Staging: Staff Report is Out

The Staff report on Staging is out, and you can read it here. The PHED work session is February 16, at 1:30 in the 7th Floor Conference Room, at the Montgomery County Council (Maryland) Building, 100 Maryland Ave., Rockville.

PHED Committee Work Sessions in February – Staging and Financing

The next two work sessions of the Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee (PHED) on the White Flint Sector Master Plan are scheduled for Tuesday, February 16th, on Staging, at 1:30 in the 7th Floor of the County Council Building, 100 Maryland Ave., Rockville; and Tuesday, February 23rd on Financing at 11:30AM, in the 3rd FL Conference Room of the County Council Building. The February 23rd work session appears to be a joint session with the Management and Fiscal Policy Committee. That committee is headed by Duchy Trachtenberg (D-at large), and other members are Valerie Ervin (D-District 5) and Nancy Navarro (D-District 4).

Staff reports are not out yet but will be on this blog, so stay tuned!

Staging: The WFCC Response

The next work session of the Montgomery County Council (MD) Planning, Housing, and Economic Development (PHED) Committee is now scheduled for Wednesday, February 10 at 2 PM and the subject is Staging. This is a huge issue for the success of the plan. When should the redevelopment of the Rockville Pike take place? How about the construction of the new, full-service library?  Will there be enough public transit for the enormous number of people? When will additional public transit required be implemented, if the plan is to work? What exactly is ‘Stage 4?’

The staff report is available here. Take a look… The White Flint Community Coalition presents its response to the staff report here.

Tell the Council the plan must be in balance. 

Email the council at county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov

Transportation Analysis Staff Report Out: The Plan is Out of Balance

The staff reports are out for the January 19 Montgomery County Council Planning, Housing and Economic Development (PHED) Committee work session.  You can read them here and here.  Of great surprise, Dr. Glenn Orlin, Deputy Council Staff Director, has analyzed the transportation sections of the plan and in his report, has stated that,

“Planning staff and Council staff concur that to reach 40% RAM (ed. note: Residential Arterial Mobility), only the proposed development in Phase I of the staging plan can be approved now: 3,000 dwelling units and 2 million square feet of non-residential development.”

And,

“…the Council has decided in the Growth Policy that the balance point should have RAM drop no lower than D, and Council staff will not recommend a plan that is out of balance.”

Surprise, surprise. While our coalition does not have the hundreds of thousands of dollars that the developers do, we do have this on our side: the unvarnished truth.

Please make sure to attend the January 19 PHED Committee Work Session and support our community.

DATE: Tuesday, January 19, 2010
TIME: 2PM
LOCATION: County Council Office Building, 100 Maryland Ave., Rockville.  Parking available in parking garage at rear of building.

Next PHED Session - Land Use Issues, December 7, 2PM, 7th FL Council Building

Be there or be square! The next PHED Session will focus on Land Use Issues.  That means density.  The staff report is broken out in sections according to development properties.  From what I can read there is no attention to existing surrounding neighborhoods that will be heavily impacted by these discussions and decisions.

The staff report was prepared by Marlene Michaelson, Senior Legislative Analyst, and is available online, here.  This session will be televised.  Please send letters to the council and comment on this staff report.  I was surprised to see that after two years of working on this plan and dozens of hours of meetings, testimony, and letters from residential property owners, the only 'testimony' addressed in the staff report was from the developers, with one exception, Natalie Goldberg, a property owner in the White Flint Garrett Park Estates neighborhood.

Is this really how the Montgomery County, Maryland government works? Your choice, these are the people you voted for.  If you are a residential property owner with concerns, write and email the council; call them at 240-777-7900.

Here is the email address:

county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov

Here are the emails for the PHED Committee Members:
councilmember.floreen@montgomerycountymd.gov
councilmember.knapp@montgomerycountymd.gov
councilmember.Elrich@montgomerycountymd.gov