Cafritz Comment Deadline Bumped to Jan. 27

If you haven't had a chance to officially weigh in on the proposed Cafritz development, you now have until Friday, Jan. 27 to do so thanks to a deadline extension.

At last week's  before the Prince George's County Planning Board, members agreed to accept additional comments on the developer's rezoning application through today (Jan. 20).

But on Thursday (Jan. 19), the staff asked the board to push that cutoff back seven days in light of the abbreviated workweek and phone calls it had received from members of the public.

The board approved the request 4-0, according to spokeswoman Andrea Davey, with Chairman Elizabeth Hewlett abstaining again due to a conflict of interest.

The hearing itself was continued last week to Feb. 2, allowing staff to review the stipulations agreed to between Riverdale Park, University Park, and the developer. Additional in-person testimony will be heard on that date if it is confined specifically to those conditions, according to Vice Chairman Dorothy Bailey.

In an email sent Thursday to the RP TownTalk alias, Riverdale Park Councilman Jonathan Ebbeler (Ward 1) urged neighbors to contact the board.

"I would ask all residents to take 5 minutes to draft a short note so that your thoughts are in the public record," Ebbeler wrote. "The ultimate re-zoning decision will be made by the County Council (sitting as the District Council) based only on what is part of the public record. Your emails count and have enormous weight."

Comments can be emailed to publicaffairs@ppd.mncppc.org or faxed to 301-952-5074.