SILVER SPRING, MD – On Wednesday, January 16 at
approximately 7 p.m., the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning
Commission will launch a process that will culminate with a plan that
strengthens the Takoma/Langley Crossroads community as public transit projects
transform how people get to and through the area.
The Crossroads, extending in a roughly half-mile radius
around University Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue in Montgomery and Prince
George’s counties, comes under the jurisdiction of both county Planning Boards.
Meeting together as the full commission, the boards will evaluate staff’s recommended
goals for a sector plan, a 15-year vision that will prescribe the land uses and
enhance the character of the community. The commission also will discuss staff’s
recommended strategies for encouraging broad community participation.
The commission decided to hold the January 16
meeting at the Langley Park Community Center to involve the community as much
as possible. Interested residents and those working in the community are encouraged
to attend and comment on the staff’s draft Goals and Outreach Strategy report.
(Spanish interpreters will be provided.)
The City of Takoma Park, which is collaborating with
county planners on the Crossroads project, will preview the recommendations in
the draft report at a City Council meeting on Monday, January 7 at Takoma Park
City Hall.
The Takoma/Langley Sector Plan comes at an opportune
time, as the community is poised for major public projects that will change how
people travel in the Crossroads. The Purple Line, a transit route slated to run
from New Carrollton to Bethesda through Takoma/Langley, and the planned
construction of a bus transit center by the Maryland Transit Administration
will become major assets for a community where about half of the employed
residents take public transportation.
The planned transit improvements provide a great
opportunity for planners to shape development that emphasizes walking,
bicycling and public transit use at the Crossroads. In the sector plan, staff
will develop plans for outdoor gathering places, recreational opportunities,
mixed residential and retail, and new jobs for the community’s multi-cultural
population, which numbers about 29,000, many immigrating from Central America,
South America, the Far East and West Africa.
WHO:
The
Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (Montgomery and Prince
George’s Planning Boards)
WHAT:
Takoma/Langley
Crossroads Sector Plan kick-off
WHEN:
Wednesday,
January 16 – approximately 7 p.m.
WHERE:
Langley
Park Community Center
1500
Merrimac Drive
Langley
Park, Md.