Beltsville residents question Konterra’s impact on area

Community members say high-end development would lead to more traffic, environmental problems

The first phase of the development will be its nucleus, the 488-acre Konterra Town Center East, which is slated for a late 2011 or early 2012 opening. The cost of town centers East and West has been estimated at $3 billion, and the firm has said construction of the full development could take up to two decades.

‘‘My family acquired the property in 1981,” said Konterra developer Caleb Gould to the 30-plus attendees at the Beltsville Citizens Association meeting. ‘‘Since that time we’ve continued to ... reclaim the property from what, when we bought it, was pretty much a moonscape.”

Andre Gingles of Calverton law firm Gingles LLC, legal counsel for Konterra, told Beltsville residents Konterra’s plan for the site includes updates to Ammendale, Gunpowder and Contee roads and relies on the Intercounty Connector to bring in much of its retail clientele.

The ICC is a planned 18-mile toll road that will connect areas between I-270 and I-95, and though it is meant to decrease traffic, some at the meeting remained concerned about Konterra’s impact on area roads.

‘‘The biggest problem seems to be traffic,” said Beltsville resident John Diedrich at the meeting. ‘‘They just redid [Route] 201 near where I live—beautiful pedestrian crosswalks and everything—but the buses stop and you can’t get around ‘em. ... [No developer] is taking this into consideration.”

Gould said the new roads would reduce bottlenecking at area streets and that Konterra will be outfitted with alternatives to driving: bicycle paths that will connect both within the development and outside it.

Diedrich said he was unconvinced of the success of Konterra’s upscale retail outlets in the current economic downturn.

‘‘It’s nice to mention that we’re going to have all this retail space—we have tons of retail space around here and they all say ‘For Rent,’” he said.

Other residents had qualms about Konterra’s building methods. Sara Stacy, who lives in Beltsville, asked Gould to what extent his company planned to use energy-efficient building methods.

‘‘We’re very committed [to green building methods],” said Tom Archer, a representative from Konterra’s co-developer, Ohio-based Forest City. ‘‘One of our core values is ... looking into energy-conserving methods for Konterra.”

Stacy said she was still somewhat wary after the meeting.

‘‘It seems like the whole emphasis [of Konterra’s presentation] was on luxury and retail,” she said. ‘‘We need to make sure we’re more focused on what’s good for the environment.”

E-mail Anath Hartmann at ahartmann@gazette.net