UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — Some residents in Prince George’s County are pushing back against a proposal to rezone a portion of land owned by a construction company in Upper Marlboro. They say they’re concerned about impacts to traffic and the environment.
The Route 202 Neighborhood Coalition is made up of long-time Prince George’s County residents who live near the Brock Hall community in Upper Marlboro. They have concerns over a local construction company’s proposal to build two warehouses totaling almost 600,000 square feet in area they say has enough traffic volume for a two-lane road.
“With one lane coming and one lane going, the expansion of the Total Civil Construction industrial site will greatly increase the volume of traffic as well as pollution and destruction of wildlife and forestry," said Geoffrey Collins, who has lived in the area for nearly 30 years.
“To me, it’s a public safety issue as well as a quality of life issue,” said Claude Parran.
WUSA9 reached out to Councilmember Wala Blegay about the likelihood of expanding MD-202 at Celestial Court and Buck Lane, near Old Marlboro Pike.
"If we want to do any expansion of 202...it would be a long time before we can make that change," Blegay said.
Total Civil Construction is based in Prince George’s County and has been around since 1999. They employ mire than 400 people. The company owns the land off of MD-202 at Celestial Court and Buck Lane and is looking to rezone 33 acres from residential land to industrial, according to a memorandum. They believe the new development would bring hundreds of jobs to the area.
“What is the pay rate going to be? Are you going to pay them a little above minimum wage because then you have these transient individuals if they’re not being paid enough,” said resident Jody Wildy.
Wildy says at times it can take nearly 10 minutes for her to leave her neighborhood because of how busy traffic is on this stretch of 202. She says flooding is a major concern in this area, and cutting down all the trees for this project would make things worse. She’d rather something the entire community could enjoy.
“We’re in Upper Marlboro and we basically don’t have a lot here so something that would appease us would be great," Wildy said.
WUSA9 reached out to Total Civil Construction for comment. In a statement their attorney said:
"Total Civil Construction is a long time Prince George’s County company based in Lanham. Total Civil employs over four-hundred persons with approximately 70-80% being County residents representing a diverse cross-section of the County. They provide training to allow opportunities in the business. Total Civil employs most of their people from the County which is important in order to generate local benefits for the residents and employees, and also to facilitate job creation. A number of our employees have as laborers gone on to become general superintendents and as engineers to become a Vice-President of Operations for example. Total Civil prides itself on that culture and encourage a long-term relationship within the company to become even more productive to the company and their families.
It is important to note that the development concept is to provide an expansion to an existing industrial site. The site adjoins other industrial uses, so it is consistent with the local land uses. As you may know, industrial uses such as warehouse and distribution are a vital part of the economy. There are numerous examples of this type of use locally and throughout the County and DMV.
It depends where it is and the fit. In this particular case it is in an isolated area with existing industrial uses. The site like the other local industrial users does not adjoining residential properties. There is a separate road access system of two roads just for this industrial area with no vehicular or pedestrian connections to any residential areas. The site abuts a railroad track to the east and a proposed major highway (MD 202) and that does allow any connections to adjoining residential properties.
In sum, the overall proposal will be a tremendous addition to what is in the area would allow for increased tax base, which is important as the County is going through a budget crisis right now as well as the state. We will always work with the community and have had numerous meetings with various groups and individuals to date."
Total Civil Construction was supposed to meet with the 202 Neighborhood Coalition over the weekend and offer a tour of their facility, but abruptly canceled. When asked why, WUSA9 did not get an immediate response.