If you only have 5 minutes to learn how proposed development affects our schools in the Walter Johnson cluster (especially Garrett Park ES, Luxmanor ES, and Walter Johnson HS), here are 10 Fast Facts:
(1) The White Flint (WF) and other development plans propose major residential growth. They would add more than 350 HS, 410 MS, and 440 ES students in our cluster (WJ).
(2) The plans are designed to take 20-30 years, but affect schools well before that. The Growth Policy would speed up the plans, by providing exemptions to various public facility requirements.
(3) If the Growth Policy accelerates a 30-year plan into a 24-year plan, our (newly modernized) WJHS would be overcrowded in 12 years. The ES's in the Walter Johnson cluster would be overcrowded by 300 students in 10-15 years.
(4) If the Growth Policy speeds up a 20-year plan, the overcrowding comes sooner.
(5) The proposed WF plan doesn't reserve land in the WJ cluster for a school, or funds to reopen a school in the cluster.
(6) Once ES's are overcrowded by 300 students, MCPS would act. The proposed WF plan recommends: (A) Reopen former Rocking Horse ES, which redraws the boundary between WJ and the Downcounty Consortium. (B) Redistrict.
(7) The site selection or redistricting could be 10 years off, but the County Council will vote on the Growth Policy and several plans this fall and winter.
(8) The Council can refuse to approve a plan unless it dedicates land for a school.
(9) The Council can commit to providing funds to build a school or reopen a former cluster school. For example, it can give WJ (as a Smart Growth cluster) priority for CIP funds. It can retain school facility payment requirements.
(10) The Council can reduce the Growth Policy's accelerated development by dropping exemptions to public facility rules.
September Garrett Park ES Newsletter
Want a Smarter Growth Policy - one that supports our schools? Attend the County Council hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 7:30 - with or without a statement - and show your support. The hearing is at 100 Maryland Ave., Rockville.
For further information, contact SmarterGrowthForSchools@Gmail.com
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Metro Cannot Handle the New Residents
The White Flint Sector plan assumes somehow the required public transit will miraculously appear, while in fact providing no plan for that to happen. Here is an article from the Washington Examiner that shows us there is no way transit required to support the plan will happen. with 20,000 new proposed jobs and 12,600 proposed new residential units for the Sector, how will people move around the area? The White flint "plan" kicks the ball into the far future.
Metro is unsafe at any speed
Examiner Editorial September 10, 2009
Examiner Editorial September 10, 2009
Despite National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommendations and General Manager John Catoe's personal pledge after the June 22 Red Line crash that killed nine people and injured 70, Metro is still putting old, unsafe rail cars at the front of some trains. Outrageous as it is, this is what inevitably happens with union-heavy, quasi-statist bureaucracies like Metro: They aren't unresponsive to the public they are supposed to serve because there is no effective accountability to the public.
With billions spent to build and expand Metro, the most important
day-to-day task for the system's managers remains operating and maintaining it
to ensure passenger safety. Despite huge taxpayer subsidies, 10 of the nation's
25 largest transit agencies have had to raise fares (as high as 33 percent in
San Francisco and Boston) to cover looming deficits. But Metro has taken a
slightly different route: It's deferred literally billions of dollars in needed maintenance...
Monday, September 7, 2009
The White Flint Community Coalition
In July the Montgomery County Maryland Planning Board approved the White Flint Sector Plan and sent it on to the County Council. The plan insists on inappropriate density with no new public transit support as would be required in a development of this size.
In rapid response the neighborhoods that surround the 'White Flint' sector banded together to provide to the county government a vision for a new, green, sustainable 'White Flint.'
The Coalition recognized these issues with the proposed 'Plan.'
61,000 More People, No Plan to Increase Public Transit: According to the Board, the number of people living and working in White Flint will swell by 242% from 25,000 to 86,000 people, and this does not include tens of thousands of visitors and shoppers. This increase is equivalent to adding the entire population of Rockville to our community, yet the Planning Board has no plan to increase capacity for Metro, buses or Bus Rapid Transit.
Increased Congestion, Cut-Through Traffic: Despite the promise of overcoming “auto-centered” development, the projected increase in population and the failure to expand public transit will inevitably result in more traffic. The Planning Board projects a 53% increase on Old Georgetown Road and 68% on Edson Lane. Congestion at Strathmore Avenue and Rockville Pike will increase by 24% and will exceed the current standard. There will be greatly increased cut-through traffic in your communities.
Overcrowded Schools; Redistricting As a Solution: 37,000 people will live in the new White Flint, but the Board failed to provide a coherent plan—or funding—for an elementary school. Overcrowding of existing K-12 schools will occur. The Planning Board raises the specter of redistricting—including redistricting of Walter Johnson High School—as a possible solution.
300-foot Building Heights: The Board will allow buildings taller than the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and JBG’s new Whole Foods building.
High-Rise Sprawl: The Board says the tallest buildings will be concentrated at the White Flint Metro station, but the plan in fact permits 300-foot buildings for nearly a mile along Rockville Pike, replacing today’s auto-oriented suburban sprawl with high-density, auto-oriented “high-rise sprawl.” From your backyards you will look out at a 30-story concrete and glass canyon up and down the Pike.
Rockville Pike Developed Last, If At All: The Board’s phasing plan does not envision redeveloping Rockville Pike until approximately 2030. As the main traffic artery through White Flint, the Pike should be re-built first with development to follow.
Tall Buildings, Dense Development Don’t Make A Community: Despite promises to create a vibrant, urban community, the Plan does not require a full-sized library, community center, theater, senior center, or child-care facility, nor does it protect much-loved local businesses that will be unable to afford increased rents. The Board’s “Midtown on the Pike” makes no provision for the civic and cultural amenities that in fact make cities livable.
No Environmental Plan: The Board makes bold statements about creating a greener community, including stream restoration, carbon emission reductions, forest planting, and increased tree cover. But these are not requirements; developers are awarded increased density if they choose to pursue them. The plan provides no details or timeline for accomplishing any of these aims.
No Plan To Pay For It All: The Planning Board says substantial public and private investment in infrastructure and public facilities will be required, but fails to provide the financing plan or specify the public entities that will implement the plan. It says that these must be created within 12 months of adopting the plan! It is not prudent—especially in the current economy—to begin redevelopment before figuring out how to pay for it.
In rapid response the neighborhoods that surround the 'White Flint' sector banded together to provide to the county government a vision for a new, green, sustainable 'White Flint.'
The Coalition recognized these issues with the proposed 'Plan.'
61,000 More People, No Plan to Increase Public Transit: According to the Board, the number of people living and working in White Flint will swell by 242% from 25,000 to 86,000 people, and this does not include tens of thousands of visitors and shoppers. This increase is equivalent to adding the entire population of Rockville to our community, yet the Planning Board has no plan to increase capacity for Metro, buses or Bus Rapid Transit.
Increased Congestion, Cut-Through Traffic: Despite the promise of overcoming “auto-centered” development, the projected increase in population and the failure to expand public transit will inevitably result in more traffic. The Planning Board projects a 53% increase on Old Georgetown Road and 68% on Edson Lane. Congestion at Strathmore Avenue and Rockville Pike will increase by 24% and will exceed the current standard. There will be greatly increased cut-through traffic in your communities.
Overcrowded Schools; Redistricting As a Solution: 37,000 people will live in the new White Flint, but the Board failed to provide a coherent plan—or funding—for an elementary school. Overcrowding of existing K-12 schools will occur. The Planning Board raises the specter of redistricting—including redistricting of Walter Johnson High School—as a possible solution.
300-foot Building Heights: The Board will allow buildings taller than the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and JBG’s new Whole Foods building.
High-Rise Sprawl: The Board says the tallest buildings will be concentrated at the White Flint Metro station, but the plan in fact permits 300-foot buildings for nearly a mile along Rockville Pike, replacing today’s auto-oriented suburban sprawl with high-density, auto-oriented “high-rise sprawl.” From your backyards you will look out at a 30-story concrete and glass canyon up and down the Pike.
Rockville Pike Developed Last, If At All: The Board’s phasing plan does not envision redeveloping Rockville Pike until approximately 2030. As the main traffic artery through White Flint, the Pike should be re-built first with development to follow.
Tall Buildings, Dense Development Don’t Make A Community: Despite promises to create a vibrant, urban community, the Plan does not require a full-sized library, community center, theater, senior center, or child-care facility, nor does it protect much-loved local businesses that will be unable to afford increased rents. The Board’s “Midtown on the Pike” makes no provision for the civic and cultural amenities that in fact make cities livable.
No Environmental Plan: The Board makes bold statements about creating a greener community, including stream restoration, carbon emission reductions, forest planting, and increased tree cover. But these are not requirements; developers are awarded increased density if they choose to pursue them. The plan provides no details or timeline for accomplishing any of these aims.
No Plan To Pay For It All: The Planning Board says substantial public and private investment in infrastructure and public facilities will be required, but fails to provide the financing plan or specify the public entities that will implement the plan. It says that these must be created within 12 months of adopting the plan! It is not prudent—especially in the current economy—to begin redevelopment before figuring out how to pay for it.
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