We urge you to oppose the Gaithersburg West Plan. We believe that the major expansion in planned employment proposed in the Plan is detrimental to county residents and poses a serious threat to smart growth in the region. We urge the county to refocus efforts to ensure a quality growth plan for the White Flint Metro station area, and fostering employment growth at existing underutilized Metro stations and along transit corridors in down and east county locations. The Life Sciences Center (LSC) portions of the Gaithersburg West Plan proposes excessive density for the location–far from a Metro station, which will exacerbate the housing-jobs imbalance, and induce sprawl and unnecessary car traffic.

This report details the dramatic growth of public transportation in 2008, and the corresponding energy and environmental benefits. These details are viewed in light of fewer miles driven in most states last year. It also documents transit growth across the country continuing into this year, highlights future potential benefits and outlines ways to improve the state of public transportation.

This is a presentation to the Council of Non-Profit Housing and Economic Development.

We are here to express our support for the Sidewalk Assurance Act. Sidewalks should be included as a part of all roadways and all roadway construction projects almost without exception. This Act reflects the DDOT Departmental Order on its sidewalk construction policy and the DDOT Pedestrian Master Plan. An Act by the Council is needed to ensure consistent implementation of these polices in order to ensure safety on all public rights of way. The standard should simply be that if there is a paved road, there should be an ADA-compliant sidewalk. This is fundamentally a matter of safety for all public transportation facilities.

Learn about the necessary ingredients to successful neighborhood design.