The Cheverly Green Infrastructure Plan

Rain Check Rebates -- Conservation Landscaping

You’re probably aware that our yearly county property taxes include a Clean Water Act fee. Did you know that we can get that money back?

Yes, Prince George’s County encourages us to install green practices on our property through the Rain Check Rebate program, funded by the Clean Water Act fees. We can get rebates for installing rain barrels and rain gardens, or swapping your concrete or asphalt driveway for permeable paving. These green practices help improve water quality, reduce pollution, and improve local stream and river health.

That may be old news to many of us. But here’s what’s new. Soon we will be eligible for rebates for conservation landscaping, a more comprehensive way to get benefits for our property and the environment as a whole. With rising concerns about climate change, it is good to learn that gardens that replace grass with native plants will help keep us cool. Did you know that lawns are as hot as pavement?

There will be several ways to get the rebates, from gardens featuring plants native to the mid-Atlantic region, to edible gardens with native plants to support beneficial insects, to forest or meadow restorations. The overall aim is to change how we think about land cover.  

Don’t know how to begin? This program will provide homeowner audits to help with project design. The conservation landscaping practice has been okayed by the county council but still has to go through further levels of approval. 

Interested? Sign up to be notified when the applications are under way.

Find more about the Rain Check rebate program at https://cbtrust.org/grants/prince-georges-county-rain-check-rebate/. 

Water Woes? Have Your Say

Did you miss the opportunity to describe water problems at the H2O, Friend and Foe workshop on November 9, 2019? Do you have other water issues to report? Here is your chance to voice your concerns. If you have more than one issue to report, you may submit more than one survey.

Light the Ground, Not the Sky

We could not do without artificial lighting. But outdoor lights that direct light downward, and not toward the sky, are better for wildlife, better for safety, better for our own health, and save energy. Dark-sky lighting may even allow us to see more of the stars of our universe. Read more.

A Meadow Comes to Cheverly Right of Way

If you see Pepco contractor trucks mowing in the “Wayne Street” right of way about the end of January, it will be the beginning of a new meadow in Cheverly. Update: Pepco has postponed the project to 2019.

This is the right of way running from near Magruder Spring to Parkway extended, parallel to route 50 and a stretch of Woodworth Trail. It runs along Wayne Street, a paper street.

In the past Pepco has mowed the right of way about every five years, to make sure trees do not interfere with its power lines. Now, with Pepco, the Town of Cheverly, and the Cheverly Green Infrastructure Committee working together,

Pepco will now manage the area as a natural habitat -- a meadow, or low-profile shrub/scrub plant community. That should mean no more mowing in the future.

Meadow management of the right-of-way is among the recommendations of the Cheverly Green Infrastructure Plan adopted by the Town of Cheverly in 2011.

The first stage of the project will be an initial mowing of existing vegetation to one-foot high. The area to be mowed is shown in pink cross-hatching on the map above. The mowing will be done in winter to protect ground nesting birds and

other wildlife. This will be the only part of the project to require vehicles. Any further maintenance will be done on foot. No mowing will take place on the banks of the step pools created at the outfall near Magruder Spring. Instead,

Pepco will cut the tall growing trees out by hand, leaving the viburnum, a low growing plant compatible with the power lines. That area is shown on the map in green cross-hatching.

What happens next? Each Spring, probably in May, herbicides will be used selectively to suppress the growth of trees which typically grow tall. The plan is to promote the growth of forbs, grasses, and shrubs in place of trees. Pepco will

prescribe an aquatic herbicide mix which is safe to use in wetland areas with standing water and just treat only the tall growing tree species that start coming back up. After a few cycles of the application, once the tall growing tree species

have been managed, longer periods will elapse between applications. Invasive shrubs, such as Autumn Olive, will be removed. Vines growing on power-line poles and guy wires will be treated. Pepco will do no planting. Invasive

herbaceous plants will generally not be treated.

The intent of the project is to encourage a low-growing plant community that will not have to be disturbed periodically. Among the locally rare plants found in the right of way are Maryland meadow beauty (Rhexia mariana) and yellow

passionflower (Passiflora lutea). Fuller inventories of plants in the area.

Cody Hesseltine, Pepco arborist, will supervise the operations. So if you see him working, stop by and say hello.

Help Put Our Green Practices on the Map

Green Infrastructure Committee Meetings

The Cheverly Green Infrastructure Committee meets the first Monday of the month. See the calendar above for upcoming meetings.

7:30 PM, Cheverly Community Center, large conference room or via Zoom

All meetings are open. We  suggest you contact sheila.salo (at) gmail.com to request a  copy of the agenda.

All are welcome at any of the meetings

We Implement the Cheverly Green Plan

• August 8, 2013, the Town Council votes in favor of a resolution adopting a revision to the Town Park master plan.

• February 28, 2013. Neighborhood Design Center presents draft Town Park Master Plan revision to the Town Council.

• September 11, 2012. Annual report of Cheverly Green Infrastructure Committee activities presented to Cheverly Environmental Forum.

• May 2, 2012. Cheverly residents reported on current uses and desired changes to Town Park at a public meeting with the Neighborhood Design Center.

• November 19, 2011: The Green Plan Implementation Kick-Off Event featured green actions for homeowners and activities for all ages.

• November 10, 2011: The Town Council voted to register for the Sustainable Maryland Program.

• October 13, 2011: The Town Council endorsed the Green Infrastructure Committee to oversee implementation of the Cheverly Green Infrastructure Plan.

• September 22, 2011: The Town of Cheverly voted to join the Baltimore Washington Partners for Forest Stewardship.

• At the September 8, 2011 Town Meeting the Town Council voted to “adopt the Recommendations of the Cheverly Green Infrastructure Plan as a framework to inform investment and activities of the town.”  Read the resolution.

The Back Story

If you want to follow the development of the Cheverly Green Infrastructure Plan in detail, you will find some of the background reports here.

• Final Report of the Outreach and Education Working Group to the Chesapeake Bay Trust, March 20, 2012

Learn about the outreach and education activities that involved the steering committee, community organizations, the Cheverly Town government and staff, and Cheverly citizens in creating the Cheverly Green Infrastructure Plan:

• Final Table of Recommendations, August 22, 2011

• Map of Recommendations, July 28, 2011

• Report of the Land Use Working Group, April 2, 2010.

• Proposal for Cheverly's Green Ribbons program, June 12, 2010.

Presentation of the Cheverly Green Plan

On June 23, 2011, a summary of the proposed Cheverly Green Infrastructure Plan was presented to the Town Council. This was the second such presentation.

• View the presentation.

A Bit of History

June 12, 2008, announcement of the formation of the Cheverly Green Plan Steering Committee