The Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee of the Prince George's County Council met on July 21, 2026, at 9:22 a.m. in Committee Room 2027. Vice Chair Krystal Oriadha presided in the absence of Chair Wala Blegay. Four members were present (Oriadha, Adams-Stafford, Dernoga, Olson); Blegay was excused. Council Member Timothy Adams also attended. The committee considered four pieces of legislation, all of which received favorable recommendations with amendments.
Alrighty, good morning, everyone. We are sitting as planning how the economic development committee. I serve as the vice chair of this committee, but I will be chairing because Councilmember Bilgay won't be joining us. Can I have a roll call? Councilmember Adam Stafford. Vice Chair Oyaga. Chair. Councilmember Denoga. Present. Councilmember Olsen? Here. Three members present at roll calls. Thank you. All right, for today's agenda, we have a few pieces of legislation. We will start with CB 70 2026. Ordinance concerning use of regulations, demolition and standards. Places of worship. And I will pass it to staff for an overview. Good morning, uh, Madam Chair and members of the PHED committee. As uh Madam Chair mentioned, the bill amends the zoning ordinance to require detailed site plan approval for certain places of worship, cultural facilities, monasteries, or convents under certain circumstances. It also amends the use regulations to allow modified design and dimensional standards on properties of uh assemblages of land with 25 acres or more. There's a corrected version of the bill on pages 21 through 36 of your virtual binder. The planning board voted to support the bill with amendments. All of the planning board documents are on pages 48 through 93. The planning department staff are here to discuss their comments. Madam ZHE submitted a memo on the corrective version of the bill. The planning department staff submitted proposed a proposed amendment sheet in response to the the zoning here and examiners' comments. That was sent to you as additional information. Mr. Campbell is here to provide a fiscal and policy analysis of the corrective version of the bill. I would like to request that Mr. Campbell discuss this overview. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, Chair Oriata and members of the PhD committee. My name is James Campbell. And the following is an overview of CB 70 2026. It's an ordinance concerning use regulations and dimensional standards for places of worship. My report is based on the corrected draft one of the proposed bill. Councillor Denoga has been working with the planning department on this bill. The bill will provide for the approval of detailed site plan for the development of property for certain places of worship, cultural facilities, monasteries, uh convents under certain circumstances, and amending use regulations to allow for modified design standards and intensity and dimensional standards for such uses of assemblages of 25 acres or more. This bill removes the need for special exception for this type of use. Currently, subtitle 27 of the county code permits place of worship as a principal use and a special exception. Cultural facilities are also permitted as principal use and special exception. The current law does not provide for places of worship and cultural facilities to avoid having to go through the special exception process in certain zones. Other provisions such as uh lot coverage, height, parking uh requirements, lighting and signage do not provide for adjustments that the new provision would allow. Also, uh cultural facilities that are associated with place of worship do not have the above adjustments. In addition, a place of worship is currently required to adhere to the neighborhood compatibility standards. Uh the current requirements are not as flexible uh as those being proposed in this bill. And uh thank you, and that's that's my overview of CB70 2026. Thank you.