Montgomery Councilmember Roger Berliner is sponsoring a public forum on Woodmont East II, a proposed mixed-use development on the corner of Bethesda and Woodmont Avenues. The developers will present their revised plans. Members of the public will be invited to ask questions and express their views. The meeting will be held on Tuesday January 8th, 2008 between 7 and 9 PM at the BCC Regional Services Center, 4805 Edgemoor Lane.
Woodmont East is a proposed 539,825 square foot mixed-use development project (hotel, retail, and housing) located at the corner of Woodmont and Bethesda Avenues, extending to Elm Street. After concerns were expressed by community members, the Montgomery County Planning Board, and Councilmember Berliner, the project developers asked the Planning Board to defer action on the proposal until they had an opportunity to revise the plan. The presentation will reflect the project sponsor’s response to the concerns raised by the community.
MCA has learned that The McLean School, which is currently housed in a closed Montgomery County school in Potomac, has been in negotiations with the American College of Cardiology to purchase the College’s property to use as a high school for 300 students. Under the school’s proposal, the existing building would be retained, but most of the trees on the property would be removed for the construction of soccer fields, and reforestation would be done closer to Old Georgetown Road.
At the present time, no traffic plan exists for the school’s desired use of the property, and the school has not committed to attending the November MCA meeting to present its plans more formally. The ACC still intends to proceed to present its residential development plans to the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission but has not rejected the school’s offer. MCA will discuss both of these proposed uses at the November meeting to see if there is a preference for one over the other.
Yesterday Montgomery County Planning Board failed to approve the preliminary plan for the Woodmont East project. Apparently the developer, JBG Associates, has withdrawn the application for development on this site, at least for the time being.
After a day when both the Washington Post and Bethesda Gazette published articles that featured Councilmember Berliner’s proposal in favor of keeping the green space at Woodmont East, his office released this statement:
Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to preserve open space in the heart of Bethesda. After 3 ½ hours of effective testimony from the community and increasingly skeptical questions from the Board, the developers withdrew the application. As Chairman Hanson was reported to have said, this project needs to be totally reoriented – it should first focus on the public space and then build in a manner that enhances that space. It is my hope that the developers will choose to work with the community in a formal, collaborative process to produce a result that we can all be proud of.
The Washington Post article stated that “angry residents of several Bethesda neighborhoods are mounting a letter-writing campaign” and featured this conceptual drawing that Berliner’s office commissioned to show what the site might look like if green space was preserved.
An ongoing battle has ensued over the little slice of open space at the intersection of Woodmont and Bethesda Avenues. (You know, where you sat and ate Giffords ice cream after the movie last summer?) The Mongomery County Planning Board has issued a report (PDF) recommending approval of a preliminary development plan for the north side of the intersection, a two and one half acre development that would include retail space, offices, 250 residential units and a 12-story hotel.
The project, officially known as Woodmont East II, has been opposed by a number of Bethesda civic associations and other residents, who have come together under the moniker Take Back Bethesda. A proposal to nominate Woodmont East for the Legacy Open Space program was turned down by the Planning Board, which is meeting November 8th to consider the matter.
Note that Woodmont East II is not the same as the Lot 31 development which is on the south side of the intersection and has already been approved, to break ground in 2008.
Recently, Councilmembers Roger Berliner and Marc Erlich have added their support for a new park at the Woodmont East location. David Lublin, who teaches government at AU, has posted a more in-depth summary and opinion of the issue on his blog Maryland Politics Watch. For more information on how to get involved, see this forwarded email thread on the Maplewood Listserv.
Both the Washington Post and Bethesda Gazette filed reports on the recent Maryland Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) subcabinet meeting in Rockville, which was chaired by Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown.
Work continues on the White Flint Sector Plan: The Gazette reports on the recent meeting between Planning Board members, developers, and residents.
Nearly 50 developers and residents packed the room Monday night to hear Planning Board members’ thoughts on how staff should craft the White Flint Sector Plan.
The draft, expected in December, will define future roads, schools and business and residential districts for the North Bethesda center.
‘‘This will be North Bethesda’s downtown,” said Margaret Rifkin, of the community planning division with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. The area, she told the Planning Board, is well suited for a housing center and marketplace rather than a dense commerce center as found near the Bethesda or Silver Spring Metro Stations.
The local communities are awaiting release of the Dept of Navy’s Environmental Impact Study (EIS) as it relates to the scheduled BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) move of Walter Reed Army Medical Center to the Bethesda National Naval Medical Center scheduled for 2011. The EIS, originally anticipated to be released in September 2007 and which is expected to be delayed, will provide detailed information on the environmental impact of the consolidation, with traffic being a major focus. The EIS will be subject to an organized 45-day public comment.
A County website devoted to the BRAC issues both locally and throughout Maryland is under construction and will facilitate community understanding of BRAC-related issues. The Montgomery County BRAC Implementation Committee will hold its next monthly meeting on Tuesday, October 16th at the B-CC Regional Service Center (near Bethesda Metro) at 4805 Edgemoor Lane at 7:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend. Time is allowed at the end of the meeting for public comments.
In July, the preliminary draft plans designed by the American College of Cardiology were presented to the Development Review Committee of the Park & Planning Commission. The Committee is comprised of Planning staff members and representatives from other Montgomery County departments. The draft plan was severely criticized in several areas including lack of parking, lack of emergency vehicle access, storm water management, and site forestation.
Most importantly for Maplewood, the Committee recommended that Camberley Avenue be cut through the property to Alta Visa Road or made into a cul-de-sac on the property. The College is revising its plans to take into consideration the concerns of the Committee and hopes to present the revised plans to Park & Planning in October. Cathy Gates, the College’s facilities manager, will present the revisions at September MCA meeting.
Maplewood Citizens Association
General Meeting
May 17, 2006
The MCA General Meeting was convened by Allen Myers at 7:30PM. This is to be the last meeting held at Heart House. The January minutes were read and accepted with one change, as noted on the edited manuscript and submitted to the President of MCA. The March Minutes were read and submitted by Janet Maalouf.
These were accepted by the membership. Continue Reading »
Powered by FireStats