While I appreciate the financial windfall Werrlein Properties, LLC would make turning what was once and office building and parking lot into a couple of acres of high density housing I fail to see what benefit that has to the community. New housing will not match with the existing neighborhood, many of which are 100 year old homes. The minimal facilities that are the playground and pool would become overrun with hundreds of new residents and those residents already in the neighborhood would have little to gain from this development. The ideal would be reusing the existing structure for some sort of community center but that may not be a fiscally viable option. I understand that Werrlein is in the business of turning a profit but if the development had any sort of mixed use component to it (gym, shops, restaurants, anything for the community) with residential above or beside that would be more of a win/win for the company and the community. If the only option the city is pursuing is dumping a couple hundred families into the bottom of the neighborhood in new housing my preference would be to keep the empty office building and parking lot which while not ideal doesn't create any strain on the community.

The need to balance environmental impacts, emergency management measures, affordability, and a myriad of other difficult aspects of this project are important. Werrlein Properties won't be able to make every resident happy with their development project, but that shouldn't be the reason that the project is rejected. There will be change to Hyattsville, it isn't easy and will often be uncomfortable.

Despite the potential to be a great location for a new school, it isn't a political or fiscal reality at this time. Turning the building into a 100 unit apartment/condo will only aggravate the feared traffic concerns and makes and even greater change to the character of the neighborhood. While the historic preservation of old building is important, not every building is worth saving.

The issues that Werrlein Properties does need to address to make this property viable are the storm-water management, environmental impact, and flood mitigation concerns. The obvious place to start would be to only build outside of the 500-year flood zone, this would leave most of the upper property for development. To address the environmental impact I suggest utilizing local expertise and implement a better ecological transition from the Magruder Park bog into an expansion of the parks green/wild space on the lower property. Finally, the storm-water management issue must be addressed because the lower lot is one the lowest points in Hyattsville and it is not a matter of if but when there will be flash flooding. Green roofs, community or household cisterns, advanced bio-retention areas, and other methods must be implemented.

There are many dedicated and experienced people in Hyattsville, Werrlein Properties must continue to make use of their skills to help make this a project that is not only acceptable to the community but a proud achievement that makes Hyattsville an even better place to live.

Look at the list- Pyramid Atlantic, Franklins, Vigilante Coffee, Pizza Paradiso, The Firehouse Lofts. In my opinion, the soul and charm of Hyattsville lies in institutions like these and the old homes, not in new development. We are a historic district for a reason. Lets not kill the golden goose.

Once you examine this project closely, the answer of how to develop this property becomes obvious. Once you take into account all of the property's constraints, there is only one solution. The only solution that does not develop in the floodplain, develop on land that has been set aside for park expansion, demolish a historic building by an exceptional architect, AND, allow the private developer to still turn a profit is to adaptively reuse the existing buildings. Floor plans have already been drawn up that demonstrate that you can fit 100 units into the existing building envelope. Also, there are well over 100 parking spots in the several terraced parking areas around the building, so the parcel adjacent to Magruder would not be needed for this (more parking is needed for increased density of office space compared to residential). If the city and county are clear that we will not allow development in the flood plain, the cost for the property should come down, and then perhaps the city could find the funds to buy this parcel from the current or future owners, making the entire project more affordable. With this solution, everyone wins, the historic building is preserved, the park land and floodplain are left undeveloped, the developer can still turn a profit, and the important historic character of our neighborhood is retained.

Magruder Park is a public space. It's where we end the annual parade to celebrate the city. It's where we hold the carnival, the cyclocross, and where folks are out and about every day. While the parking lot there is a bit of an eyesore, it's still provides sightlines into the park and helps keep the park open and inviting. Yeah, it's not actually public property but historically it was and the council(s) should look into options of restoring it to such.

Packing in a bunch of pricey new homes will permanently alter the character of the park and reduce our public space, something Hyattsville is already short of. We already have big developments up and down route 1 and 410 and near west hyattsville Metro - that's plenty.

If we're going to do something with the parking lot and old WSSC building sites, best to make them in the service of the public. Put the new elementary school in the lot and make the old WSSC building a community center or mow it down and make it more parkland. Keep Magruder our public meeting space. As we pack in more residents, we'll need it even more...

I live on Farragut St about three blocks away from this site and am very concerned about the sudden population density increase this proposal would cause. Already the traffic on 40th Street is very heavy, it’s often scary to walk along the side walks or cross the street on this SINGLE LANE road. We already have cars speeding down Farragut to cut through town, which really concerns me as a parent of a little kid. I can only imagine that heavier traffic on 40th would exacerbate this. Not to mention that we moved into the area some years ago because of the historic feel of the neighborhood and the open spaces, which in my opinion would change for the worse with this development. And our public schools are bursting at the seams! Finding childcare has been extremely difficult here for young parents for some years due to a baby boom and young couples/families moving in. the school density problem is only going to get worse unless something is done, and this development is not going to help. In addition, I don’t see any planning for a common space in the development design, meaning that they expect the new residents to use Magruder. I really don’t see a single reason why I should support this development.

From what I can tell both Takoma Park and Baltimore are considered "sanctuary city's" but they still share information with the federal government. Would Hyattsville be pursuing the same sort of arrangement as these two cities or something else?

Sounds delicious!

but am looking for a nice hoppy black IPA. It's definitely not what you expect at first glance.

A hoppy pale ale similar to calvert's good company pale ale. Name suggestion - Hyattsvillain. My wife's suggestion is Hy-Brow Brew