Capitol Heights Metro station by Jaime Fearer licensed under Creative Commons.

This article is part of a limited series exploring the history, current policies, and initiatives to create equitable transit-oriented development in the region. The complete series is available here. And then learn more by tuning into the series’ companion webinar, moderated by George Kevin Jordan, GGWash’s editor-in-chief.

What the Capitol Heights Metro Station is today: a cement parking-lot wasteland from the worst days of sprawl-planning, when car commuters ended the solo part of their trips to switch to a train.

What it could be in a decade: the hub of a vibrant, thriving mixed-use community, with shops and residences, buzzing with pedestrian, bike, and scooter traffic.

This was the picture revealed at the Capitol Heights Walking Tour on June 17. Indeed, activist and Capitol Heights resident Kyle Reeder, who led the tour, sponsored by the Coalition for Smarter Growth and Rise Prince George’s, described the area as the crown jewel of Prince George’s. Other presenters designated it the gateway between the county and Washington, DC.

Yet, alongside ripe opportunities are the challenges county and local governments face to adopt robust affordable housing policies to keep long-time residents in place.

Opportunities and challenges for an overlooked community

Reeder grew up nearby, in Bowie, Maryland. His lived experiences, alongside his job as a project manager for the General Services Administration, give him insights into the problems the community faces, including “challenges attracting retail.”

When businesses do market studies, “a lot of the time our community” of Capitol Heights “gets overlooked,” Reeder told me in an interview. “We can definitely say there are some racial elements, but there are also some economic ones, where our median income isn’t as high, or people feel the public schools aren’t adequate, or that the environment around in terms of sidewalks, recreation, and amenities aren’t present. And so those type(s) of things devalue our community.”

Reeder added that,“the type of development that is being proposed helps offset those economic deterrents.” The Capital Heights Metro’s position just across the street from DC multiplies those opportunities.

The neighborhoods directly around the Metro station are already pleasant, with stately single-family houses alongside triplexes and small apartment complexes, examples of market-provided affordable housing that the DC region is currently losing. Still, these neighborhoods need amenities and walkability to “ensure that people can physically get around in their community and feel safe,” said Reeder. “Literally, just being able to walk, … can lead to an improved quality of life.”

Notably, one key crossing from the Metro to local neighborhoods doesn’t have a traffic light or even a beg light. Reeder pointed out his dangerous morning walk across a six-lane highway without a light. His own street, without sidewalks, connects to Central Avenue, which has “no streetlights at night time, no safe places to cross,” and inadequate sidewalks overgrown with weeds. There are points he has to step into the highway “because there’s literally no safe passage.” The situation is worse for older neighbors who have to walk with a cane or use wheelchairs, Reeder said.

For transit-oriented development (TOD), walkability is needed to complement the kind of dense development that would make these neighborhoods—and the metro station—available to large numbers of people without driving. Capitol Heights today lacks accessible shopping and restaurants.

On October 12, 2022, GGWash hosted a webinar, moderated by George Kevin Jordan, GGWash’s editor-in-chief, based on this story series. Watch the recording to learn more about the topics raised in this article.

A new vision for Captiol Heights and beyond

All this may radically change in the next few years if County Executive Angela Alsobrooks’ plans for a radically reimagined Blue Line corridor come to fruition. This vision includes a proposed “Complete Streets” redesign, TOD from both joint and private partnerships, and long-term infill development around Capitol Heights Metro. That’s the top-down part of the equation, but the bottom-up is also crucial, through efforts from the community, activists, and local officials.

After years of hard work, the Town of Capitol Heights has just signed a land disposition agreement with the Argos Group-Pennrose Development team to begin work on a mixed-use project, with 150 apartments and 4300 square feet of retail, on one of the huge, empty lots sitting near the station. A second, similar development is planned nearby, along with additional senior housing.

Development is slated for this empty lot right next to the Capitol Heights Metro station. Image by the author.

Redevelopment just across the street, in DC’s Ward 7, is already helping. The Marvin Gaye Recreation Center, opened in 2017, provides well-used green space, where children scamper through playgrounds with equipment shaped like musical instruments and notes. The rec center also has plenty of pickup basketball and regular tournaments. The adjacent Marvin Gaye trail provides bicycle access into the city all the way to the Anacostia River Trail. And Giant has just signed a letter of intent to open a store in Ward 7, in the same area, bringing copious access to an area that had been something of a food desert.

To complement these developments, Reeder pointed to the need to make “strategic investments on both sides of the border,” coordinating DC, county, and local governments.

During the walking tour, Prince George’s County Council Member Rodney Streeter explained that, along Central Avenue, the redesign would narrow streets, slow cars, and add bike lanes. Better lighting is also on the horizon along with beautification projects such as new vegetation. Nearby, the District is already constructing bike lanes and floating bulb-outs as part of its Vision Zero program. Among other benefits, such projects help people who use wheelchairs and walkers navigate streets and provide safe routes to bus stations for workers at odd hours.

View of MD Route 214 (Central Avenue) at Southern Avenue in Capitol Heights, Prince George's County, Maryland. This road will also be revamped to inlcude bike lanes, and narrower streets. Image by Famartin licensed under Creative Commons.

Preserving the “equity” in ETOD

Because the new developments at Capitol Heights are on empty lots, these projects do not directly displace affordable housing the way some TOD has. Neighborhood rents, however, will almost certainly increase to reflect the new amenities. In other words, the appearance of things these neighborhoods desperately need—safe, walkable streets, and shops—is likely to price out some of the residents who most stand to benefit.

Preventing this is largely a matter of pursuing policies that will keep a number of units affordable, avoid displacement, and even add some low- and middle-income residents proportionate to the new development. Historically, Prince George’s lower rents meant it has not needed to adopt the tools Arlington and Montgomery counties have applied—including policies to preserve existing affordable housing and inclusionary zoning—to keep at least some housing affordable.

A rendering of TOD around the Capitol Heights Metro station. Image from Prince George's 2021  Economic Development Platform.

Recently, however, Prince George’s County has stepped up on its response to rising rents and likely future increases, with the goal of preserving affordability and diversifying housing stock central to its County Economic Development Platform and further spelled out in its Housing Opportunities for All strategy.

Cheryl Cort, policy director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, pointed out in an email that recently “the county is exercising the Right of First Refusal to intervene and keep market affordable apartments affordable using subsidies.” She added that Prince George’s should extend the length of affordability and increase funding “as its housing market strengthens,” and that the county should work to construct high-quality new homes, not just preserve existing units.

If the county and other authorities are proactive, with thoughtful affordable housing policies, Capitol Heights could serve as a model for equitable transit-oriented development.

Said Reeder, “I’m happy that folks are actively talking about, when this development comes, that the folks who have been here can stay here and can afford to enjoy the fruits of this new investment.”

This article is part of a limited series exploring equitable transit-oriented development, made possible with a grant from Amazon. Greater Greater Washington’s editorial department maintains editorial control and independence in accordance with our editorial policy. Our journalists follow the ethics guidelines of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Ethan Goffman is an environmental and transit writer. A part-time teacher at Montgomery College, Ethan lives in Rockville, Maryland. He is the author of "Dreamscapes" (UnCollected Press), a collection of flash fiction, and two volumes of poetry, "I Garden Weeds" (Cyberwit) and "Words for Things Left Unsaid" (Kelsay Books).