Wednesday, May 18, 2016
World of Beer sets opening date in Rockville
East Rockville residents organize against Westmore bus depot
Calling themselves the East Side Coalition, they now have a blog and their first post - blasting the idea of using Lincoln Park and East Rockville as a dumping ground for something no one wants. Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton and the City Council unanimously agreed Monday to write a letter opposing the Westmore initiative. Like the Carver plan, the Westmore site is adjacent to homes, and would degrade a historic district.
A Montgomery County Council worksession on the controversy over the plan to abandon the existing Shady Grove bus depot, and allow a developer to turn it into residential property, is now scheduled for June 21.
All nine County Council members voted to approve design and construction of the Carver depot on February 9, but are now backpedaling furiously in the face of strong and organized community opposition. On Monday, County Council President Nancy Floreen astonishingly blamed residents for the Council's own failure to find an alternative site.
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Mayor and Council vote to deny Chestnut Lodge amendment
 |
| Chestnut Lodge in 2003 |
Councilmember Virginia Onley said she would not oppose the developer's plan, citing her concern that the City could face legal action in the case if it denied the amendment. Other elected officials, past and present, have asserted that the City's legal position is strong, in that the PRU remains binding and in effect, and required the original building to remain in order to execute the agreement.
Onley referred to comments by Twinbrook Citizens Association President Richard Gottfried during a public hearing earlier in the evening, in which Gottfried warned of the danger of "spot zoning" on the different topic of the Rockville Pike Neighborhood Plan. Gottfried mentioned the legal action now pending against the City for its decision in the EZ Storage case.
While she said she opposes building townhomes on the site, Councilmember Julie Palakovich Carr said the City is "held to certain legal standards" it may not be able to get out of in a case like this. She asked City staff to clarify its assessment of the criteria that is to be applied to the PRU and the proposed amendment. Zoning chief Jim Wasilak replied that, "We didn't see anything necessarily that was in conflict with the [Master] Plan." The site is in the W. Montgomery Avenue Historic District.
Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton, who has long made clear her opposition to the townhome plan, said approval of it would "undermine" the entire W. Montgomery Avenue Historic District. She also objected to the applicant's proposal to greatly increase the footprint of the building beyond that of the original Chestnut Lodge. An out-of-character development would result in the loss of a historic site of not just local, but national, importance, she argued. In particular, rear decks and garages would negatively impact the site itself, as well as surrounding homes in the historic district.
Following the Mayor's remarks, Councilmember Beryl Feinberg moved to deny the amendment, but was questioned as to her reasoning by Councilmember Mark Pierzchala.
Then, Pierzchala made his own motion to deny the amendment. His motion instructed staff to bring back a resolution to the Mayor and Council that states the townhome project is in conflict with the Master Plan. It stated that the historic district the site is in would be "profoundly affected" by the out-of-character development.
Pierzchala's motion also zeroed in on specific issues related to the PRU agreement. He said the agreement was "expressly conditioned" on the retention of the main lodge building. He added that any proposal needs to be "more consistent" with the existing PRU. The townhome concept "does not meet the spirit or the intent of the original understanding," Pierzchala said.
The motion passed 3-2, with Onley and Palakovich Carr opposed.
Photo courtesy City of Rockville
Floreen blames residents for bus depot debacle, Rockville Mayor & Council drafting Westmore letter
a) the developer, which should have identified a new depot location
b) herself and her colleagues, who unanimously voted to fund design and construction of a bus depot at Carver on February 9, and didn't take their ultimate responsibility to locate a new site before voting for it seriously? And who now claim they don't read the legislation they vote for?!
c) you, the resident of Rockville?
Answer: C
That's right, the delay in finding a new bus depot site is the fault of "County residents who engage very actively."
Whoops!
The bus depot site search has been "very hard for all communities to have to deal with," Floreen said yesterday at a press conference. She confirmed the Council will now take up the matter in June, but offered no solutions at this point.
"I don't know how we'll handle that," Floreen told reporters. "This issue has gone on for how many years, (shouting) ten years? Attribute it to County residents who engage very actively."
Well, I guess we'll remember that in November 2018. Whether its refusing to take responsibility for the decisions and votes that got us here, or butting in line ahead of residents at the public meeting, the level of arrogance on the County Council is simply astonishing.
Meanwhile, Rockville Acting City Manager Craig Simoneau informed the Mayor and Council last evening that Montgomery County and Montgomery County Public Schools have both rebuffed their invitation to speak at their May 23 meeting on the bus depot issue.
Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton brought up the bus depot issue during Old/New Business later in the evening. She proposed that the body send a letter opposing a second depot planned for 1000 Westmore Avenue in Lincoln Park, saying that she would like to provide "a strong statement from the City of Rockville to support the community."
Newton outlined the objections the City should enumerate. The site is in a historic African-American community which has been there for over 100 years, she noted. It is also adjacent to a historic African-American cemetery, and would pose a safety risk to children walking to Lincoln Terrace Park.
Finally, Newton said, a bus depot "is not in keeping with the plan for their community," referring to the Lincoln Park Neighborhood Plan.
The letter is expected to be finalized by the next meeting.
Monday, May 16, 2016
Rockville construction update: Saks Off 5th (Photos)
But you don't expect the same company that once redesigned its flagship store in the Art Moderne style, inspired by the 1925 Paris Exposition, to simply occupy a standard retail unit. So the extensive reconstruction of this space won't likely surprise Saks shoppers in Rockville, who will have a much shorter trip on crowded MD 355 to reach a Saks store than they do today.
Friday, May 13, 2016
3 County Councilmembers want to put DNFN for Shady Grove bus depot on Council agenda in June
The Council must vote to approve a DNFN before the County can sell the current depot site to a developer that is preparing to redevelop it as residential. In a memo, the three say that putting it on the agenda will allow for a thorough discussion of an issue that has concerned several neighborhoods, including those around the Carver site, Lincoln Park (where a second depot is being proposed at 1000 Westmore Avenue) and Aspen Hill (where the potential use of the Avery Road site would likely push the alternative education Blair Ewing Center to the English Manor school).
Residents, the councilmen write, have been left "angry and confused" by the process and uncertainty. Wednesday night's meeting did little to reduce either. It also became apparent that, according to the councilmen themselves, they did not read the resolution they voted to approve February 9, which funded conversion of Carver to a bus depot.
At the conclusion of their memo, which also went to County Executie Ike Leggett and the Board of Education, the councilmen ask the BOE to "cease any and all activity related to the proposed Carver site."
The memo is a step forward from the buck-passing Wednesday in providing at least two concrete next steps. But those will depend on how the Council and BOE act and or vote in response to the memo. Can the Council legally back out of the agreement, can that action withstand a legal challenge from the developer, and if they lose, where will the buses go?
Stay tuned.
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Rockville residents hear many excuses, few answers at Carver bus depot meeting (Video+photos)
Chants of "No bus depot!" and "Shame on Leggett!" echoed through the College Gardens neighborhood, as reporters from ABC7 and Montgomery Community Television interviewed residents about the controversial proposal. Once inside, the residents continued their impromptu protest as the start time of the meeting neared. [Click the thumbnail below to watch video of the protests]
The proposal to place 100 school buses at the Carver site is controversial for many reasons, including exhaust emissions, pedestrian and child safety, noise (the buses have to test their horns each morning at 6:00 AM), the ugly fencing that would be erected, environmental impacts, and the plan's incompatibility with the Carver site's historic district designation.
Many public officials attended, including Rockville's representatives in the General Assembly. Delegate Kumar Barve told the crowd that he, State Senator Cheryl Kagan, and Delegates Andrew Platt and Jim Gilchrist all strongly oppose the Carver depot. Also in attendance were Rockville Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton, City Councilmembers Virginia Onley and Mark Pierzchala, and several City staff members, including Acting City Manager Craig Simoneau and Planning Director Susan Swift. Former Rockville mayor Larry Giammo, who has been active in the citizen efforts to stop the Carver depot, was also present.
In a question that would be posed again and again throughout the evening, Barve asked MCPS staff, "who is the ultimate decision-maker?" After an inconclusive answer, Barve responded, "I don't feel I got a crisp answer to my question." Neither did Pierzchala. "I am a little bit upset at the answer you just gave," he said. "You ought to be here able to give an answer to those process questions, and not just engineering questions," Pierzchala added.
But the state and Rockville-level elected officials will have very little power to stop the Carver plan, under the Mandatory Referral process that makes it difficult to stop government development proposals.
The Montgomery County Council has the final authority to stop the depot, but MCPS officials and even the councilmembers in attendance would not acknowledge that fact, even under pressure from citizens to specify where the buck stops in this case. In fact, councilmembers rankled attendees by cutting into the head of the line of residents patiently waiting their turn to ask MCPS officials questions.
"Let the citizens speak!" "We need to hear from the people, not from elected officials!" were among the shouts, as Councilmembers George Leventhal and Sid Katz took command of the microphone. Attendees had already sat through a lengthy Powerpoint presentation clearly designed to reduce the public comment portion of the meeting.
To Councilmember Marc Elrich's credit, he has been engaged on this issue since the beginning, and had to be cajoled by colleagues to reluctantly come forward from the back of the room. Elrich implored the Board of Education to stop the plan; Leventhal blamed County Executive Ike Leggett "and his staff - it's their job."
But Leventhal's attempt to turn the Carver Coalition's grassroots turnout effort into a ready-made campaign rally for himself, complete with prepared applause lines of just how much he really, really opposes the Carver depot, ultimately backfired. While speaking at length (while the first actual residents had yet to get the microphone) about how much he opposes using the Carver site, Leventhal neglected to tell the crowd that he had voted for the money to design and construct a Carver depot!
Mr. Leventhal not only voted to approve Resolution 18-396 on February 9 this year, but he made the motion that triggered the vote according to the meeting minutes!
When a citizen later brought Leventhal's vote for the resolution up, Leventhal committed his latest "Four Pinocchio/Pants on Fire" gaffe. Leventhal claimed the money he voted for was simply to locate an appropriate site, not to design and construct a depot at Carver.
The citizen then handed Leventhal the actual resolution he had voted for, and asked Leventhal to read it aloud. Realizing his falsehood had been exposed, Leventhal flatly refused to comply. "No, I will not read that," he said firmly, handing the paper back to his constituent.
As you will see in this video, Leventhal then gestured and grimaced in exasperation, before returning to his seat as the text of the resolution was read aloud by a citizen:
The resolution appropriated $1,725,000 for "design" ($150,000) and construction ($1,575,000) of a new depot. On Page 3 of the document, which Leventhal refused to read aloud, it clearly states that the money is for "design and construction of the front parking lot at the Carver Educational Services Center to accommodate bus parking." Oops!
So consider the scene - the County Council is attempting to portray themselves as heroes to the rescue, when every one of the councilmembers speaking voted for the Carver depot design and construction. You can't make this stuff up, folks!
Most residents, while appreciating any opposition to the depot from the County Council at this point, were not likely fooled by the 11th-hour "heroics" of the councilmembers (six of whom didn't even bother to show up; neither did County Executive Ike Leggett, nor the superintendent of MCPS).
Woodley Gardens resident Margot Stein noted that some elected officials only now have "jumped on the train at the last minute, when they saw where this was going. You've let us down desperately. You've really let us down. I'm not voting for anybody who votes for this project."
The president of the Plymouth Woods community association had a blunt message for the County Council from his residents. Reporting that 272 residents had unanimously voted to oppose the Carver depot at their meeting earlier in the evening, he took the microphone to tell councilmembers, "Your time in office is done. We're gonna get you out of here so fast - and Ike Leggett, too. You're on the way out."
The crowd roared and applauded.
For all of the talking by the councilmembers, the only assurances residents got were that A) the Council has to give the go-ahead to relinquish the current Shady Grove bus depot to the developer that will redevelop it as residential (and let's face it, that's why we're in this mess - the developer-beholden elected officials who run our County), and that B) the Council can rescind the above-mentioned $1,725,000 for the design and construction of the Carver depot.
Moreover, parse the statements of the councilmembers very closely. They left plenty of legal room to later approve a depot at Carver in their carefully-worded comments.
Now, how about the actual public?
So many residents had questions and comments that not everyone was given the chance to speak - despite the hosts of the meeting being the owners of the building!
The resident who really brought the house down was a graduate of the original Carver school, the only public high school for African-Americans in Montgomery County during the segregation era.
"I am a product of Carver High School," he began as a hush fell over the often-noisy room. "As I look back upon my education here in the County seat of Montgomery County, and how the [Montgomery County] Board of Education did not build an elementary school for us, and did not build a junior high school for us...I am the fifth generation of a slave family. So Carver was built."
"[George Washington] Carver was not a bus driver," he continued pointedly. "Carver was a scientist. Something he tried to instill in all of us, was to get an education."
To now pretend the Carver school never existed, he said, "The rug's too small. You can't sweep it under the rug. And now we want to put a bus depot in front of this historical building? No way. No way."
The gentleman received a large ovation from the crowd.
No one in the crowd spoke in favor of building the depot.
One leader of the opposition to the depot said, "I think this is a bad idea." Turning to the audience, he asked, "Do you think this is a bad idea?" "YEAH!!" the crowd roared back.
Mayor Newton implored residents to also support the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Rockville, where MCPS is now plotting to build an additional depot at 1000 Westmore Avenue (a.k.a. the WINX property, as it is known from its radio broadcasting days), directly across the street from homes.
Resident Scott Weaver noted that his window is "110 feet from the curb of the [Carver] lot," and said he is concerned for the health of his two small children. "Who is going to introduce a motion at their elected body to stop this?" "If the will is there, what is the action" any of the elected bodies can take, asked resident Theresa Defino.
Rockville resident and longtime activist Drew Powell said he has documentation from the County Council Education Committee "from more than a year ago, this documentation says, 'We're going to put some buses at Carver.'" Powell asked why residents weren't notified at that early stage.
"Why would you put a bus depot where people live," a young girl asked. "It harms people, and it harms the environment."
One attendee thought the racial overtones of putting buses at Carver were too offensive. Noting the history of desegregation and busing, putting school buses on a historic African-American site would be "a slap in the face," he said. "Especially at this time when racial and ethnic tensions are so high."
A man who moved to College Square in 2007 recalled his realtor gushing that "What's great about Maryland is that everything is master-planned." The crowd chuckled.
"Nobody would think of putting a commercial truck depot on this site," said a 36-year resident of Mannakee Street, which runs right alongside the Carver site and into the residential neighborhood directly adjacent to it. "This use is incompatible. We should not spend one more penny on this stupid idea."
His neighbor, who has lived on the street one more year than him, told MCPS officials, "Don't screw up our city."
Another young girl said, "I won't be able to sleep in the morning" with the bus horn tests blaring, and loud buses departing the depot. "It will make me tired at school, and I won't be able to do my best."
Monique Ashton, PTA President at College Gardens ES, asked if comments at the meeting were being recorded verbatim. No, it turns out that two people were simply jotting down notes. Ashton said that presented a transparency issue, if other officials won't be able to review the full input given at the meeting. She also implored the Council to start using the money from land sales for school construction.
A resident of Ivy League Lane asked, "How possibly can you mitigate [the noise of the buses]? I just can't imagine how anyone can live in this condition." He paused for several moments, before saying, "I am speechless."
How about performing a pollution evaluation, one resident asked. Seth Adams, Director of MCPS' construction division, said they don't have the expertise to do that, but that they would try to find someone qualified to do so, now that it had been brought up.
"How any person in a normal mind can suggest this strange idea [of a bus depot at Carver]," a resident asked. "This is ridiculous, and absolutely unacceptable."
A 45-year resident of College Gardens said he had a background in nuclear engineering. "Part of my experience was in forecasting," he said. "And I forecast this project will not go forward," he said to applause.
One student said, "We are not waking up at the butt crack of dawn, and ruining our GPAs, because you decide to put a bus depot on this site." A much-younger student concurred less colorfully that "No one wants to wake up at the crack of dawn just to hear these buses honk."
Ultimately, we have the same problem here as in multiple other communities where residents are now rising up in protest - developers are running the County through their contributions to the County Council campaign accounts. Why are noisy, polluting public facilities being relocated from industrial land near the railroad tracks to residential neighborhoods across Montgomery County? Purely for developer profit. Period.
A bus depot in a residential neighborhood? Anyone with common sense knows that idea is completely nuts.
It's easy for the Council to talk, but they are eventually going to have to find a depot site.
None of the ones discussed are viable. None are appropriate. Carver? No. Westmore? Nope. Avery Road? No. Gude Drive landfill? The jury is still out on that one.
So where else can this thing go? Are they going to pit one Rockville neighborhood against another? Rockville versus Aspen Hill? The Council is so certain there won't be a depot at Carver, but where will it be, then?
Why wasn't this addressed years ago? How did the Council have time to ram through the entire Westbard sector plan in Bethesda, and numerous other developer giveaways, but not time to find a depot site? Or to kill the idea of selling the existing depot to begin with?
I think we all know the answer.
 |
| Former Rockville mayor Larry Giammo joins the protest |
 |
| Agenda for the meeting |
 |
| Delegate Kumar Barve speaks |
 |
| County Councilmember Marc Elrich |
 |
| Graduate of the historic Carver high school schools the County Council |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)