Creating new neighborhood parks, expanding the Prince George’s Plaza Transit District, transitioning West Hyattsville into a pedestrian-friendly area and furthering development of the U.S. 1 corridor are goals Hyattsville officials hope to focus on during the next four years.

Jim Chandler, Hyattsville’s community and economic development director, said goals outlined in the city’s newly adopted 2011-2015 Community Sustainability Plan came from a stakeholder interview process and lengthy public meetings that began in January 2010. Idea-gathering meetings took place with residents and officials, along with brainstorming sessions to help identify key priorities.

The plan is general in some areas, but also calls for some specific projects, such as expanding historic districts to be more inclusive of the city’s historically eligible areas, revising the code enforcement mission to improve neighborhood conditions, and improving West Hyattsville Metro Station pedestrian access along the west side of Ager Road.

This is the second time the city has made a plan for further developing and improving Hyattsville.

Hyattsville adopted the Legacy Plan in 2003, which was the driving force for redevelopment of a mixed-use town center and streetscape along U.S. 1, which is now the Arts District. The area includes a variety of restaurants, shops and residential units.

“The Community Sustainability Plan … is our community’s second community visioning and strategic planning effort. The city’s 2003 plan served as a catalyst to over $1.2 billion in public and private sector investment in smart growth-oriented projects,” said Mayor Marc Tartaro.

Communications Manager Abby Sandel said the plan will help garner funding for city projects. She said if agencies see that the city is serious about a project, they are more likely to provide funding.

“Part of it is about getting funding, to the extent we make requests from state agencies. If it’s not in [the Sustainability Plan], it’s harder for agencies to fund it,” she said.

Sandel said there were some things in the 2003 plan that were not completed, such as the creation of a Hyattsville Civic Association. She said there are some city goals that require the assistance of outside county or state agencies, making it more difficult to see a plan come to fruition, such as making traffic-calming improvements on Queens Chapel Road.

Chandler said the city has submitted the plan to the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, which helped fund the plan, for approval and referral to Gov. Martin O’Malley’s Smart Growth Sub-Cabinet for Sustainable Communities Designation. The designation comes from the Sustainable Communities Act of 2010 passed by the governor that classifies a “Sustainable Community” to make it easier to identify qualified programs for local governments.

“If approved, the city of Hyattsville will be one of the first communities in the state of Maryland to receive this newly adopted designation,” he said.

djgross@gazette.net