College Park officials on Sept. 3 asked County Executive Aisha Braveboy to join the city and its neighbors in opposing the shutdown of the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC).
In a stop during Braveboy’s countywide “listening tour,” the county executive, who took office in June, also heard concerns from a handful of local officials about issues ranging from the city’s lack of authority over land use in College Park to the improvements along the stretch of Route 1 from Greenbelt Road to the Beltway ramp.
“There are 2,600 people who [work at BARC],” College Park Mayor Fazlul Kabir said. “Many of them live in College Park and the surrounding communities in Laurel, Greenbelt, Beltsville, and their livelihoods are at stake, but also, more importantly, many of them, when they work there, they also attend the businesses in College Park.”
Braveboy said she has been looking into the closing since it was announced in July and opposes it.
Several College Park City Councilmembers and Prince George’s County officials met at City Hall to discuss issues facing College Park and surrounding neighborhoods as part of Braveboy’s “Elevate Prince George’s” tour.
Braveboy said she scheduled meetings in each of the county’s eight legislative districts within her first 100 days in office to listen to local leaders.
“I’m learning a lot about our county,” Braveboy said. “My goal is to increase our commercial tax base. That’s very important, but we want to do that responsibly. We also want to do that in coordination with our residents and our community leaders, and that’s why we set up these listening tours, because it’s important that I know what’s important to you.”
Maryland Sen. Jim Rosapepe (District 21), Prince George’s County Councilmembers Eric Olson (District 3) and Tom Dernoga (District 1), city councilmembers Ray Ranker (District 3), Alan Hew (District 1) and Maria Mackie (District 4), and Mayor Pro Tem Denise Mitchell (District 4) also participated in the meeting.
Kabir asked Braveboy to support a shift in land use authority to cities. Mitchell and Mackie said the city’s code enforcement officers should be made aware when the owners of single-family homes in College Park pull county permits allowing them to convert their property into multiple apartments.
“My request is that I would like to see if we can create synergy, whereas the city can have the initial authorization to look at the permits being pulled and then send it to the county,” Mitchell said. “That way we can work in tandem.”
Robert Thurston, president of the Lakeland Civic Association and a member of the city’s Age-Friendly Work Group and Affordable Housing Task Force, told Braveboy he wants to connect with her team about ways to help the city’s elderly.
After the event, Thurston told College Park Here & Now the roundtable was “encouraging.”
Rosapepe agreed that the discussion gave Braveboy a picture of the issues in the community.
“It was a very diverse set of issues,” Rosapepe said. “They raised a variety of issues. They raised specific examples, which makes it easier for someone in an agency to get their head around, and they’re following up with information so I think things will come out of this.”
In an interview with College Park Here & Now after the discussion, Braveboy said she and her team would figure out next steps.
“I think one of the things that I’ve learned in my life in politics is that you can do things on your own, but when you do it collectively, you get a better impact,” Braveboy said.