The Fort Washington Inevitability (Bowie, Waldorf: foreclosures, house prices, neighborhoods)

[molukai]

Hi all, over the last few months we have seen a major shift in activity in the Fort Washington area, on both sides of Indianhead Highway. There are a lot of land grabs going on by several major builders, and they have gone full speed with housing developments. And with the positive news about NH in recent months bringing a steady increase in local activity - and soon to be even more so due to the new mall development as well as the major casino project - there has been a definite uptick in housing prices.

House prices are still depressed compared to the VA side given the bad rap that it has had for the better part of the decade, but that precise fact coupled with it being the last immediate dc suburb considered undeveloped will make its exponential growth as a major suburb an inevitability. I am excited to be a part of this transition! I just wish PG County's officials all kick their regulation and tax loving bottoms out of their respective offices.

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by molukai

Hi all, over the last few months we have seen a major shift in activity in the Fort Washington area, on both sides of Indianhead Highway. There are a lot of land grabs going on by several major builders, and they have gone full speed with housing developments. And with the positive news about NH in recent months bringing a steady increase in local activity - and soon to be even more so due to the new mall development as well as the major casino project - there has been a definite uptick in housing prices.

House prices are still depressed compared to the VA side given the bad rap that it has had for the better part of the decade, but that precise fact coupled with it being the last immediate dc suburb considered undeveloped will make its exponential growth as a major suburb an inevitability. I am excited to be a part of this transition! I just wish PG County's officials all kick their regulation and tax loving bottoms out of their respective offices.

Housing is getting better, but more housing development in this part of the county is really the last thing that is needed. The infrastructure isn't there to support a larger population. The schools are overcrowded, the hospital is dated and very small, and the road system is inadequate. Fort Washington has lots of potential but it suffers from some shortsightedness on the part of county leadership and really has suffered from poor decision making. It also doesn't help that you have some members of the community who really don't like to see growth (Bonnie Beck is one, she even came to my community's last meeting to talk about stopping development, even though she doesn't live in the community and she wasn't even invited).

Also it should be noted that the housing has suffer from a bad rap and also the foreclosure crisis. We had one of the worst foreclosure rates in the nation but it is picking up especially in attractive places like Fort Washington. I have hopes for Fort Washington as well, but I'm just not too sure how soon things will change. A lot has to change.

[UrbanScholar]

Originally Posted by pgtitans

Housing is getting better, but more housing development in this part of the county is really the last thing that is needed. The infrastructure isn't there to support a larger population. The schools are overcrowded, the hospital is dated and very small, and the road system is inadequate. Fort Washington has lots of potential but it suffers from some shortsightedness on the part of county leadership and really has suffered from poor decision making. It also doesn't help that you have some members of the community who really don't like to see growth (Bonnie Beck is one, she even came to my community's last meeting to talk about stopping development, even though she doesn't live in the community and she wasn't even invited).

Also it should be noted that the housing has suffer from a bad rap and also the foreclosure crisis. We had one of the worst foreclosure rates in the nation but it is picking up especially in attractive places like Fort Washington. I have hopes for Fort Washington as well, but I'm just not too sure how soon things will change. A lot has to change.

You are on point with Housing development. I think that they need to suspend any new development until the demand catches up. When I moved into the Fort Washington area long time residents told me that the reason why more commercial development had not occurred was that the area was designated as rural which limited what could be done. They had only recently lifted that designation. However, to your point, before and especially after lifting it a lot of the old guard (mostly tree huggers) have fought any development that was considered. Or if they were in favor protested for frivolous issues (e.g. the architectural changes to the upcoming police station). With so much red tape that many developers looked elsewhere. That perception due to foreclosures really didn't help PG at all. Hopefully over the next decade that perception will change significantly.

[wisedisguise]

Originally Posted by molukai

I just wish PG County's officials all kick their regulation and tax loving bottoms out of their respective offices.

You are correct but it lies with we, as citizens, to change that at the ballot box as sitting officials aren't going to do anything against their interests.

[scrapper105]

Originally Posted by pgtitans

The infrastructure isn't there to support a larger population. The schools are overcrowded, the hospital is dated and very small, and the road system is inadequate. Fort Washington has lots of potential but it suffers from some shortsightedness on the part of county leadership and really has suffered from poor decision making.

How do we change this ? I struggle with this a lot. The county will never build the infrastructure if there isn't an immediate need to do so.

I think the solution is to concentrate development growth in areas with existing roads and transportation access (within .5 mile of a metro station) or in areas that at least have room for new roads to be built (like Woodmore in central PGCo.)

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by scrapper105

How do we change this ? I struggle with this a lot. The county will never build the infrastructure if there isn't an immediate need to do so.

I think the solution is to concentrate development growth in areas with existing roads and transportation access (within .5 mile of a metro station) or in areas that at least have room for new roads to be built (like Woodmore in central PGCo.)

I think that is part of it, but I think this county needs to do a better job of long term planning. I mean if you know that there is certain parts of Fort Washington that you want to develop, then make sure you expand the roads, lobby for new schools when the need is there and build unique developments. Those are the things that have made surrounding jurisdictions successful. Look at Loudoun County. They are growing but they didn't wait 20 years too late to Metro out there. No they are able to develop around the metro stations and build communities that have the infrastructure in place. PG, especially Fort Washington, has become so over-saturated with houses that there isn't much else around that is going to greatly improve the quality of life.

[HurricaneDC]

We don't need to urbanize every god damn part of the county, some of us like the countryside.

[molukai]

If you like the countryside, then you need to move away from the DC region. It's not reasonable to demand that an area so close to the capital of the nation remain rural. Whether you like it or not, it is an inevitability that won't be stopped.

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by HurricaneDC

We don't need to urbanize every god damn part of the county, some of us like the countryside.

This is not about urbanizing as much as it's about having some basic amenities. If someone is about to have a baby, they shouldn't have to drive 30 minutes out of the way to have a child. If someone wants to get a few things for the house they shouldn't have to drive all the way to Waldorf or Brandywine to do so. There's a difference between over-development and underdevelopment. Fort Washington is a pretty big place and it doesn't have sufficient amenities to accommodate it's population. That should definitely change though.

[wisedisguise]

Originally Posted by pgtitans

Housing is getting better, but more housing development in this part of the county is really the last thing that is needed. The infrastructure isn't there to support a larger population. The schools are overcrowded, the hospital is dated and very small, and the road system is inadequate. Fort Washington has lots of potential but it suffers from some shortsightedness on the part of county leadership and really has suffered from poor decision making. It also doesn't help that you have some members of the community who really don't like to see growth (Bonnie Beck is one, she even came to my community's last meeting to talk about stopping development, even though she doesn't live in the community and she wasn't even invited).

Also it should be noted that the housing has suffer from a bad rap and also the foreclosure crisis. We had one of the worst foreclosure rates in the nation but it is picking up especially in attractive places like Fort Washington. I have hopes for Fort Washington as well, but I'm just not too sure how soon things will change. A lot has to change.

Housing is way out of control in this part of the county. Big emphasis on that. Sure, everyone wants a new house close to but away from DC. The bad thing in this case is developers are cramming houses on top of houses and as has been pointed out, the infrastructure is not in place. Commuters don't stay on 210 or Rt 5 when traffic is heavy, they venture into neighborhoods and take smaller roads off the beaten track in hopes of avoiding traffic. When large numbers of commuters do so they are driving on roads not meant to handle that traffic. I don't know if many traverse the roads crisscrossing the FW/OH area but the roads are shot. Palmer road, Allentown road, FW road, Old Fort road, Oxon Hill road, Livingston road, 21 and 5 are in sore need of repaving. The most the county does at this point is patch potholes that are the result of previous patches coming back up and that can be traced back heavy traffic loads. How many here see the same in their neighborhoods? It may be different up in the Bowie area, I don't venture up there very often. Old Branch ave and Temple Hill roads are the pits. Temple Hill road is the border of FW and Allentown road, in FW as well, are crumbling. That is just the roads. The intersections and traffic lights are ancient and since the area is still rural, sidewalks are rare in other than brand new construction.
These issues should have been addressed 20 years ago, before we were in deep doo doo, but never were.
NOVA quality amenities will not survive unless there is an infrastructure in place to accommodate them. The number one priority is ease of accessibility and I don't see that unless they exercise ED on a grand scale in one fell swoop. The funds are not available for the roads so ED isn't even feasible.
The amount of change needed would drain the county budget and the state isn't going to make this area a prime objective, especially when Ocean City is a more popular attraction and tax base. If they were to gain some large corporate headquarters near here they may lean towards this direction but the state is still very tax unfriendly to corporations.