ABC7: Residents battle MCPS over controversial bus depot plan

ROCKVILLE, Md. (WJLA) – Resistance is growing against a plan to build a new bus depot for hundreds of school buses in Montgomery County. The problem, some say, is that construction crews will have to demolish a functioning school and playground to make way for the new depot.

“This doesn’t make sense from any angle whatsoever,” opponent Jamison Adcock remarked. “Day by day, more and more people are finding out about this. The county council and the county executive, the Board of Education and the superintendent of schools all need to understand how angry they are about this.”

As it stands, Montgomery County Public Schools would vacate its Derwood bus depot by January 2017, moving roughly 370 busses to the Blair G. Ewing Center along Avery Road in Rockville. In turn, all 155 Blair Ewing students would relocate to the former English Manor Elementary School in Aspen Hill, which opponents say is older, smaller and in serious need of repair.

“Demolishing a perfectly good 85,000-square-foot building makes absolutely no sense,” Adcock added. “This site is less than half the size of the current bus depot. You can’t fit 10 pounds of sugar in a 5-pound bag and that’s what the school system is trying to do.”

Others argue fuel tanks could pose environmental concerns to nearby Rock Creek. Increased traffic from hundreds of busses and countless staff vehicles is another serious concern.

Read more: http://www.wjla.com/articles/2015/01/residents-battle-mcps-over-controversial-bus-depot-plan-110985.html#ixzz3QFbhHYn3
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