The Prince George's County Council on Sept. 23 approved, with conditions, the Landy development, which was previously remanded by the County Council acting as the District Council.

"We think what we've done with this project is attract a lot of people who wouldn't be satisfied with what we were proposing," developer Marvin Blumberg told the Planning Board.

The project, which originally included seven phases of 16-story high-rise apartment buildings, has been before the Prince George's District Council for three years and was recently remanded back to the county planning board.

"It became clear to us after three years that was too much height and too much density all at once," said attorney Richard Reed, who represents the project.

One of the main issues that county planner Susan Lareuse had with the project was that it did not meet the six-story height minimum required by the county's Transit District Development Plan.

In the revised plan, phase one includes a four-story apartment building with a fifth-story loft and pitched roofs. The building is proposed to have 406 apartments and to face Belcrest Road. The total project – which would come in two more phases – would have over a thousand apartments.

The Landy property is situated north of Toledo Terrace and just west of Northwestern High School.

Council members have several concerns about the project, which was approved in various revisions in 2001 and in 2007.

Reed said that having six stories would not make the most sense for developer Marvin Blumberg.

"If you're switching to that type of building you're going up to eight or ten at least just to get your return," he said. "So that is a very important tipping point."

The Planning Board agreed with Reed and decided to allow the proposed project, which would be 62 feet tall.

Another issue for the planning team is the storm water management on the area.

The City of Hyattsville supports the project – with the caveat that storm water be managed on-site through an underground system.

Talk amongst Hyattsville, and the towns of Riverdale Park and University Park has included discussions about the nine ponds area just west of Adelphi Road near the Landy property.

To read the full resolution and conditions/revisions, visit mncppc.org.