11-26-2024 4:05am

Residents oppose use of ‘quiet’ city street in megachurch plan

Belcroft Bible Church (pictured at right Nov. 23, 2024), sits at the intersection of Mt. Oak and Church roads in Bowie. A megachurch is seeking to build on the opposite corner (left) just outside of Bowie. Catherine Hollingsworth/The Bowie Sun

A plan to build a megachurch just outside the city limits is again facing opposition from some Bowie residents, even as the county is recommending approval of the new church.

If approved, Redeemed Christian Church of God Victory Temple would be located on 31 acres at the intersection of Mt. Oak and Church roads just outside of Bowie.

Bowie residents from the surrounding neighborhoods recently expressed concern about the potential impact of the megachurch on traffic and their quiet streets. But this is not the first time residents objected to the proposed megachurch.

Several residents raised similar objections in 2019 when the church presented its water and sewer plan, although some residents at the time expressed support for community resources that the church could bring.

This time, some residents questioned the plan to extend a neighborhood street to the church property when it could be accessed from two main roads instead. In response to residents’ concerns, Bowie City Council members wrote a letter Nov. 5 urging the county to reject the proposed church construction.

Speaking at a recent meeting of the Prince George’s County Planning Board, Paul Jackson, an attorney representing Victory Temple, requested a continuance to allow time to respond to the city’s letter. The planning board voted 4-0 to grant a continuance of the case to the Dec. 5 hearing.

“One of the things that really baffles me is they’re looking to build this new access road through Dew [Drive] … when they have Mt. Oak and Church Road on the other side,” Bowie resident Nana Kwame told the Bowie City Council Nov. 4.

Anthony Medley, a resident of Dew Drive, was careful to note that he is a man of faith but worries about the influx of traffic from parishioners who may not have “the same respect” for the neighborhood as existing residents.

“Mount Oak has had a significant number of accidents already. So to increase the volume of traffic in the neighborhood and expand our quiet street on Dew Drive would be a problem,” Medley said, according to a video.

“I urge you to reject any connections to Dew Drive,” George Oyegoke, president of the Woodmore Estates homeowners association, told the city council.

While Dew Drive is in Bowie, the extended portion of it would be located just outside of Bowie, city officials said during the council meeting.

At-Large Council Member Dennis Brady called the residential street access inappropriate. “I don't think I would be opposed to the church on that parcel if it solely accessed Mount Oak or Church Road, but it’s coming into a residential community. I think that’s inappropriate, and I think we need to fight that. I support the citizens on that,” Brady said.

At-Large Council Member Wanda Rogers, who lives in Woodmore Highlands about 5 miles from the proposed church location, urged her colleagues to write the letter to the county opposing the church’s use of Dew Drive.

“Just the whole idea of having a church on that corner and the traffic that we have to deal with now is a big headache,” Rogers said in remarks at the council meeting.

Victory Temple is proposing to build homes as well as a church on the property, according to county planning documents. Dew Drive would be used to access homes built on the residential parcel, while the church would be on a non-residential parcel with direct access to Mt. Oak Road.

This is not the first time a place of worship in Prince George’s County has sought to build housing on the land it owns.

The Diyanet Center of America in Lanham includes homes as well as a mosque on its property abutting a residential neighborhood. Woodlands at Reid Temple, senior housing in Glenn Dale, was built on land owned by and just down the road from Reid Temple, an African Methodist Episcopal church.

Many faith-based organizations in the Washington, D.C., area own vacant lots, much of it zoned for residential, according to the Urban Institute.

Victory Temple plans to develop eight single family homes as well as a 117,355 square-foot church just west of Bowie, Jason Bartlett, a planner for the county’s Development Review Division, said at a recent county planning board meeting, according to a video.

The church previously had proposed a two-story, 60,000 square foot church building with a seating capacity of up 2,000, according to a 2019 city memo. The proposed church would be located on undeveloped land formerly used for agriculture; a church is a permitted use of that land, the memo said.

“Thus far, the county recommends approval as the preliminary plan of subdivision complies with the use of that zone, the master plan of transportation and the county master plan,” Ashleigh Diaz, Bowie sustainability planner, told city council members.

The county initially had denied Victory Temple’s application seeking changes to the water and sewer plan. But a 2021 U.S. circuit court decision affirmed a lower court ruling in favor of the church.

Certain conditions would need to be met for the county to approve the church’s preliminary subdivision plan, including conducting a noise study, establishing a homeowners association and deciding which jurisdiction would maintain Dew Drive.

“The applicant should determine whether the City or the Prince George’s County Department of Public Works and Transportation (DPW&T) will be the responsible operating agency for this road extension,” a county staff report stated.

Having the city maintain the extended road could possibly involve annexing the homes that would front it, though the church has “offered the opinion” that there are examples of county-maintained streets accessible only through the city, the report said.

A resolution of the preliminary subdivision plan is up against the clock. Continuing to work through the issues into the new year appears unlikely due to a 140-day limit that ends in December.

Peter Riccio covers Bowie as a student reporter for the University of Maryland Local News Network. Catherine Hollingsworth contributed research to this report.