College Park officials in September discussed the possibility of making the soon-to-be-vacant Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) and several other nearby properties part of the city.
City Manager Kenny Young on Sept. 9 presented research by city staff showing 7.86 square miles of property valued at $580,294,600 that borders College Park and could potentially be annexed — a procedure that expands a city’s boundaries to incorporate adjacent land.
College Park currently covers 5.68 square miles.
“We’re kind of just barely in the initial stages of talking about it,” Councilmember Jacob Hernandez (District 1) told College Park Here & Now. “We’re trying to take a common-sense approach to every single one of these areas.”
Young outlined 17 potential annexation sites, mostly small plots on the city’s northern and western borders.
“Each parcel’s property is unique, and the potentials are also unique,” College Park Mayor Fazlul Kabir said. “It doesn’t need to be annexed unless the city and the community see that it is beneficial.”
Kabir said the city would consider annexing land to protect it, for economic development or to boost population.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it will vacate BARC to move employees out of the Washington region and into states with more agricultural land. The council discussed annexing parts or all of that property to protect the land and advance sustainability initiatives such as its tree canopy program.
Other sites that could be annexed include land west of the University of Maryland and the Paint Branch Golf Complex, Young said. Some areas on the list, like the Seven Springs and Westchester Park apartment complexes, already have College Park mailing addresses even though they are outside of city limits.
“Should a property fall within the city limits, the residents of College Park have much more of a say in what gets built there,” Hernandez said during the meeting. “When we talk about the BARC [property], there’s a lot of residents who oppose any sort of development. … We have so much more of a say if that property falls within the limits of College Park.”
Hernandez said annexations are not new to the city. Recent additions include the property where IKEA sits, in 2003, and Domain, a student apartment building on the edge of the UMD campus, in 2010.
“I’d like to ensure that we get the community involved as much as we can, and we become very transparent in terms of pros and cons,” Kabir said in an interview. “It is a residents-driven process.”
Officials said annexation discussions will require input from residents, property owners and county, state and federal governments. If the city intends to annex private land, property owners would have to agree, Kabir said. For publicly owned property, the process would involve approval from government officials.
Annexation would allow the city to expand its tax base while giving the owners of annexed property access to city resources.
Councilmembers said they are open to considering annexations for at least some of the properties staff identified.
“I think that there are a lot of pros with this annexation,” District 4 Councilmember Maria Mackie said at the meeting. “As we look at the different sites, we should maybe just say, ‘What are the pros and what are the cons of each of the sites?’ and see what is most beneficial for our city.”rby properties