Westphalia Major Sector Plan Amendment and Sectional Map Amendment (SMA)

Updates

Initiation of a Major Amendment to the 2007 Approved Westphalia Sector Plan and a concurrent Sectional Map Amendment (SMA) 

On July 8, 2025, the Prince George’s County Council, sitting as the District Council, approved Council Resolution CR-82-2025, authorizing the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission to prepare a major amendment to the 2007 Approved Westphalia Sector Plan and a concurrent Sectional Map Amendment (SMA). The Council simultaneously approved the goals, concepts, and guidelines, and a public participation program for this comprehensive planning project within portions of Planning Area 78. 

An SMA is a process that facilitates the rezoning of properties within a plan’s boundary based on the recommendations of that plan. Typically, this process results in a zoning change for only a few properties, and the remaining properties keep their existing zoning classification. 

Now that the sector plan amendment and SMA have been authorized by the Council, the plan preparation process has commenced. The project team will begin to implement the public participation program, and all interested citizens are encouraged to participate in the planning process. Public input meetings and events will be scheduled both in person and virtually throughout the Fall of 2025. The project team is excited to begin working on this project and hear what the community has to say! 

Westphalia: Reimagining Opportunity, Break The Cycle (2020) 

In 2020, the Washington District Council of the Urban Land Institute conducted a Technical Assistance Panel entitled “Westphalia: Reimagining Opportunity “Break the Cycle”. Among the panel’s recommendations were:  

• “Update the 2007 Westphalia Sector Plan: Identify land uses more appropriate to the current and future market; right-size density and associated transportation network.” 
• “Adapt to trends and current market conditions: Explore alternate land uses; provide additional housing products/types; and create experiential neighborhood-focused retail, restaurants, and open spaces.” 
• “Jumpstart a virtuous cycle for development in Westphalia: Identify creative ideas to incentivize and fund catalytic development, including development of a grocery store and data centers.” (Westphalia: Reimagining Opportunity “Break the Cycle”, p. 9) 

Read the full report here.  

Westphalia: Measuring Our Success (2020) 

In 2020, as part of its ongoing Master Plan Evaluation Program, the Planning Department issued a progress report on the 2007 Sector Plan: Westphalia: Measuring Our Success. This report found that of the approved Retail/Commercial Space, less than 1% was built through 2019. For the planned office and industrial space, only 6% and 19% respectively, of the approved space was built through 2019.  In contrast, of the planned 38,550 residents, about 9,322 or about 24 percent of the population were in place by the end of 2019. The report noted that due to the lack of Metrorail access, it is hard to develop the planned office and multifamily housing because that type of development has been concentrated near Metrorail stations in the Washington, DC area. Without the development of office and multifamily housing, it becomes hard to attract the retail development planned for in the Sector Plan.  

The lack of commercial and retail development being completed in turn makes it hard to build the infrastructure envisioned in the Sector Plan, which was estimated to cost about $413 million in 2007 or about $639 million today, excluding a proposed Metrorail extension that is not envisioned by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).  

The Planning Department found three major challenges inhibiting implementation of the 2007 Sector Plan:  

LACK OF METRO ACCESS: Buildout of the sector plan was predicated on an envisioned extension of Metrorail to Westphalia that is not under consideration [by WMATA]. The region’s Class A office and multifamily markets have largely abandoned non-Metro-served locations; in turn, the inability to attract office or multifamily development inhibits retail development.  

INFRASTRUCTURE COSTS: The Westphalia Sector Plan recommends $412,715,659 (2007 dollars) in infrastructure improvements, not including the proposed multi-billion dollar extension of Metrorail. Funding strategies for infrastructure include the $79,000,000 Public-Private Financing Implementation Plan (PFFIP) for the MD 4/Westphalia Road Interchange. The PFFIP and other development-based funding strategies are dependent on the issuance of building permits. Accordingly, funding and debt service for infrastructure will require significant progress toward buildout…Public funding to support planned communities such as Westphalia must compete directly with funding for projects that support existing communities.  

COMPETITION: As the multifamily and office market looks to Metro-served locations, the residential market is shifting as well. Fewer households are looking to live in auto-dependent single-family detached neighborhoods far from transit or existing amenities than in previous decades. Demand for attached housing, or housing in neighborhoods, walkable or otherwise proximate to amenities such as restaurants and shopping, continues to increase. 

The report identified three areas of opportunity that will be pursued through the 2025-2026 major sector plan amendment:  

STAKEHOLDER EMPOWERMENT: The strongest Westphalia assets are its location and residents. Westphalia residents are passionate and motivated to help create a new, world-class community in central Prince George’s County. Efforts to create a unified governance structure for Westphalia have been unsuccessful, but there remains a need for a single, community-based organization to lead and advocate for the implementation of the sector plan… A formal, regularly scheduled meeting of residents, property owners, developers, and public officials could help establish relationships and begin necessary conversations. Empowered residents need access to data and information about real estate market trends, business location considerations, and how employment and residential uses can be integrated to create a sustainable community.  

PRIORITIZE INFRASTRUCTURE AND EXPLORE FUNDING ALTERNATIVES: The Westphalia Central Park will be a regional attraction that serves residents from around the County and beyond. Meanwhile, commuters from Anne Arundel and Calvert Counties will continue to contribute to peak-hour congestion along MD 4 (Pennsylvania Avenue). Completion of early phases of Central Park and the under-construction MD 4/Suitland Parkway/Presidential Parkway interchange could spur increased homebuyer and nonresidential developer interest in Westphalia. Ultimately, realization of the sector plan’s [2007] vision requires a currently unplanned extension of the Metrorail system. Funding solutions for these critical regional investments may require regional and state solutions. The existing strategies for funding Westphalia roadway and park improvements rely heavily on private developers; the per-unit costs of these strategies affect the ability to construct and sell houses. Prince George’s County, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the State Highway Administration, and other implementing agencies and stakeholders must coordinate on creative financing solutions that acknowledge the regional importance of Westphalia infrastructure.  

CREATIVE COLLABORATION: Given the current and future development potential of Prince George’s County’s 15 existing Metro stations, traditional Class A office, multifamily, and retail development is unlikely in Westphalia at the densities and timeframes necessary to achieve the sector plan’s [2007] vision. However, nearly over 9.6 million square feet of nonresidential space and more than 13,000 dwelling units are approved for development, and many of the approvals will not expire before [2042]… Residents and stakeholders must collaboratively, openly, and transparently come to a consensus about Westphalia solutions that are both economically viable and desirable to current and future residents…All parties must think outside the box and identify what will make Westphalia a unique, one-of-a-kind 21st-century live-work-play community of choice.