By STELLA GARNER
A lengthy battle continues to rage as some Hyattsville residents are speaking out against a proposed McDonald’s which would displace a local business and potentially cause more traffic at an intersection locals say is already rife with congestion.
For over a year, the volunteer group Stop McDonald’s has been attempting to educate locals and the Prince George’s County Planning Board about the potential negative impacts of the proposed McDonald’s, which would be built at the intersection of East-West Highway and Riggs Road in the adjacent Green Meadows Shopping Center. The proposal and its delays have been a consistent subject at planning board meetings since Sept. 26, and as recently as Nov. 21.
“This is already one of the most dangerous stretches of road in Maryland,” said group member Jeff Cronin in an email to the Life & Times. “And while the State Highway Administration has plans to make East-West Highway safer for all pedestrians, the increased traffic from a drive-through threatens to undermine those improvements.”
The five-point intersection near the proposed site is notorious for vehicle crashes and pedestrian fatalities, with four traffic-related deaths in the area since 2016, according to data from the U.S. National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration. Data submitted by Stop McDonald’s from the Maryland State Police showed several hundred crashes within a half-mile radius of the site; however, traffic consultant Michael Lenhart testified at the planning board’s Nov. 21 hearing that none of these crashes were pertinent to the McDonald’s site itself.
“Off-site crash data is really not applicable to the detailed site plan … of that six-year data; we looked at the site access points: There were two crashes within the immediate vicinity of the right-in, right-out access points to this proposed McDonald’s,” said Lenhart at the hearing.
The proposed development would also mean the shuttering of La Doñita Restaurant, owned by local Dora Perez. The restaurant, originally from Bladensburg, has operated its Hyattsville location since 2021. According to volunteer Greg Smith, Perez says she was not informed of the plans until days before the Oct. 17 county planning board’s meeting to discuss them.
Stop McDonald’s claims that the restaurant is proposed to be built in a healthy food priority area, as designated by the Prince George’s County Food Equity Council, a nongovernmental group. The area begins at Lewisdale Drive and continues down past East-West Highway, and is considered a space which lacks healthy food options. The construction of another McDonald’s, which would be the 15th within a 10-mile radius, would not meet the standards for improving the area’s condition as a priority area because it would contribute to an unbalanced ratio between healthy and unhealthy food sources.
The proposed location would also mean encroaching on the nearby historic site of William Dudley Digges’ estate, most well-known as the original resting place of D.C. architect Pierre L’Enfant. Stop McDonald’s is calling for the corporation, as well as the planning board, to properly research the area before proceeding.
Construction on the site has already been placed on an indefinite hold for over a year, and the Stop McDonald’s group has continued to submit extension requests to the planning board, citing both inaccessibility of McDonald’s documents and a lack of proper signage at the construction site. According to McDonald’s attorney Edward Gibbs at a Sept. 26 planning board meeting, there is no basis for the case to be delayed any longer.
“It’s difficult to understand how [the requestors] could feel surprised or need additional time,” said Gibbs. “Nothing is new to anybody here.”
At the Nov. 21 hearing, the board granted continuance for the hearing until their meeting on Jan. 16, 2025. The board has declined to comment publicly on the case due to its pending nature. Until then, Stop McDonald’s will continue to foster community awareness, including translating planning board hearing documents into Spanish.
“There’s no perfect process here,” said Greg Smith at the Oct. 17 meeting. “But we’re looking for a fair process that allows more members of the community, including the non-English-speaking members of the community who live in that community and work in that community, to be heard.”
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Stella Garner is an undergraduate journalism major at the University of Maryland.
