Bowie City Council to Consider Buckingham Lane Subdivision

One local resident is seeking council support to subdivide his 32,494 square-foot lot in Buckingham at Belair into three residential lots, according to the most recent agenda for the Bowie City Council.

At tonight’s meeting, the council will consider Sean Yerby’s proposal to make his single residential lot into three. The lot where the current home sits would be 8,882 sqft. and the two new proposed lots, where new homes could be built, would be 9,457 sqft. and 14,155 sqft. respectively.

The property sits on a corner lot with frontages on Belair Drive, Beaverdale Lane and Bartlett Lane.

Last week, the Bowie Advisory Planning Board met to consider the proposed subdivision and rejected the plan, 5-2. The advisory planning board’s rationale was that the subdivision would be out of character with the surrounding neighborhood and not in compliance with the Master Plan.

There has been some public outcry against Yerby’s proposal. Bowie resident Sheri Lynn Hoffman is opposed to the development. She posted the following comment on Bowie Patch’s Facebook page, encouraging residents to speak out at against the subdivision at Monday’s council meeting:

I and others are opposed, since the Levitt development was already a planned community 50 years ago. This is what the City calls "infill development", basically where the owner of an existing property in Bowie decides they want to add a house in their backyard and so they try to subdivide their property to meet the County requirements. 

The council will consider Yerby’s proposal—and hold a public hearing on the matter—at tonight’s legislative meeting at 8 p.m. at City Hall. The City of Bowie does not hold any zoning authority over the property, but a letter of approval or disapproval from the council to the Prince George’s County Planning Board would have some weight. If the city disapproves the subdivision, the planning board would need a supermajority vote to approve the proposal.