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Friday, January 29, 2016

Westbard Neighborhood Objects to Planned Overcrowding of Community and Schools

PETITION TO MONTGOMERY COUNTY COUNCIL

This petition is sponsored by the Citizens Coordinating Committee on Friendship Heights, consisting of 19 civic organizations, comprising over 7,000 households, in and surrounding the Westbard Sector Plan area.

We, residents living within or nearby to the Westbard Sector Plan area, petition the Council to revise substantially the draft Planning Board Westbard Sector Plan.

1. We endorse the goals of the draft plan, to create "a vibrant village center", with "preservation of local retail", to provide "neighborhood goods and services serving the surrounding residential community". Development is to be on a "neighborhood scale", "preserving compatibility with adjacent residential uses". [pp.6,18]
2. The draft plan is inconsistent with these goals because of the amount, type and height of development.
       A. The large amount of retail is well beyond what is needed or appropriate for a neighborhood serving center and is more like a regional mall. It will promote large stores not serving neighborhood needs; attract visitors from a wide geographic area; local businesses on which residents have depended are unlikely to survive.
       B. The large number of dwelling units will generate students overcrowding our already overcrowded schools for which no realistic plan to accommodate them has been offered, especially on middle and high school levels.
       C. The plan does not address the need for housing, including affordable, for seniors who comprise a substantial population (24%) in this area of the county, a type of housing that will not overburden the schools.
       D. The proposed height of some buildings is not on a neighborhood scale and is not compatible with nearby single family homes, e.g., 110 ft on Westbard Ave. near Westbard Mews townhouses; 90 ft on Westwood 2 site, near Springfield homes; 75 ft uniformly along both sides of River Rd., creating an urban "canyonization" effect....

https://www.change.org/p/nancy-floreen-roger-berliner-marc-elrich-tom-hucker-sidney-katz-george-leventhal-nancy-navarro-craig-rice-hans-riemer-keep-the-westbard-sector-plan-on-a-neighborhood-scale?recruiter=464658506&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive&utm_content=dt_shortened_links---url_short

11 comments:

  1. I hope that the councilmembers realize that their final decision about the Westbard Sector Plan will have a huge impact on how people will vote in the next election. I think we may finally have a change that is long overdue.

    ReplyDelete
  2. In this neck of the woods the men with the gold make the rules.

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  3. 3 out of every 4 dollars in Montgomery County executive and council campaign contributions come from the development industry. Floreen, Leventhal, Riemer, Rice, Navarro and Katz take the lion's share; their developer-friendly votes track the money. Berliner and Hucker take less, Elrich takes virtually none.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Their theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94bdMSCdw20

    ReplyDelete
  5. Some things never change... Here's an oldie-but-a-goodie from 2006. If you haven't seen it, you'll love it!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLjzmS0XxT4

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    Replies
    1. Let's hope that the zealous developers don't transform Westbard into another "Flint" fiasco.

      Delete
  6. The financial support of developers - a bit of a red herring. Developers respond to customer demand for their products (housing). End result is an increase in the tax base and the economic activity of development.
    The real issue in Montgomery County politics - Council, MCPS, etc. - is the outsized influence of the labor unions.
    Employee benefits drive up our county's expenses, with little regard to the tax payers that foot the bill. The council is at the behest of the unions. At least the developers Pay into the economy - unions Collect from the economy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Developers respond to demand? Cut the bull. Developers do what they want. No demand? They build anyway and write off the loss.

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/digger/wp/2015/06/25/what-dying-office-parks-are-doing-to-montgomery-county/

      Delete
    2. At the end of the day the steering committee morphs into the stirring committee and ends up as the staring committee.

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    3. Thanks for pointing out the Dying office parks in Montgomery County. This is more indicative of Northern Virginia being a better place for large swaths of tech and federal contracting (also significantly tech).
      Moco is more effective in wooing the undocumented immigrants than employers. Again, this contributes to the budget imbalance.
      Nice addition to the red herring stew by mentioning commercial development vs. residential or mixed use development. The council is after the best and the brightest. Not content with the large pipeline of wait staff and janitorial staff, they've added Syrian refugees and probably the Cubans next (that's where they're visiting this week).
      But, let's have Craig Rice whine about the MCPS super not reflecting the diversity of the county's classrooms. Good luck finding someone 30-28-27-15 white-black-Latin-Asian.

      Delete
  7. Here's a little background: http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/2013/Developer-Hints-At-Coming-Redevelopment-To-Westbard/

    ReplyDelete

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