Category: Maryland

State earmarks $1 billion in transportation money for Montgomery

Posted on by Andrew Brown

Montgomery County’s push for transportation investment paid a billion-dollar dividend Monday when the state committed money to eight county road, rail and bus priorities.

The lion’s share of funding, $680 million, will go to the Purple Line, a 16-mile light rail line planned to connect Bethesda and New Carrollton. Other projects, like the Corridor Cities Transitway, Ride On Bus system and road improvements, will see smaller cash commitments from the state.

Standing above the Bethesda Metro Station Monday, Gov. Martin O’Malley announced the investments, saying that they will bring needed jobs and traffic relief.

Led by County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), Montgomery pushed for an increase in the statewide gasoline tax in the 2013 legislative session. It sought a cash commitment from the state to the $2.2 billion Purple Line as well as the Corridors Cities Transitway — a 15-mile bus rapid transit line that will connect Clarksburg to the Shady Grove Metro Station, estimated to cost $545 million.

Over the “last few decades,” Maryland stopped making necessary investments to build and maintain its transportation infrastructure, O’Malley (D) said Monday.

“The failure to act, the failure to make those better decisions, had a huge cost,” he said.

Time, jobs and the environment were sacrificed, he said.

Maryland lawmakers passed the Transportation Infrastructure Investment Act this spring to bring $4.4 billion in new investment and 57,000 jobs in the next six years.

Flanked by dozens of state lawmakers, local leaders and members of the building trade, O’Malley said Montgomery’s cut of that money will include:

— $400 million for construction of the Purple Line, which comes on top of $280 million announced previously to buy land and finish the project’s design

— $125 million to construct a new interchange along I-270 at Watkins Mill Road

— $100 million to buy land and design the Corridor Cities Transitway

— $85 million for Montgomery’s Ride On Bus system

— $25 million to build relocate a section of Md. 97 (Georgia Avenue) to bypass the Town of Brookeville

— $7 million to build interchanges at U.S. 29 and Musgrove Road and at U.S. 29 and Fairland Road

— $3 million to design the widening of Md. 124 (Woodfield Road) from Midcounty Highway to south of Airpark Road

— $3 million for planning to evaluate possible improvements in the Md. 28/Md. 198 corridor between Md. 97 and I-95.

Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, who shepherded a bill through the General Assembly this year that became the state’s new public-private partnership law, said the state will deliver the Purple Line as the state first and largest transit partnership with private industry. The state will seek a private company to build and operate the line.

“It’s a project that is going to connect our communities and grow our economy,” Brown (D) said. “With the additional $400 million the governor just announced, we are showing how serious we are to delivering the Purple line now.”

Montgomery looks to add 100,000 jobs through its efforts in the Great Seneca Science Corridor, Shady Grove, White Flint, and White Oak, Leggett said.

“However, all of that depends on improvement in our transportation infrastructure,” Leggett (D) said. “Without that [investment] those jobs may come to a screeching halt.”

Montgomery leaders warned last December that without dedicated funding and clear state commitment to the project, the almost completely designed Purple Line would stall in its tracks.

“All of this is about better choices,” O’Malley said.

But not everyone gathered on the Metro plaza supported the projects, namely the Purple Line.

Shouting “Bury the rail, save the trail,” opponents of the Purple Line frequently voiced their position over those who spoke.

Deborah Vollmer of Chevy Chase said the rail line will lead to incalculable loss along the Capital Crescent Trail, a hiker-biker trail that, at points, parallels the Purple Line’s planned path. Not opposed to mass transit, she said the rail should be buried to avoid impacting the park-like atmosphere of the trail.

Ajay Bhatt, president of Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail, said the announcement was bad news for the county’s green spaces.

“They talked a lot about development and a lot about growth in Maryland, but where are the parks going to come into play?” he said.

His organization is concerned that the Purple Line will take away the trail’s ambiance by placing parts of it next to the planned light rail.

After the announcement in Bethesda, Bhatt argued the Capital Crescent Trail is a valuable resource for downcounty residents.

“If you go on the Capital Crescent Trail between here and Georgia Avenue, it’s packed,” he said.

For transit advocates, the state commitment for the Purple Line was tempered by concerns over continued investment in highway projects.

Cheryl Cort, policy director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, said investing in highway expansion projects only gives drivers temporary traffic relief and encourages more driving. It does not give resident the transportation choices they deserves, Cort said.

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Advocates urge Gov. O’Malley to target funds to transportation projects supporting smart growth; Gov. O’Malley to announce transportation spending on Monday in Bethesda

Posted on by Andrew Brown

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, August 2, 2013

Contact:

Kelly Blynn, Coalition for Smarter Growth, 202-675-0016 x 127

Ben Ross, Action Committee for Transit, 301-706-6826

Advocates urge Gov. O’Malley to target funds to transportation projects supporting smart growth

Gov. O’Malley to announce transportation spending on Monday in Bethesda

In advance of Governor O’Malley’s visit to Bethesda on Monday, several advocacy groups working in Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties released a letter Friday applauding funding pledged so far for transit, bicycling, and pedestrian infrastructure, while expressing concern over costly new highway capacity projects.

“All of our groups worked hard to build grassroots support for the transportation funding bill so we could have the ability to help realize Maryland’s smart growth and climate protection goals,” said Cheryl Cort, Policy Director at Coalition for Smarter Growth. “Now we’re concerned about how much of the money will go to projects that undermine those efforts.”

The concerns stem from the long list of costly highway capacity projects identified by each County as high priorities, and a state selection process that is done behind closed doors.  A few weeks ago, those fears were confirmed when O’Malley announced his list of projects for Prince George’s that included two major new road capacity projects for $250 million

“$150 million for an interchange at MD 4 and the Suitland Parkway is a massive public investment to support sprawling development,” said Karren Pope-Onwukwe, co-chair of Prince George’s Advocates for Community-based Transit. “This new interchange project will draw activity away from Metro stations and inside the Beltway communities, where we should be focusing development.”

In Montgomery, concerns center around four new road widening and interchange projects within the Route 28/198 corridor. These would cost half a billion dollars to duplicate the ICC, drawing away commuters and toll revenue.

“We have already wasted more than $2 billion on the ICC, which continues to be underutilized,” said Ethan Goffman of the Montgomery County Sierra Club. “Our investments should be in reducing carbon emissions and sprawl, not simply adding more and more capacity for cars.”

In addition, previous announcements indicate that Maryland may use a public-private partnership, effectively borrowing against future revenues, to help pay for Montgomery and Prince George’s top priority transportation project, the Purple Line.

“While we’re thrilled with the Purple Line’s continued progress, we’re concerned about the state’s desire to provide the local share of construction funding via a public-private partnership,” said Ben Ross, vice president of the Action Committee for Transit which has worked for the Purple Line for more than 25 years.  “We need the full $1.1 billion to open the line by 2020.  State funds that may be needed for that purpose should not be committed to lower-priority projects until we are certain that alternative financing is a good deal for taxpayers and riders.”

Advocates listed their top priorities for the suburban Washington region as building the Purple Line, funding the MARC Growth and Investment Plan, and funding Maryland’s share for WMATA’s reinvestment plan, Momentum. They also urged the state to expand investment in local road improvements to create new options for drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians, such as a multimodal redesign of MD 355 (Rockville Pike) in the White Flint area.

Following on the heels of O’Malley’s announcement of his ambitious goals for addressing climate change last week, including doubling transit ridership, advocates hope his transportation announcements will remain consistent. “We want to see the Governor ensure that all transportation projects funded by the state support the excellent smart growth and climate goals his administration has set,” said Kelly Blynn, Coalition for Smarter Growth.

The transportation advocates’ letter can be found here and is signed by the Action Committee for Transit, Bike Maryland, Clean Water Action, Coalition for Smarter Growth, Prince George’s Advocates for Community-based Transit,  Montgomery County Sierra Club, Montgomery County Young Democrats, Montgomery Countryside Alliance, Prince George’s County Young Democrats, and the Washington Area Bicyclists Association (WABA).

About the Coalition for Smarter Growth

The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington D.C. region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Our mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies needed to make those communities flourish. To learn more, visit the Coalition’s website at www.smartergrowth.net.

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Two sites remain in running for Prince George’s regional medical center

Posted on by Andrew Brown

Two sites remain in the running for a new, $645 million regional hospital in Prince George’s County to replace the financially ailing Prince George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly and create a full-service medical campus.

The board of Dimensions Healthcare System, which oversees county-owned medical facilities, voted unanimously Thursday to send letters to Maryland health officials endorsing Largo Town Center and the shuttered Landover Mall as possible locations for the hospital.

The move buys officials a little more time to negotiate with representatives of the sites. The board’s chairman, C. Philip Nichols Jr., said he expects a final decision by September.

Plans call for the 259-bed hospital to be part of a full-service medical complex and trauma center, offering high-end specialities and general care. There would be offices for private practices, a parking garage and possibly classrooms for medical professionals who also might train at nearby Prince George’s Community College in Largo. The hospital, expected to open in 2017 as part of the University of Maryland Medical System, would serve Prince George’s and Southern Maryland.

Officials hope the medical complex will attract paying patients with health insurance and provide more primary care to residents of the majority-minority county.

Studies show that Prince George’s residents suffer disproportionately from diabetes, heart disease and obesity, and there is a shortage of primary-care medical practices.

The Dimensions board acted on recommendations from a search committee whose members include representatives from the University of Maryland Medical System, Prince George’s County and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Before choosing Landover Mall and Largo Town Center, the search committee examined properties around the Morgan Boulevard Metro station and Woodmore Towne Center shopping center, said Bradford L. Seamon, a Dimensions board member, search committee member and top aide to County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D). But the committee rejected those sites because of their locations and because they had multiple owners, making it difficult to assemble enough land.

The committee’s deliberations are not open to the public.

Now the search committee is looking into cost, availability, the potential for future development, and whether roads, sidewalks and other infrastructure would be needed, he said.

“We are still continuing to negotiate, and we want to negotiate with two sites to come up with the best deal. At this point, I don’t want to talk numbers,” Seamon told the board.

Although officials of the University of Maryland Medical System had urged the search committee to find at least 100 acres, Seamon said committee members now believe that the hospital itself could be built on four or five acres of a 25-acre medical campus.

The two sites in contention each have advantages, Seamon said. The Largo site, at the Boulevard at Capital Centre, is on 70 acres of county-owned land next to a Metro station and close to the Capital Beltway.

There is an additional 30 acres in adjacent parcels owned by two private developers.

The 88-acre Landover Mall site is nearly vacant — only a Sears store remains. It is close to the Capital Beltway and about 11 / 3 miles from the Largo Town Center Metro station. Landover Mall is owned by the Lerner family, which also owns the Washington Nationals baseball team.

Cheryl Cort of the Coalition for Smarter Growth is pushing for Largo Town Center but said Landover Mall is ripe for redevelopment.

“It is crying out for something to happen at the mall,” she said. “But something as important as the hospital should not be so far from transit.”

Douglas M. Duncan, the former Montgomery County executive who is representing the Lerners, declined to comment.

Eventually, the University of Maryland Medical System is expected to take over Dimensions Healthcare but will not bear any of the costs.

Plans call for a new company — New Dimensions — to float $450 million in bonds, with its $200 million debt service paid by the state. Separately, Prince George’s would float $200 million in bonds.

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Testimony before the Hon. Andrea Harrison, Chair, Prince George’s County Council Re: Prince George’s CB 27-2013: Rental Conversion First Refusal

Posted on by Andrew Brown

Please accept these comments on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. Our organization works to ensure that transportation and development decisions in the Washington, D.C. region, including the Maryland suburbs, accommodate growth while revitalizing communities, providing more housing and travel choices, and conserving our natural and historic areas.

The Coalition for Smarter Growth would like to express its support for CB 27, with the amendment that “Sec. 13-1120. Designation” be deleted. We are concerned that this designation by resolution provision is unnecessary and inhibits the function of this tool. Overall, we support this bill as a careful tool to assist with the preservation of quality rental housing to better meet the needs of many Prince George’s residents who struggle to find decent housing they can afford.

It is a measured tool to allow the county to help preserve affordable rental housing either through direct purchase, or through assigning the right to a third party. It also allows for waivers if certain conditions are met. This approach offers the county the opportunity to protect affordable rental housing without unduly burdening the building owner. Thus this tool is likely to be used where there is institutional and community capacity to purchase and rehabilitate rental housing. We welcome this useful tool to help Prince George’s residents secure quality, affordable rental housing.

Like all Washington, D.C. area jurisdictions, a significant share of residents find housing costs too high for their incomes. Building a toolbox of policies that help more Prince George’s working families find suitable housing that they can afford is a critical task for public officials. CB 27 is one of the tools that the county should have to assist renters with the opportunity to preserve their homes as affordable. This should be one of many tools. In 2010, we published a policy paper examining Prince George’s housing needs and initiatives (summary attached). This effort followed extensive work we have done in other jurisdictions on affordable housing policy. Through our research, we found that Prince George’s uses few local policy tools, both in absolute terms and compared to surrounding jurisdictions (see attached Table 5). Thus we welcome CB 27 as an important contribution to a local housing toolbox we hope to grow over time.

Thank you for your consideration.

Cheryl Cort, Policy Director

New bus rapid transit plan won’t require more property along Md. 355

Posted on by Andrew Brown

West Chevy Chase residents no longer have to worry about a “Green Mile” marred by bus lanes down its middle, which would have meant widening the road, and possibly acquiring land through eminent domain.

That idea has been removed from the latest draft of the Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan, which the Montgomery County Planning Board approved on Thursday.

In April, when the planning board OK’d dedicated bus lanes on Md. 355, stretching from Friendship Heights up to the Rockville Metro, some residents of West Chevy Chase protested loudly.

The planning board listened and the new plan represents that, said Larry Cole, the Montgomery County Planning Department’s lead planner.

The proposed rapid transit bus lanes are part of the comprehensive Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan that is meant to improve transportation options, be more environmentally friendly, and support local businesses, according to county planners.

The plan to use median bus lanes has been moved from Phase Two into the appendix. The County Council, if and when it adopts the plan, will not be adopting the appendix, Cole said. It is there for background and guidance for future decisions.

There will still be dedicated bus lanes on Md. 355, but they will run along curbed lanes. The county can create a curb lane without having to acquire anyone’s property.

Another change is the lanes on Md. 355 will now run as dedicated bus lanes from the Friendship Heights Metro up to Shakespeare Boulevard in Germantown, and then as mixed-traffic lanes up to Redgrave Place in Clarksburg. Most of what had been in Phase Two has been moved into the appendix, Cole said. Exceptions were made for corridors and jurisdictions with their own planning authorities.

Alex Posorske, the managing director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, called the plan “groundbreaking.”

“No other suburban region in the D.C. area is putting out something like this,” Posorske said.

The county is expected to add more than 200,000 residents in the coming decade and traffic will only get worse, Posorske said.

He called rapid transit bus lanes one leg in a three-legged stool. The other two legs, he said, were the Purple Line and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

“The trend is clear, people are driving less and less,” Posorske said. “There’s a real sea change in how people look at this.”

An interim copy of the plan should be available online by the end of the week, and the County Council is scheduled to take it up sometime in September.

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BRT Supporters Have Different Views As Plan Heads To Council

Posted on by Andrew Brown

mocorts

Bus Rapid Transit supporters are split on the Master Plan the county’s Planning Department will likely send to the County Council next week on the new transportation system.

Some are still worried language inserted into the plan that would require “a thorough traffic analysis” before any BRT system is implemented severely waters down the plan and contradicts the basic point of making roads move more people instead of more cars.

Meanwhile, the Coalition For Smarter Growth, which is lobbying for a BRT network that would include a controversial transitway on Rockville Pike/MD 355, praised the Planning Board for taking “a major step forward.”

“This plan is one of the most extensive and progressive transportation plans of any suburban community in our region, and is in keeping with Montgomery County’s record of innovation in land use transportation and housing policy,” CSG Executive Director Stewart Schwartz said in a statement.

The Action Committee for Transit wrote a letter to the Planning Board before a worksession on the plan last Thursday urging it to reconsider the “thorough traffic analysis” language.

ACT is concerned a traffic study from county transportation planners at time of facility planning would make it more difficult to dedicate existing lanes to the buses in the BRT network, thus reducing the amount of all-traffic lanes.

At the Thursday worksession, the Planning Board amended the language by saying the thorough traffic analysis “should be performed” instead of “must be performed,” and only “where lane repurposing is recommended.”

Planning Board Chair Francoise Carrier advocated a plan that would ease concerns from drivers worried about how fewer lanes would affect their commutes. On Thursday, Carrier said the Board should consider how the repurposing lanes debate would play out before the County Council, which is expected to take up Bus Rapid Transit in September.

“There is a tension between sending up a plan that’s easier to adopt or sending up the plan thats bolder,” Carrier said.

Planning Commissioner Casey Anderson made it clear throughout the process he’s in favor of a bolder option that would include repurposed lanes where needed. Planning staff has said a lane each way on MD 355 would need to be repurposed through downtown Bethesda and Chevy Chase because there is no room to build an additional lane.

There has already been much opposition to the idea of repurposing lanes from neighborhood groups in Silver Spring and Chevy Chase and residents in Bethesda.

“It’s almost like you’re a dog that’s been beat too much and you’re afraid you’re going to get hit again when you start talking about, ‘Oh, don’t worry. We’re not going to do [lane repurposing] everywhere,’ before you even get started,” Anderson said.

Kelly Blynn, an organizer for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, said while the plan is a break from thinking that often shortchanged transit in favor of single-occupancy vehicles, the group is still concerned about new language from the State Highway Administration.

“However, Blynn expressed concern that other new language in the plan, pressed by the State Highway Administration, would place too high of a standard on moving cars through without considering a more proper standard of what approach would move the most people,” read the group’s press release.

Photo courtesy of Montgomery County Planning Department.

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Montgomery Rapid Transit System Takes Major Step Forward with Planning Board Approval

Posted on by Andrew Brown

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JULY 12, 2013

CONTACT: Alex Posorske, (202) 675-0016 ext. 126

Montgomery Rapid Transit System Takes Major Step Forward with Planning Board Approval

A new county-wide rapid transit system in Montgomery County took a major step forward yesterday when the Montgomery County Planning Board unanimously approved a master plan for the system.

Transit advocates hailed the Planning Board’s decision, noting that with Montgomery projected to add more than 200,000 people in the coming decades, it is critical to invest in new transit infrastructure now.

“This plan is one of the most extensive and progressive transportation plans of any suburban community in our region, and is in keeping with Montgomery County’s record of innovation in land use transportation and housing policy,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

“Rapid Transit represents Montgomery’s best, most affordable option for providing needed traffic relief to residents,” Schwartz said. “The old model of building ever more and wider roads for cars has not worked; we have to figure out how to move more people, more sustainably, with the infrastructure we have and Rapid Transit will do that.”

The plan lays the groundwork for a high quality transit network, based on successful bus rapid transit systems around the country, which would connect the County’s key economic and commercial centers, many of which are not currently served by Metro. The service would operate like Metrorail on county roadways, including features like dedicated lanes, comfortable stations, off-board fare payment, and frequent, speedier service to provide commuters relief from some of the longest commute times in the nation.

After reviewing hundreds of public comments, the Board spent many hours making edits and additions to this long range plan. One key change was the inclusion of a “performance standard” that would help ensure the County commits to a high level of transit service.

Kelly Blynn, Montgomery County Transit Organizer for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, highlighted that piece, noting that it was a break from the thinking of the past that often unfairly shortchanged transit.

“In order for this plan to be successful, we must be willing to place transit on equal footing with cars, and dedicate car lanes to transit where it can move more people than individual vehicles can,” Blynn said.

However, Blynn expressed concern that other new language in the plan, pressed by the State Highway Administration, would place too high of a standard on moving cars through without considering a more proper standard of what approach would move the most people. “It’s something we will be monitoring,” said Blynn.

In addition, the Board increased the size of the network, adding a critical connection on the map to Clarksburg, a planned community in need of transit options. Upcounty activists cheered the move.

“The Upcounty is the fastest growing region of Montgomery County,” said Upcounty Citizens Advisory Board member Beth Daly. “The extension of Rapid Transit north on 355 is a step in the right direction to for Clarksburg residents, offering them an express transit option to get to Shady Grove Metro and work centers quickly.”

The Board will now send its recommendations, officially known as the Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan to the County Council, who will review the plan starting in September. The plan will most likely first be reviewed by the Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee, and then move to the full Council.

 

About the Coalition for Smarter Growth

The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington D.C. region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies needed to make those communities flourish. To learn more, visit the Coalition’s website at www.smartergrowth.net.

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Elrich Thinks Parts Of BRT Will Get Built In Next 4 Years

Posted on by Andrew Brown

The Montgomery County Councilmember who is credited with first proposing a Bus Rapid Transit network for the county is optimistic parts of a BRT system will start being built in the next four years.

Councilmember March Elrich (D-At large) also said he thinks ridership projections in the Master Plan for BRT before the Planning Board might actually be too low. Many opponents of a plan to include Rockville Pike/Wisconsin Avenue as a BRT corridor have claimed the ridership numbers in a study by Planning Department staff are inflated.

Elrich talked about where BRT stands on a County Cable Montgomery interview show earlier this month.

“You really can’t predict what ridership will be in the future if you replace the non-choice system with a system might choose to use,” Elrich said, comparing existing Ride On bus service to a potential BRT network. “They might make different choices if a bus ran every six minutes in rush hour and didn’t stop for lights because they had a greenway to go through.”

The “rapid” component of BRT is that the buses in the system would move faster than typical buses because the buses would have exclusive lanes.

That has caused a stir with communities and residents in Bethesda and Chevy Chase, where some don’t want to lose a lane of regular traffic to a bus-only lane. The Master Plan for BRT projects between 44,000 and 49,000 daily riders for a southbound MD 355 system and between 22,000 and 34,000 daily riders for a northbound MD 355 system by 2040.

It is projected to be the busiest of the 10 proposed corridors.

The Planning Board is working through its Master Plan on the system with the hopes of transmitting it to the County Council on July 22. The fourth and final planned worksession is July 11.

Meanwhile, the Coalition for Smarter Growth, a D.C.-based advocacy group is pushing for signatures on a pro-BRT petition. The Coalition’s executive director testified in favor of the BRT Master Plan at the Planning Board’s public hearing on it.

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Prince George’s tries to make TOD easier

Posted on by Andrew Brown

Prince George’s County wants to encourage growth in the right places by speeding up the approval process for transit-oriented development. The county council unanimously passed a bill last week that just might do it.

061313 pgtod

Developers have often said they don’t want to do business in Prince George’s because of its lengthy and unpredictable development review process. Bill CB 20 creates a fast-track development review process for projects within ½ mile of the county’s 15 Metro stations and the Bowie MARC station.

Projects are eligible for the speedier process if the Planning Board finds they meet best practices for urban design, like mixing housing with retail and making engaging streetscapes.

The bill aims to increase transit ridership, reduce auto dependency, and encourage walking for more trips. It’s one of several recommendations county planners say could draw more investment to the county’s Metro station areas.

Concerned about attracting unwanted commercial uses, the bill contains a long list of uses that are not eligible for the expedited review, including adult entertainment, liquor stores, pawn shops, strip malls, and drive-throughs.

An earlier version of the bill would have eliminated most requirements for public meetings or site plan review. This could have potentially rushed low-quality projects to approval without giving the Planning Board and the public enough time to review proposed projects.

Not surprisingly, many people opposed it, and the County Council tabled the bill last year before putting together a roundtable to discuss ways to improve incentives for transit-oriented development. The current bill combines 2 overlapping versions councilmembers Eric Olson and Mel Franklin submitted earlier this year.

The bill’s most important feature is streamlining the review process. It prevents the County Council from arbitrarily dragging out the process, a power they’ve abused in the past that creates uncertainty and discourages developers from working in the county. Developers say that the unpredictability of approvals in Prince George’s County often makes it not worth the time and money spent there.

While the current bill shortens the review process, it still gives the Planning Board and members of the public enough time to offer feedback. If the Planning Board approves a proposal, the County Council has a few days to decide whether or not to review it as well. Project applicants or residents can also use this time to appeal the board’s decision.

Bill CB 20 is just one of many actions Prince George’s County has taken to encourage investment at Metro stations. Recently, county officials have also reduced the impact fees developers pay to support schools and public safety. Economic analysts say excessive fees discourage investment altogether, meaning the county won’t even receive the fees it seeks to collect.

Another element of ensuring development goes at Prince George’s Metro stations is having a good countywide plan. There is a town meeting this Saturday, 10 am-1 pm at the University of Maryland, to work on a plan for the county’s growth over the next 20+ years. You can help push for a plan that works in concert with this legislation to encourage TOD at Metro station sites.

Photo Courtesy of Elvert Barnes on flickr.

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Wheaton seeking development proposals

Posted on by Andrew Brown

Two days before the release of a request for developer’s ideas for Wheaton, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett joined County Council President Nancy Navarro and others Saturday for a tour of the area where redevelopment has long been discussed.

“This is Wheaton’s time, and we’re going to do it, and we’re going to do it right,” Leggett said to the tour group including state and county officials as well as area residents.

Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (front, right) talks with Montgomery County Deputy Director of Transportation Al R. Roshdieh Saturday during a walking tour of downtown Wheaton to gather ideas for redeveloping the area to be more walkable. The tour was organized by the Wheaton Urban District Advisory Committee and The Coalition for Smarter Growth.

Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (front, right) talks with Montgomery County Deputy Director of Transportation Al R. Roshdieh Saturday during a walking tour of downtown Wheaton to gather ideas for redeveloping the area to be more walkable. The tour was organized by the Wheaton Urban District Advisory Committee and The Coalition for Smarter Growth.

The request for proposals, posted on the county’s website on Monday, asks for developers to come up with a plan that includes a headquarters building for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, a town square, residential and/or retail space, and public parking.

The plans can encompass up to four sites, including the Mid-County Regional Services Center, Parking Lot 13 and Parking Lot 34 in Wheaton and the current park and planning commission site at 8787 Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring.

Developers have until July 31 to submit their proposals.

As of Monday afternoon, the county website listed four companies who had downloaded a copy of the solicitation.

Leggett stressed to Saturday’s tour group that the redevelopment process will include community input and that the county wants Wheaton to be a community that “you are proud of.”

“This is not the end, this is simply the beginning, an opportunity for the public to weigh in, to be part of this process,” Leggett said. “Without the public’s involvement, whatever we do will not be successful.”

Navarro said that, for the first time, the county has money in the budget for Wheaton’s redevelopment and that the current approach will allow community members to participate.

“It allows all of you, all of those people who have been involved for so long, to see how we can maximize this opportunity,” Navarro said.

Saturday’s walking tour — run by the Coalition for Smarter Growth and the Wheaton Urban District Advisory Committee — highlighted several of Wheaton’s existing sites, including the MetroPointe apartments on Georgia Avenue — a mixed-income community — Wheaton Veterans Park, and the Wheaton Triangle area’s small businesses.

Henriot St. Gerard, chair of the urban district advisory committee, said a main goal of the event was to help people think about Wheaton in a broader sense than just the redevelopment of the Parking Lot 13 area and about its potential as a walkable community.

“It’s not just a focus on this centralized location in the urban district, we’re thinking about everyone outside of that,” including restaurants, entertainment venues and small businesses, St. Gerard said.

Speakers, including those from the coalition and the Wheaton advisory committee, discussed how the area could become more walkable through factors such as improved lighting, signage and pedestrian access.

Ash Kosiewicz — communications and advocacy director for the Latino Economic Development Center and lead organizer of the Coalition for the Fair Redevelopment of Wheaton — shared some of the concerns the area’s small businesses have voiced in light of redevelopment, including a loss of parking and their ability to pay rent.

With the release of the request for proposals, Marian Fryer — president of the Wheaton Citizens Coalition and member of the urban district advisory committee — said as she walked on the tour that there have been “many starts and stops” in Wheaton’s redevelopment process, but that she is now feeling optimistic.

That sense of optimism, she said, comes from “the fact that we now have an opportunity to get some good proposals, creative proposals, responsible development proposals and go from there and, hopefully, now that the money has been put in place, we won’t have to start over again.”

Del. Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Dist. 18) of Kensington, who attended the tour, compared the Wheaton area — where he said he grew up — to Silver Spring.

“People forget how many false starts there were in Silver Spring, and that’s okay,” Waldstreicher said. “There are going to be false starts and now Silver Spring is a great place to have dinner, raise a family, and the same thing will happen in Wheaton.”

For Andy Wexler, of Silver Spring, the tour was a source of information on the community he and his wife are considering moving to and have already visited for years to shop and eat.

“I hope that [redevelopment is] done very carefully,” he said. “There’s so many issues involved and if those issues aren’t dealt with in a very thoughtful and sensitive way, it can cause a lot of damage to a community.”

Photo courtesy of Greg Dohler and The Gazette

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