Bladensburg, Cheverly could be headed to court over 'Hospital Hill' land annexation
Bladensburg, Cheverly could head to court over 'Hospital Hill'
The towns of Bladensburg and Cheverly appear to be headed to court in a fight over the land where the old Prince George's County hospital sits. Bladensburg has moved to annex the land where the old hospital sits, colloquially known as ‘Hospital Hill.’ Now, after receiving legal threats from the town of Cheverly, Bladensburg Mayor Takisha James says she is willing to take this all the way to the Maryland Supreme Court if she has to.
BLADENSBURG, Md. - The towns of Bladensburg and Cheverly appear to be headed to court in a fight over the land where the old Prince George's County hospital sits.
Bladensburg has moved to annex the land where the old hospital sits, colloquially known as ‘Hospital Hill.’ Now, after receiving legal threats from the town of Cheverly, Bladensburg Mayor Takisha James says she is willing to take this all the way to the Maryland Supreme Court if she has to.
"If a house is on the market for five to 10 years and I’m admiring the dream house, I’m saving my money, I’m doing all these things because one day I want to buy that house and then you come along and you’re a motivated buyer, you have the resources and you proceed to put a contract on that house in the down payment, I can’t be upset with you because you took action," James said.
James says the new development proposed for the land would dramatically increase the quality of life for Bladensburg residents. The redeveloped land will feature new retail stores including a food hall and heli-pad sky deck, over 1300 new homes, a brand new community town square with public trails, a hotel, and a new medical office.
RELATED: Battle brewing over 'Hospital Hill' in Prince George's County
Cheverly Mayor Kayce Munyeneh says Bladensburg doesn't have the right to annex the land for several reasons, including because 295 prevents Bladensburg from physically connecting to the land, which is required by law to annex.
Bladensburg leaders argue that Cheverly did exactly that when they annexed land that crossed over 295.
"Cheverly’s argument is also hypocritical to the fact that they’ve already annexed over 295 into what would be the town of Bladensburg," said John O'Connor, an annexation consultant. "So it’ll be a little hypocritical for them to make that argument that you can’t do that or they try to invalidate their own annexation."
FOX 5 spoke with Cheverly Mayor Munyeneh, who says they are full steam ahead and are still prepared to file a lawsuit asking a court to prevent Bladensburg from doing this.
Bladensburg is holding a community meeting on the issue this Thursday at 5:30 p.m.