Prince George's County, Maryland

In early 2014, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission’s Prince George’s County Planning Department retained Clarion Associates and a team of eight sub-consultants to undertake a rewrite of the county’s 50-year-old Zoning Ordinance and Subdivision Regulations, which were generally considered in serious need of an update. The overriding goals for the rewrite were to realize and implement land use rules for the 21st century that implement the recently adopted Plan Prince George’s 2035, support desired types of economic development and walkable urbanism (in appropriate locations), and incorporate modern zoning best practices in

the new regulations. After extensive public, stakeholder, review board, and elected official input at the beginning of the process to identify key themes and options for regulatory tools, Clarion completed the code diagnostic, The Evaluation and Recommendations Report. The report was then reviewed at multiple meetings by review boards, focus groups, the public, and the County Council. Between early 2015 and 2018, Clarion drafted the updated zoning ordinance and subdivision regulations in three installments, each installment followed by an extensive set of public and stakeholder meetings. The new zoning ordinance was adopted in October of 2018.