News

NOVEMBER 10, 2011

Adelphi Project Should Follow 'Green' Plan

Source: The Gazette, by Jolene Ivey (D-Dist. 47), Cheverly

Just what we need - a new CVS bulldozing the last oasis of trees in Adelphi so we can have a drugstore across an overwhelmed road from another drugstore.

Jeffrey K. Lyles/The Gazette Bladensburg Town Hall\'s fully permeable parking lot collects about 6 inches of rainfall an hour in an effort to reduce the impact of storm water runoffs, which includes flooding.

Earlier zoning decisions unfortunately made this a very likely result. Sen. [Victor] Ramirez and I went to the recent County Council hearing in support of community associations that have opposed the development, and both the council members and community leaders were in agreement that the environment and traffic will suffer as a result. Council members [Mary] Lehman, [Will] Campos and [Eric] Olson all voiced their frustration with the situation, with the others nodding along in agreement.

There are a number of recommendations that would improve the situation. The council could raise the percentage of trees replaced in mitigation efforts from 20 percent to 100 percent, which is still less than optimal, since the small saplings planted can't truly replace the grand old trees that currently reside there; have additional traffic and access studies, since rush-hour traffic plus school buses already equals headaches, and require some green building technologies that lessen development's impact on the environment.

I'd like to suggest that the council look to Bladensburg, which has been a real leader in such design in their own Town Hall. The parking lot there filters up to six inches of rainwater per house using technology called "Pave Drain." I'm not suggesting that a particular company or technology be used at the CVS site, but rather that it's an example of what can be done to build a parking lot that doesn't add to the problems of cleaning up our streams and rivers.

The Bladensburg Town Hall is powered by solar panels and generates more electricity than it uses, according to the mayor, Walter James. The town then gets money back from Pepco from the energy it sends back to the grid.

In addition, Bladensburg has a Save-Watt Eco Pole, which is a streetlight totally operated by wind and solar power. This is another wonderful way that the town is lighting the county's future to environmentally sustainable development.

The practice of including a green roof in the design would filter rain that otherwise will run off the huge, flat roof and into our storm drains. Green roofs also decrease the building's energy use.

Prince George's County is on the cusp of some wonderful development opportunities in the coming years. We can use them to provide a sustainable green-print for the future.

About PaveDrain
The PaveDrain System is a Permeable Articulating Concrete Block/Mat (P-ACB/M) that creates a performance pavement that integrates the patented arched reservoir to maximize onsite stormwater capacity during extreme storm events. www.pavedrain.com.

About Ernest Maier Block
Ernest Maier Block is a manufacturer of concrete masonry units and distributor of other masonry and concrete products located in Bladensburg, Maryland. Ernest Maier Block has been a company "thinking globally and delivering locally" in the Washington, DC area since 1926. For more information on the company, visit www.ernestmaier.com.