On February 6, 2007, the Prince George's County Council approved the Westphalia Sector Plan and Sectional Map Amendment. This document established a planning concept for the Westphalia area and rezoned specified properties. This concept is envisions a "high-density, transit- and pedestrian-oriented urban town center" surrounded by three village centers and multiple residential modules. Buildout is proposed to include 14,000 - 15,300 new residential units, 4.5 million square feet of commercial space, and 750,000 square feet of retail space. A 150-acre Central Park is proposed immediately north of the Town Center, approximately at the center of the Westphalia area.
Education
operates public schools serving the census-designated place. Elementary schools:
* Obama Elementary, in the Westphalia CDP, was the first school in the Washington, DC area that was named after the former president. It is adjacent to Wise High School.
*The Prince George's County school board approved of the name of the school on June 25, 2009; all board members voted in favor of the renaming. The school opened on August 23, 2010 and had a cost of $25 million. The architect was Grimm + Parker Architects, and it was built for 792 students. The school's cooling system relies on over 144 geothermal pumps. The initial enrollment was 798, slightly higher than the school's stated capacity. Its opening relieved Arrowhead, Marlton, Melwood, Patuxent and Perrywood, elementary schools. The first principal was Pearl Harmon, a Liberian American; in 2014 she was reassigned to an administrative position in the PG County school system.
* Several school board members argued that naming a school after Obama would inspire area students. Many schools in PG County were named after African-Americans, and PG County voters primarily support the Democratic Party, Obama's political party. In the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, 89% of PG County residents voted for Obama. The chairperson of the PG County Republican Party Central Committee, Mykel Harris, argued that the county should not name a school after a current president, while the chairperson of the board, Ron L. Watson, stated that the vote was not done out of political considerations.
