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The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission Prince George’s County Planning Department www.pgplanning.org Table of Contents Foreword ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Introduction and Background ........................................................................................................ 4 Military Installation and Overlay Zone .......................................................................................... 5 Applicability and Exemptions ........................................................................................................ 7 Requirements for Height ............................................................................................................... 8 Requirements for Noise ............................................................................................................... 10 Requirements for Safety .............................................................................................................. 11 Military Installation Overlay Zoning Map Amendment .............................................................. 14 Attachment 1: Properties Partially or Wholly Within the Safety Zones, High Intensity Noise Contour, and Height Limit Surfaces .......................................................... A1 Attachment 2: Properties Partially or Wholly Within the Safety Zones and Height Limit Surfaces Only .......................................................................................................... A2 Attachment 3: Properties Partially or Wholly Within the High Intensity Noise Contour and Height Limit Surfaces Only ................................................................................................... A3 Attachment 4: Properties Partially or Wholly Within the Height Limit Surfaces Only ............. A4 2 Foreword The Prince George’s County Planning Board is pleased to make available for review and comment the Proposed Military Installation Overlay Zoning Map Amendment (MIOZMA). This zoning map amendment is the culmination of over 40 years of collaboration between the United States Air Force, The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), and Prince George’s County to ensure that flight operations at Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility Washington (JBA) are coordinated with the development of the built environment and activities on the ground to ensure the safety of all who live, work, visit, or conduct business in Prince George’s County. This MIOZMA will apply the Military Installation Overlay Zone to the approximately 38-square-mile section of Prince George’s County most impacted by flight operations at Joint Base Andrews. It will reclassify several properties in the Forestville area to new underlying zoning classifications that increase their developability under this overlay zone. It will also amend the Marlboro Pike and Southern Green Line Development District Overlay Zones to ensure compatibility between these overlay zones. Beginning with the initiation of the Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility Washington Joint Land Use Study (JLUS) in 2006, The M-NCPPC Prince George’s County Planning Department, the Prince George’s County Council, and the Council’s ad hoc Joint Land Use Study Implementation Committee have engaged residents, property owners, and stakeholders in an ongoing and informative discussion about how to balance economic development, institutional expansion, and property rights with the government’s primary responsibility to protect the public health, safety, and welfare in the area around Joint Base Andrews. In November 2015, the Prince George’s County Zoning Ordinance was amended to create the Military Installation Overlay (M-I-O) Zone to address these issues and provide for the regulation of land use and construction around JBA. The process of applying the M-I-O Zone to land through this MIOZMA differs significantly from traditional sectional map amendments. This map amendment is an exercise of the County’s zoning authority to create regulations that protect the public health, safety, and welfare. This exercise is not an opportunity for residents or elected officials to seek piecemeal or comprehensive rezoning of their property. Such activities occur concurrent to, or following, comprehensive master and sector planning processes. The Planning Board appreciates the contributions and active involvement of the community and stakeholders throughout the long process to develop the County’s policies and subsequent legislation to address the relationship between land use and flight operations at Joint Base Andrews. We look forward to seeing you and receiving any additional input you may have on the proposed map amendment at the Joint Public Hearing that is scheduled for April 5, 2016, at the County Administration Building, 14741 Governor Oden Bowie Drive, Upper Marlboro, Maryland 20772. Thank you for your interest in protecting the health, safety, and welfare of Prince George’s County. Elizabeth M. Hewlett Chairman, Prince George’s County Planning Board 3 Introduction and Background Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility Washington is the sole military aviation base in the people would be subject to potentially unhealthy noise levels, and the areas around the base Washington, D.C. region, and is the second largest employer in Prince George’s County. where tall structures could interfere with flight operations. The AICUZ has been updated Thousands of flights take off and land at the base every year on a variety of missions that several times, most recently in 2007. range from materiel transport to combat air defense to transporting the President of the As part of its international effort to identify and mitigate incompatibilities with air operations, United States and other important international leaders. Flight operations at Joint Base the USAF worked with the Office of the County Executive, the County Council, and M-NCPPC Andrews affect the lives of thousands of residents, visitors, and employees in Prince George’s Prince George’s County Planning Department to develop the Joint Base Andrews Naval Air County daily. The noise impacts of flight operations are an obvious reminder of the base’s Facility Washington Joint Land Use Study (JLUS). The JLUS contains recommendations for presence. policy and regulatory changes that address incompatibilities with flight operations, including In turn, the development of land and structures and the planting of trees and vegetation that the creation of a Military Installation Overlay Zone. The County Council endorsed the findings attract birds in proximity to the base affect, or have the potential to affect, the safety and of the JLUS in Council Resolution CR-30-2010 and created an ad hoc Joint Land Use Study security of flight operations. Structures, landfills or trees can interfere with flight paths and Implementation Committee to implement its recommendations. aircraft maneuverability. Smoke, dust, steam or electromagnetic emissions can interfere with In 2012, the JLUS Implementation Committee developed, and the County Council enacted, the aircraft and related systems or pilot visibility. Interim Land Use Controls. These controls placed strict limitations on the development of land Aircraft accidents are, thankfully, rare occurrences. However, when they occur, they can have in the area surrounding Joint Base Andrews while the County developed permanent zoning traumatic results, including loss of life and property destruction. Most aircraft accidents occur legislation to address compatibility issues. These land use controls expired on June 30, 2015. upon takeoff or landing, and most often involve an aircraft impacting the ground. If people are After three years of public and stakeholder engagement and a multiyear legislative process, in concentrated in locations on the ground in proximity to the takeoff and landing areas around November 2015 the County Council adopted CB-42-2015, creating the Military Installation an airport, their lives and safety are at greater risk. Overlay (M-I-O) Zone and the process for applying the zone to properties impacted by, or with The United States Air Force (USAF) issued the first Air Installation Compatible Use Zone study potential impact on, flight operations at Joint Base Andrews. This proposed zoning map (AICUZ) for Joint Base Andrews (formerly Andrews Air Force Base) in 1974. This study amendment is that process. identified the types of land uses that are incompatible with flight operations, the areas where 4 Military Installation Overlay Zone The Military Installation Overlay (M-I-O) Zone contains regulations concerning the use and development of land within three overlapping geographic areas. These areas are codified in Impact Maps within Part 10C of the Zoning Ordinance. Imaginary (Height Limit) Surfaces: These areas reflect the boundary between navigable air space, where flight operations are permitted to occur, and developable air space, where buildings, structures, and man-made landforms may be constructed and into which vegetation, such as trees, may grow. Anything that penetrates the Imaginary Surfaces interferes with, and presents a safety risk to, flight operations. These areas represent approximately 6.61 percent of the total land area of Prince George’s County. High Intensity Noise Areas (Contours): Those areas impacted by noise levels from flight operations exceeding 74 dBA Ldn. These areas represent