Starr Clearing 7 Acres of Forest at Ewing Site to Make Way for Bus Depot #byebyetrees

Green shows 7 acres of forest at Ewing site.

On October 28, 2014, Superintendent Joshua Starr announced the surprise plan to use the existing Ewing school site for the new MCPS bus depot.

Just 20 days later, on November 17, 2014, the Montgomery County Board of Education voted to approve Starr's plan to shut down the Ewing school to make room for 400 buses at that site.

The Board of Education voted on the start of this plan without any details.  Who needs the details, right?

The Parents' Coalition thinks the details are important and so this week we have been providing the information that Superintendent Joshua Starr didn't deem important during the 20 days between his announcement and the first BOE vote.



1.  The Ewing school site includes an 8.5 acre park that was funded by the City of Rockville and the State of Maryland. That 8.5 acre park will have to go in order to make room for 400 school buses.

2.  MCPS needs 33 to 37 acres of developable land in order to park it's 400 school buses and offices currently at the MCPS Shady Grove bus depot.

3.  Superintendent Starr says he is using the 22.5 acre Ewing school site for the new bus depot.

Here's the 4th fact that Superintendent Joshua Starr neglected to tell the Board of Education:  The Ewing school site has a 7 acre Forest Conservation area.  7 acres of trees were put into a Forest Conservation area for the City of Rockville back in 1999.

Sorry, City of Rockville, that 7 acres of trees is going to have to go to make room for the 400 school buses that will be parking on this property.  Bye-bye forest conservation easement.

Superintendent Joshua Starr and Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson are meeting on a regular basis.  Starr shouldn't have any problem wiping out that 7 acre Forest Conservation Easement from 1999.

Yes, the easement was set up to last "forever and in perpetuity," but here in Montgomery County we know that "forever and in perpetuity" only means until someone shreds the document over lunch at a Rockville restaurant.   

   Easement by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland