A Rebuttal to Developers' Specious Arguments on CB-42-2025
The point-by-point rebuttal has been provided by Ron Weiss of the Indian Head Highway Area Action Council (IHAAC).
1. "Master plans are outdated."
That is not a reason to ignore master plans. It is a reason to update them.
The County spends millions of taxpayer dollars and thousands of staff hours to produce each plan; these plans remain the only officially adopted policy documents expressing the County's development vision.
If an area plan is obsolete, the solution is to revise the plan through a public process, not to disregard it in individual case-by-case approvals.
Ignoring plans creates exactly the sprawl, inconsistency, and loss of trust that led to this legislation in the first place.
Bottom line: "Outdated" does not mean "irrelevant." It means the County needs to follow the plan until it is lawfully amended.
2. "CB-42 will cause delay and uncertainty."
False. The bill codifies what responsible developers already do - show how a proposal fits County policy.
The bill does not add new hearings or levels of review; it adds a clear standard that applicants must meet.
Developers always claim that any accountability adds delay; yet jurisdictions that require plan consistency, such as Montgomery County and Arlington, approve projects more predictably because expectations are clear from the start.
Uncertainty already exists when projects are approved contrary to adopted planscreating appeals, litigation, and community opposition.<
Bottom line: Consistency reduces uncertainty. Clear rules protect both the public and investors.
3. "It politicizes development decisions."
On the contrary, CB-42-2025 de-politicizes land-use decisions by anchoring them in written, publicly adopted policy rather than last-minute lobbying.
When plan conformance is required, decisions rely on transparent criteria, not who has access to decision-makers.
It restores fairness: every applicant is judged by the same adopted plan, not by discretionary negotiation.
4. "Plans blur the line between planning and zoning."
The bill doesn't confuse the twoit connects them, as intended by Maryland's Land Use Article.
Planning sets policy; zoning implements it.
Current practice lets zoning drift away from planning, creating contradictions that waste infrastructure dollars and undermine Plan 2035's goals.
CB-42 restores the legal bridge between them by requiring that zoning-based approvals reflect the plan that guides the zone's intent.
5. "We will lose flexibility for economic growth."
The County already has vast flexibilitymoree than 40 active master and sector plans, a modern zoning ordinance with hundreds of use standards, and discretionary authority through detailed site plans and special exceptions.
"Flexibility" without boundaries is simply inconsistency.
The county's biggest missed opportunities stem from decades of plan-inconsistent development that diluted infrastructure, housing balance, and job location efficiency.
True economic growth requires predictability and alignment -- both of which CB-42 enforces.
6. "Special exceptions will become impossible."
Not true. The bill merely requires that special exceptions not contradict the adopted master plan. That's already Maryland case law: special exceptions must be harmonious with the plan's intent.
If the plan contemplates mixed-use or service uses near residential areas, those can still qualify.
What CB-42 prevents are exceptions that defeat the plan's policy goals.
7. Fiscal Reality: We Already Fund the Plans
Only about 10 percent of M-NCPPC's Prince George's County budgetroughly -- $48 million out of $448 million - supports the Planning Department. That equals only two to three percent of residents' total tax bills.
To disregard plans after spending those dollars is a waste of public funds and professional expertise.
If we are paying for planning, we should use the plans.
The Real Choice
CB-42-2025 does not freeze development.
It simply says that if the County adopts a plan through years of public hearings, professional analysis, and taxpayer funding, those plans must mean something when we approve projects.
Ignoring the plans gives developers short-term convenience at the cost of long-term stability, livability, and public trust.
Passing CB-42-2025 helps give everyone - residents, investors, and decision-makers - a clear, accountable framework.
An Excellent Letter from the Indian Head Highway Area Action Council
November 6, 2025
Subject: Please Vote YES on CB-42-2025 - Restore Integrity to Our Planning Process
Dear Chair Burroughs and Members of the County Council,
I am writing in strong support of CB-42-2025, a carefully negotiated and long-needed reform that restores the requirement that development applications conform to our adopted master and sector plans, strengthens public engagement, and brings transparency and accountability to the pre-application process.
For decades, the many Prince George's County residents I know in Oxon Hill, Fort Washington, and Accokeek, have raised the same concern: Why do we create master plans if we do not follow them? The PHED Committee's own report confirms that the purpose of CB-42-2025 is to fix precisely this problem by restoring plan-consistency language that was removed in 2024 and returning to the standards the Council had previously approved in CB-003-2023. This legislation directly responds to years of community frustration over substandard development resulting from plans that have policy force but no practical effect when not tied to decision standards.
CB-42-2025 is the product of three separate PHED hearings, multiple stakeholder meetings, and numerous amendments that simplified requirements, clarified definitions, removed mandatory language, and consolidated overlapping Legislative Drafting Requests. The bill now reflects consensus-driven improvements to streamline the entire pre-application process.
Importantly, the County Executive now supports the bill as amended, recognizing that it strikes the right balance between improving development review and maintaining appropriate flexibility.
The PHED Committee and the legislative summary also make clear what the bill will accomplish:
Require applicants to demonstrate conformance with applicable master plans at both the pre-application and application stages.
Strengthen transparency by requiring neighborhood-meeting notices to be publicly searchable and ADA-accessible.
Ensure community voice by designating neighborhood-meeting participants who provide contact information as persons of record, closing a long-standing loophole.
Improve early alignment through optional informational consultations with Council Membersformalizing a practice already used by applicants while avoiding ex parte concerns.
Require plan consistency as a standard of approval for detailed site plans and special exceptions, restoring the accountability removed in CB-015-2024.
Support for the bill is broad. The Sierra Club testified that CB-42-2025 is essential to protecting Plan 2035, preventing master plan bypassing, and ensuring that development reflects the community's vision rather than the path of least resistance. Community testimony also emphasized the importance of fixing the County's inconsistent and outdated public-information databases (DARTS, DAMS, DPIE, Planning), and this bill directly responds by creating a consolidated, modernized notice system.
The PHED Committee ultimately voted 3–0 to report CB-42-2025 favorably with amendments, reflecting thoughtful deliberation and broad agreement on the bill’s purpose and approach.
CB-42-2025 is a balanced, forward-looking reform that restores the integrity of our planning process, empowers residents, improves access to information, and ensures that the County's vision -- articulated in its master plans -- actually guides development. I respectfully urge the Council to vote YES on this important legislation.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Ron Weiss, President
IHHAAC, Inc.
P.O. Box 44013
Fort Washington, MD 20749
This letter can be sent to our two Maryland Senators and to Congressman Steny Hamilton Hoyer. Edit the template for each politician. Insert your name and address and phone number, then email or mail the letter to the politicians.
Senator Christopher J. Van Hollen Jr.
Senator Benjamin Louis Cardin
Congressman Steny Hamilton Hoyer
Date:
TO:
FROM:
SUBJECT: Airplane Noise in Accokeek Neighborhoods
A significant number of people in my community are experiencing constant airplane noise over our Accokeek, MD, community. We need our political representatives to get involved in helping solve the issue of constant air noise over our community. If we are to solve this problem with aircraft noise, we need all our political representatives to get involved.
The FAA has refused to address our issues with the constant bombardment of air noise over our once quiet community. It appears that little is being done to assist us in stopping this constant noise. We need our politicians to act and force the FAA to alter or disperse theses constant flights over our community. Our patience is running thin. This noise has been ongoing for over three years now, and no one is helping us. The planes just keep coming. It appears that we are taking all incoming flights to National on any given day. Occasionally we might get half a day on no noise. We need this issue solved. We have lost hope that the FAA wants to solve this issue. The FAA is not budging and has refused to work with our MWAA community representative.
Are the Airlines running the FAA, or is the FAA regulating the Airlines? We are desperate for help here. No one should have to live like this and certainly should not be forced to sell their homes. Again, I am asking what actions will your office take to eliminate this problem ASAP? Please respond to this letter. We need this noise stopped now. What are you doing now to solve this?
When: Seven Days Per Week
Hours: 16 – 18 Hours Per Day
Frequency: Mostly Every 90 Seconds/90% of All Incoming
Plane Altitude: 1500 – 3500 Feet
Time Frame: Ongoing since 2016 (entering year 3 now)
Concerned and Outraged Citizen
Name
Senator Christopher J. Van Hollen Jr.
Website: https://vanhollen.org/
PHONE: (301) 942-3768
EMAIL: INFO@VANHOLLEN.ORG
Address: 10605 CONCORD STREET, SUITE 202, KENSINGTON, MD 20895 USA
Christopher J. Van Hollen Jr. is an American politician serving as the junior United States Senator from Maryland since January 3, 2017. From 2003 to 2017, he served as the U.S. Representative for Maryland's 8th congressional district. He is a member of the Democratic Party. – Wikipedia
Senator Benjamin Louis Cardin
EMAIL:
Website: https://www.cardin.senate.gov/
Washington/Capitol Hill Office
509 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
phone: (202) 224-4524
Benjamin Louis Cardin is an American politician serving as the senior United States Senator from Maryland, first elected to that seat in 2006. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously was the U.S. Representative for Maryland's 3rd congressional district from 1987 to 2007. – Wikipedia
Steny Hamilton Hoyer
EMAIL:
Website:
Steny Hamilton Hoyer is an American attorney and politician serving as U.S. Representative for Maryland's 5th congressional district since 1981 and as House Majority Leader since 2019. A Democrat, he was first elected in a special election on May 19, 1981, and is currently serving in his 20th term. – Wikipedia
