georges county
commissioners face 8 week end
Of legal contemplation about q
squeeze play that has them in
the. middle between anxious
builders and the elnbattled
Langley Homeowners Council.
At stake are rs acres in the
densely populated Langley Park
area Of the county that attor-
neys said might become q mo.
mans land" depending upon the
commissioners decision Ito be
announced Tuesday after q week
end Of thinking through the
consequences"
The decision will be either to
grant or to deny building permit
requests for o total OF 1873 new
apartment units on portions Of
q 33-acre tract near the inter-
section at University lane and
Riggs road.
The struggle over coming Of the
property has been going ON inter-
mittently for three years.
Legal Dilemma. Il
The commissioners were
warned by County Attorney c.
Calvert Lancaster that q decision
not to. grant the permits might
bring costly damage suits by the
builders.
.srhe records I have availa Die
to me do not indicate any legal
grounds for denying them" Mr..
Lancaster said. II
But Harry Shooman, attorney
for the citizens group, said q
decision the other way would
mean q suit against the county
by the homeowners.
The county commissioners
held two coming hearings "by
mistake" on requests to change
the property from residential to
apartment use In 1851 and 1852.
Both times, Langley Park resi-
dents believed they had halted
builders attempts to put up
more apartments.
It turned out later. however,
that the land has been zoned
for apartment use ever since
the county's master coming ordi-
nance was adopted in November,
1949, according to the Maryland-
National Capital Park and
Planning Commission. 1t has
been bought and sold Q numpey
OF times since then. attorneys
said. and each time the buyer
paid dearly" for IT because OF
the apartment coming.
planned r,omn,unitv
rh. 80, J. A.. 800 .,,....,..
a. ~ ny NO :" s,. ns u.spSoS
:, ,s,,,,ch Yarn,a,, nar,. s.. ~
o,,t - +,sa co,,,+,,.s e,ss 20" p,, .a
p 81, - ~a, rvay ~ A - y
Ppr rsc,,iat;ons ,;,o;t1 ~. TO-
tai non,latinn density of the an.
fire 270-acre cnmm,,nitv to 3.
I64 units accori;nO IN r Wars
| rer Tsioun,,e r,a nnino comnois,.
| sion engineer Mr. C,;a,,n,,e said
there era . no7 mite aireadv
h,,;lt nv nnder const,,,ctio,,
| there That leaves . differet,ce of
137
Additional APARTMENTS await
| ing only the commissioners ap-
prevail for construction. would
bring the total density to within
four units of the permitted . f64
the county heads were told
Carl Nj Freeman has anpIied
for permission to build 40 new
units and Isadore Gudelsky has
applied for permission to con-
Struct % UNITS. 1nelr pullolng
ago when the langley group pro
tested to the Commissioners
against the new construction
Mr. csiauoue said there still,
would be enough vacant land left
over for 400 more APARTMENT
units if the Commissioners ap-
prove the Freeman and Gudelsky
requests.
Mr.. Shooman declared that
this land, amounting to about Is
acres, could not be used for
anything but a no mans land
unless you are willing to de-
stroy your own plan and ex-
coed the density limit" q
Mr.. Shooman commended that
the 24-acre farm OF the Eudist
FATHERS, q Catholic order. IN the
center OF the RPC. should not be
included IN figuring the present
density Of the community.
"Over Densif;ed -
his ngures. excluding the
Iarm. INDICATED that the area
ALREADY Is over oensined' py
los un,Is' 4
II Inc county commissioners
.cIioose 70 disregard tneir own
reguiations, tnen what Is tns
puddle 70 60 oyF demanded Mr..
4 80 ~------s