A 40-acre outlet shopping center across from National Harbor may bring in 80 stores, but residents aren’t happy about the number of drivers who may be visiting the shops.

During a Tuesday night community discussion at Harmony Hall in Fort Washington, a representative for the developer and Prince George’s County officials met with more than 120 residents to discuss the new Oxon Hill development’s expected effect on communities.

Andre Gingles, an attorney for the developer, Fairfax, Va.-based Peterson Cos., said the outlet center will bring close to 900 jobs to the area and occupy about 350,000 square feet.

“We’re talking about a high-quality center that the entire county will benefit from, and a part of southern county which has not had this type of high-quality retail development,” he said. “National Harbor is a good location. A number of people already come here.”

Peterson is the developer of the $4 billion National Harbor development and also is building a new Walmart, which will be a mile away from National Harbor and the outlets. The Walmart will be built at the intersection of Oxon Hill Road and Route 210.

Derek Simmons of Fort Washington said he is worried Route 210/Indian Head Highway and the local roads will be further congested from Virginia and Washington, D.C., drivers and those driving north from southern Maryland.

He and other residents at the meeting also were concerned about Oxon Hill Road, which drivers use when Indian Head Highway is jammed.

“Right now, people from Virginia and D.C. seem to have it the easiest (to get to the outlet),” Simmons said, “but for those of us who live in the county, it’s a problematic way of getting to the outlet.”

Gingles said Peterson hopes to file at least the first round of plans for the approval process by late summer to the county’s planning department.

Ellis F. Watson, chief of staff for Prince George’s Councilman Obie Patterson (D-Dist. 8) of Fort Washington, attended the discussion on behalf of the councilman.

During the question-and-answer portion of the meeting, Rudolph Pyatt, a Fort Washington resident and member of the RiverBend Estates Homeowners Association, related his own experience of parking and driving conditions when he visited a Tanger Outlet in Charleston, S.C.

“The idiocy of people trying to find parking spaces and rushing to get into the outlet is almost nightmarish,” he said. “It might look beautiful on paper, but in reality, it’s just not adequate for current use.”

Pyatt said one possible solution is to widen Oxon Hill Road from two lanes to four lanes to accommodate more drivers heading to the outlet.

But at the meeting, James Wilson, chief of the division of Highway and Bridges in the county’s Department of Public Works, said Oxon Hill Road would not be widened because of an agreement with the community made four years ago to preserve the quality of life in the area.

The deal to bring a retail outlet center in the area of the National Harbor was announced in late May by Peterson and Tanger Outlet Center of Greensboro, N.C. Tanger owns and operates 34 outlet centers throughout the country.

Gingles disagreed with residents about the overextended use of Oxon Hill Road, and cited convenient access points from the proposed outlet center to Interstates 495, 95 and 295 for motorists, as well as improvements to Indian Head Highway by the State Highway Administration that will help to alleviate traffic chokepoints in the area.

“Even without this development, you would still continue to have major traffic issues,” he said. “The county and state needs to work together to address the improvements that need to be made to the roads.”

Staff Writer Lindsey Robbins contributed to this report.

mliu@gazette.net