Cheverly Green Infrastructure Committee News
The Future of Hospital Hill, Recommendation of the Cheverly Green Infrastructure Committee
For ten years or more Cheverly residents have been debating, sometimes passionately, the annexation of Hospital Hill. We have taken actions to move toward annexation – the Greater Cheverly Sector Plan and many meetings to ensure that our new neighbors in the redevelopment project will become an integral part of Cheverly.
The Town’s own letter to the Redevelopment Authority in 2021, with recommendations from Mayor and Council, the Cheverly Planning Board, and the Cheverly Green Infrastructure Committee, made clear Cheverly’s interest in annexation. These recommendations were made part of the RDA Request for Proposals from potential developers, who are required to follow them.
Most recently, in a Facebook post, our current mayor stressed her expectation that Cheverly would annex the property.
Through the County Executive and county councilmember, Cheverly was instructed in 2020 to postpone pursuing annexation to a time of their choosing.
Now Bladensburg has applied to annex that same property, making it part of Bladensburg, not Cheverly. If Bladensburg prevails, Cheverly will have little to no influence on the future of the development..
Cheverly’s residents, not those of Bladensburg, have shouldered the negative effects of having the hospital as a neighbor, including helicopter noise, and air and water pollution. Our work toward an environmentally sound development and an addition to our community adhering to Cheverly’s standards and values must not be annulled.
The Cheverly Green Infrastructure Committee urges the Mayor and Council to take immediate action to oppose Bladensburg’s effort, and to make its position known strongly and openly.
We understand that the town attorney is preparing a legal opposition.
Understanding that successful opposition will require political efforts as well as legal, the committee stands ready to help the Mayor and Council implement a campaign addressing county elected officials and candidates. A campaign resulting in hundreds of letters should call attention to the outrage. Will the Mayor and Council take the lead on this?
The committee further urges the Mayor and Council to request Urban Atlantic and HomeTeam5 to confirm in writing their commitment to Cheverly’s annexation of the property, as they do on their website.
Based on what we have been able to glean, the Cheverly Green Infrastructure Committee has prepared some background information on the annexation proposal.
A public hearing is scheduled for December 9, 2024, 7:00 PM, at the Bladensburg town hall, 4229 Edmonston Road.
Respectfully submitted,
The Cheverly Green Infrastructure Committee
December 4, 2024
Congratulations to Cheverly and All Who Dwell Therein
The town has issued a press release announcing Cheverly’s recertification with Sustainable Maryland Certified at the Silver level. I’d like to add some detail to that announcement and thank the many organizations, volunteers, and staff members making certification possible. The work of these organizations constitutes many of the town’s sustainability programs, and their members provided the project descriptions,
Cheverly’s participation in Sustainable Maryland Certified began in 2011 with a recommendation by the Cheverly Green Infrastructure Committee, which also completed the initial certification. The current recertification includes contributions from Cheverly Community Market, Cheverly Community Vegetable Gardens, Cheverly Garden Club, Cheverly Green Infrastructure Committee, Cheverly Village, Community Emergency Response Team, Community Native Planting Project, Friends of Lower Beaverdam Creek, Friends of Kilmer Street Park and Arboretum, and History Club. The Public Works staff was responsible for organization, compilation, and submission of the report. This was truly a cooperative endeavor!
Sustainable Maryland (sustainablemaryland.com) is a certification program for municipalities in Maryland that want to go green, save money and take steps to sustain their quality of life over the long term Cheverly’s report and those of other certified municipalities can be found at the same website.
Touring Sustainability
Cheverly has been certified by Sustainable Maryland Certified since 2011 for its activities in protecting the environment. We recently completed renewal of that certification. Cheverly’s team was invited to see what other communities have been doing for the environment and Cheverly Green Infrastructure Committee members signed up for the October tours.
Projects ranged from preservation of natural areas, to human-built stormwater management in a neo-urban setting, to retrofitted permeable road paving.
The first tour took us to Washington Grove, an incorporated town in Montgomery County. With a population of just over 500, less than a square mile in area, of which 37% is designated as undeveloped forest preserve, and an interesting history, Washington Grove rates high in its environmental and other sustainability efforts, both modest and ambitious. Eminently a walkable town, many of its original platted streets are maintained as walkways with no vehicular access. On our walking tour of the town, we visited the West Woods, a town-owned forest preserve with a lake and site of a proposed storm management project; a 12-acre conservation meadow with its mowed bike path; a pollinator garden and edible garden; a pilot leaf composting project; EV chargers; and sustainability books available in a childrens’ library. The town’s sustainability efforts are managed by volunteer-initiated and resident-led committees.
Takoma Park is a small city of 17,725, 2.4 square miles in area. Its public works department manages its sustainability projects. Our tour took us to an EV charging station converted from a gas station, a green roof installation, a stream renovation site, multi-family housing retrofitted as all-electric, and an ecological restoration site. Takoma Park’s public works building is LEED-certified with rooftop solar panels, and the landscaping features native plantings. The department uses an electric-powered street sweeper. The city offers its residents mulch, wood chips, and corn grain silo for those heating with that alternative fuel. If you are interested in receiving a detailed tour description, please write to greencheverly@gmail.com.
Riverdale Park is a town of about 7351, with an area of 1.58 square miles. The tour showcased sustainability features in a 37-acre development, Riverdale Park Station. The plans for this “mixed-use town center” called for 187,277 square feet of commercial use, 855 multifamily units, and 126 town houses. The Trolley Trail runs through the property. Considerable space is devoted to bioretention facilities. A vegetated roof covers a commercial gym building, and parking spaces along roads in the business area feature permeable paving. Some native species are used in landscaping. Electric vehicle charging stations and LED street lights have been installed.
With a population of 1554, Colmar Manor is only half a square mile in area, of which about 36% is county parkland. The tour highlighted a street intersection of permeable paving, with the installer on hand to explain engineering and maintenance aspects of the project. EV charging stations are among other sustainability projects in this small town.
Moira Iñigo -Cartagena, Eagle Scout, Honored for Bat Conservation
At Cheverly's September Town Meeting, Moira Iñigo -Cartagena was presented with the Cheverly Green Infrastructure Committee award for her bat conservation project. Here brief essay on the project was published in the November Cheverly Newsletter. Photos of the project are posted on the the Facebook page of her Scout troup, https://www.facebook.com/share/p/M8EFfpbymqeZ3XXv/?mibextid=xfxF2i.
WHY ARE BATS NECESSARY FOR A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT?
Moira Iñigo-Cartagena, Eagle Scout
Bats are the only flying mammals in the world. They are nocturnal creatures and use echolocation to find their food. They play a huge role in our ecosystems, being what is known as a keystone species. This means the whole ecosystem would change drastically if they were to be removed. Their primary function is to act as population control for insects like mosquitoes, moths, gnats, and other flying insects.
Bats eat around 1000 mosquitoes an hour! These insects often spread disease or eat away at the forest and the crops we grow which is why it’s so important that the population stays in check. Their poop, also known as guano, is really fertile and it helps the forest grow
Maryland has ten species of bat, all of which are on the critically endangered list. The biggest issues affecting bats currently are habitat loss and a disease known as white-nose syndrome that only affects bats.
My Eagle Scout Project focuses on creating more bat habitat in Cheverly so that our town can have a healthy bat population. I’ve placed twelve bat houses around Cheverly Euclid Park along with an educational sign near the playground to hopefully teach more people why the bats are so important.