The Prince George's County Zoning Hearing Examiner continued an evidentiary hearing on three related zoning map amendment cases—8427-O2, 8578-O2 and 8579-O2—until March 26, 2025, after attorneys for the Oak Creek Homeowners Association asked for a brief period to review exhibits the association received the day before the March 5 session.

The continuance matters because the applications would alter zoning and guide future subdivision and development in the Oak Creek community, including the area mapped as LAC (Local Activity Center). Opponents and neighbors told the examiner they want time to review recently filed materials and to present a witness; the examiner granted a limited continuance to allow that testimony and said the record will remain open for any timely HOA comments.

Chris Hatcher, attorney for the applicant Carrollton Oak Creek LLC, opened the hearing and said the applicant submitted 10 additional exhibits in response to issues raised at the prior hearing on Jan. 29. Hatcher said the new materials were largely administrative and described coordination between the applicant and the community. "We fully ... intend to continue to coordinate with them as we have for 5 years," Hatcher said.

Ray Via, counsel for the Oak Creek Homeowners Association, told the examiner that the HOA had received voluminous documents only the previous day and requested a short window to have the board review and, if necessary, submit comments. "We just need the opportunity to take a look at the documents that were only received yesterday," Via said. The examiner granted the HOA the right to put on a witness and set a follow-up hearing for March 26 at 9:30 a.m., limiting that session to the HOA witness or responses only. The examiner also said the applicant will appear at the community meeting on March 11 and allowed any comments arising from that meeting to be filed in the record.

The applicant called three principal witnesses during the March 5 hearing. Michael Thomas Riley confirmed Carrollton Oak Creek LLC remains the owner of the subject property and that the company is registered and in good standing.

Sally Stewart, a registered landscape architect and consultant with CPJ and Associates, incorporated into the record a revised amended basic plan dated Feb. 27, 2025 (identified in the hearing as an amended exhibit). She said the revised plan was prepared to clarify items raised at the Jan. 29 hearing, including updating the title block, revising the site data table to reflect updated unit counts, and removing earlier references to church and daycare uses. Stewart also said she prepared an analysis of the conditions contained in Zoning Ordinance No. 11-2000 and that the analysis was submitted as an exhibit for the record.

Mark G.L. Ferguson, a land-use planning expert, testified about the historical sequence of zoning map amendments affecting the property and about the boundary of the LAC portion of the site. Ferguson said the PG Atlas graphic of the LAC boundary does not precisely match later development mapping and that his updated exhibit computes the LAC area at roughly 33 acres (a figure based on the zoning plats and the applicant's review). Ferguson described a parcel swap between the applicant and the HOA: "Outlot B is where the remaining development can occur; that is a parcel of 3.11 acres," Ferguson said, and he added that at a floor-area ratio of 0.3 that 3.11-acre parcel "does have the capacity, to contain the 40,000 square feet of commercial use" discussed in earlier market studies. Ferguson agreed to submit revised, legible versions of exhibit 42 (zoning map amendment boundaries) and exhibit 47 (LAC boundary overlay) by the end of the day.

Homeowner testimony focused on traffic. Cliff Tolleson, an Oak Creek homeowner and former board member, asked that the primary entry point—at Church Road and Mary Bowie Parkway—be reviewed and redesigned if necessary because event-related and daily traffic can back up onto Church Road and block access to homes. Tolleson said residents sometimes wait 30 minutes or more to enter the community during high-traffic events.

Michael Lanhardt, a transportation consultant with Lanhardt Traffic Consulting, responded that the materials submitted for the rezoning included a traffic statement comparing potential trips under the existing commercial (LAC) zoning to trips that a residential rezoning would generate. "It would actually result in a decrease, not an increase," Lanhardt said, referring to trip generation compared with the full range of uses permitted under the current zoning. He added that adequacy of transportation facilities will be tested at the preliminary plan stage, when the county requires traffic counts and intersection analyses.

The examiner closed the March 5 portion of the evidentiary hearing but repeated that no further notice will be sent and that the matter is continued to March 26 at 9:30 a.m., limited to testimony from the HOA witness or responses to that testimony. The applicant will appear at an Oak Creek community meeting on March 11; any materials or comments generated there may be filed into the record prior to the March 26 session. Ferguson said he will submit corrected versions of exhibits 42 and 47 and that the applicant will make the other requested clarifications in the record before the next hearing.

Next steps: the ZHE hearing reconvenes March 26 at 9:30 a.m. for the HOA witness, the applicant will appear at the March 11 Oak Creek community meeting, and the applicant expects to file revised exhibits and any additional responses into the record ahead of the March 26 session.