Plan lays out vision for Bladensburg town center

“It really is a planning document for the future of Bladensburg,” said Council Vice Chair David Harrington, who represents Bladensburg.

According to Sonja Ewing of the county’s planning department, who led the project, Bladensburg has a variety of components but lacks a central core.

“We want to pull [together] the pieces that are there and add new pieces,” she said, “to create a place that draws new people in and provides for the needs of the new visitors and existing residents.”

The Bladensburg Town Center Sector Plan and Sectional Map Amendment calls for the core to be based around a new relocated town hall near the intersection of Annapolis Road and Edmonston Road. On the site would also be a new or renovated library with a town green.

The plan also calls for the establishment of Annapolis Road as Bladensburg’s main street, the development of walkways and a pedestrian bridge connecting the town center to the Bladensburg Waterfront Park on the Anacostia River and the promotion of mixed-use development in the area.

“The key parts is that it’s pedestrian-friendly [and] mixed uses,” Ewing said. “Mixed uses will allow you have places to live work, shop and be entertained or play right at the core of the town.”

Currently, the Annapolis Road area generally consists of some strip commercial development and auto-related businesses.

“It’s not very attractive in most cases,” Ewing said.

Although the council approved the plan, Ewing warned it “doesn’t mean that tomorrow or in 20 years this is going to happen.”

“It’s the private development market and the work of the town and going out and making partnerships that will lead to the development that can make the town center,” she said.

dfowler@dcexaminer.com