Leggett Still Wants to Tear Down Entire School for School Bus Depot

Montgomery County officials are considering more than two sites for relocating hundreds of school buses from the Shady Grove bus depot but they’re only publically acknowledging two of them by name.

Department of General Services Director David Dise said there “may be interim sites” established for the buses but the County Council has asked staff to not select any sites until they decide on a permanent location for the buses, none of which will be named until they’re presented to the County Executive between late July and early September.

According to DGS Deputy Director Greg Ossont, he and other County staffers “need to do our due diligence” while considering sites under the new criteria established by the County Council.

 “We are looking at other sites right now,” said Dise, adding DGS officials have to look at the net buildable area for different sites as well as their environmental impact.

Dise and Ossont said Monday the Blair G. Ewing Center on Avery Road in Rockville and the former Oaks Landfill in Laytonsville are still both potential sites for moving up to 250 buses from the Jeremiah Park location.

“There is no one single site to accommodate all 450 buses,” said DGS Director David Dise.

He said County officials have so far considered more than 200 sites for relocating the buses but have ruled out most of them.

Rockville Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton said the lack of disclosure about other sites under consideration “speaks to the greater problem of transparency and lack thereof.”...

 http://www.thesentinel.com/mont/newsx/local/item/3836-county-considers-dividing-bus-depot-into-two

Carver Coalition Opposes Plan to Relocate School Buses in Rockville

http://www.mymcmedia.org/carver-coalition-opposes-plan-to-relocate-school-buses-in-rockville-video/

MoCo Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson and Westbard developer EYA shake hands minutes after plan passes

https://robertdyer.blogspot.com/2016/05/westbard-sector-plan-may-be-pyrrhic.html

Mayor Newton Opposes Interim Bus Depot Plan in Rockville

Rockville Mayor Bridget Newton testifed in opposition of a plan to move 100 buses from the Shady Grove Bus Depot to the Carver Educational Center Services parking lot, during Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting.
“We’re very interested in working with you and all of our Montgomery County partners to find you a solution for a problem that we understand is a real problem, but we do not want it in the city of Rockville,” Newton told school board members.
Newton was joined by other concerned residents, who also made statements about the adverse impact the buses would have in their community. Residents have created a petition in opposition of the plan.
The County government has set a deadline of January 2017 for the Shady Grove Bus Depot to be vacated so that developers can begin building a neighborhood near the Shady Grove Metro station...

 http://www.mymcmedia.org/mayor-newton-opposes-interim-bus-depot-plan-in-rockville/

How 'bout some portapotties with those buses?

For those of you who thought that our previous post about the buses that will be parked on the Carver school site was not your concern, think again.

Apparently, while MCPS has to move 400 buses to make way for Bob Youngentrob's housing development on Crabbs Branch Way, you've got to see the plans!  Toilets!  Gas Tanks!  A hazardous waste site - and that's only the plan for 100 of these buses.   Bob doesn't care - his kids went to private schools and should be driving their own cars!

Here is additional information from the neighborhood group:

Worse Than We Knew: Fuel Tanks, Portable Trailers and Bathrooms

For those of you not able to have attended our neighborhood meeting last night, here is a summary.

First, the most troubling news. In response to our requests, MCPS provided the City with a project scope summary. If you’re not upset enough at this, please consider the following: In addition to 100 buses and chain link fencing, they are planning above-ground diesel storage tanks for fueling, three portable trailers and enough standalone portable toilet facilities to accommodate drivers and bus attendants. Construction is slated to begin in September.

Nowhere in any of the previous memoranda and other documentation was there any talk about above-ground fuel tanks and trailers and a row of portable toilets. So if you were not upset enough at the prospect of 100 buses and their noise and fumes parked and then traversing the neighborhood, now it has grown into a fueling station and trailer and toilet facility.

Once there, the buses and tanks will be there for a long time if not permanently. Barbed wire and night lighting can’t be far behind. Please join us in stopping this from going forward. Volunteers are needed to collect signatures, email officials, appear/testify at meetings and conduct research, among other activities. 

To volunteer, contact KJKarton@msn.com.

Proposed Next Community Meeting: Tuesday April 19th at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 100 Welsh Park Drive, Rockville

Why do they need port-a-potties?  Can't the folks at Carver share with their fellow MCPS staffers or are they too high brow to share with bus drivers?

Same for the portable trailers/  Can't MCPS find a a few rooms in Carver for our dedicated bus drivers and attendants?

What about the other 300 buses?  Do the sites for these buses also require portapotties, trailers, and fencing?  Did MCPS share this with the neighbors?

Has anyone contact the hazardous materials folks?  Seems as if we have a violation or two or three.

And finally, where are all those MCCPTA folks supposed to park when they lose their spots?  Not to mention the folks who actually work at Carver?   Judy Docca and Pat O'Neill - you better start training for a really long walk when the bus drivers take over the Carver parking lot.

Katz calls for better dialogue between Council, School Board on bus depot

ROCKVILLE – County Council member Sidney Katz (D-3) called for better communication between his colleagues, the city of Rockville and Montgomery County Public Schools about a possible new bus depot some local residents fear may cause traffic and noise problems.
During a Wednesday night town hall meeting he hosted at Beall Elementary School, Katz discussed the Shady Grove bus depot located at Crabbs Branch Way.
The depot is part of the property the county is selling for the Shady Grove sector plan. That depot holds approximately 400 buses.
Katz referenced the proposal to relocate about 100 of those buses to the front of the Carver Educational Services Center along Hungerford Drive, property owned by MCPS.
He said Montgomery College students use the space to park their cars.
“The bus depot is one of those issues that are an extremely difficult one,” Katz said.
Board of Education member Rebecca Smondrowski said the idea emerged from the team focusing on the relocation of the Shady Grove Depot. Smondrowski said this team includes people from the county government and the school district.
Several attendees at the town hall meeting asked Katz why he voted in favor of the depot.
“There are places where this is okay to do. I believe that the buses need to go somewhere, not there,” Katz said...

 http://www.thesentinel.com/mont/newsx/local/item/3279-katz-calls-for-better-dialogue-between-council-school-board-on-bus-depot

New Plan: 300 Buses to Crabbs Branch Way, 100 Buses to Rt. 355

 ABC7's Kevin Lewis has learned more about the new behind closed doors plan for 400 MCPS buses being evicted from the Shady Grove Depot.

The new plan is to put 100 MCPS school buses on Rt. 355 at 850 Hungerford Drive and another 300 buses on Crabbs Branch Way (Isn't this the property that has to be vacated for the developer?).  Even the County Council didn't know about this plan when they took their "vote" on Monday.

Leggett Wants to Park 400 MCPS Buses on Rt. 355 to Appease Developers #NOtrafficstudy #noiseordinance #ikeleggett #eya

Leggett and Council to move buses to red area.

"It is likely that an interim relocation solution will include use of the lot in front of the Carver Educational Services Center."








On Monday, July 13, 2015, the Montgomery County Council will vote to hand $27 million to County Executive Ike Leggett for a mystery solution for the relocation of the MCPS Shady Grove bus depot.

The Council packet (shown below) prepared for the Monday meeting announces that it is likely that the 400 school buses will first move to 850 Hungerford Drive, the parking lot shown in the image to the left.  This lot is currently used by Montgomery College and is located right in front of the Board of Education and MCPS main offices. The lot is also right on Rt. 355 in Rockville.  

County Executive Ike Leggett asks the County Council for $27 million dollars, but does not detail what that amount represents.  

Leggett does not ask for a traffic study to determine if the intersection of Rt. 355 and Mannakee Street can handle the addition of 400 school buses.

Leggett also does not mention that the placement of 400 buses at 850 Hungerford Drive will violate the Montgomery County Noise Ordinace.  See the yellow highlighting in the image above for the location of homes that will be impacted by Leggett's plan.  (But there are only a few dozen homes and those homeowners probably can not take on Leggett and the developers so the impact on these citizens can be ignored.)

This is what we call "planning" in Montgomery County.  Do what makes developers happy, throw a dart to deal with the rest, and be really, really shocked and indignant when citizens protest your "plans."

   20150713_GOED1 by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

Montgomery council delays decision on bus depot land disposition until after December 31st

...Some council members said Monday that they wanted more concrete plans in place before voting to say the land is no longer needed.
Councilwoman Nancy Navarro wasn’t convinced the county should give up the land without knowing the next steps for the depot’s move. She said she understood there is a larger redevelopment plan at work.
“Nonetheless, I’m also very concerned about the fact we’re trying to pursue one particular goal while compromising another very important issue that also is a policy goal of ours, which is what we do with all these buses,” she said.
A possible short-term solution involves relocating buses to multiple properties. The school system would park buses at some high school lots, the district’s Carver Educational Services Center in Rockville and the county’s Equipment Maintenance and Transit Operations Center.
Staff also are exploring an idea to park about 130 buses on leased property. Greg Ossont, deputy director of the county’s Department of General Services, said Monday that recommendations for such sites are expected soon.
James Song, director of the school system’s Department of Facilities Management, said the district has narrowed its list of high schools that could be used for parking from 10 to nine, taking Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School out of consideration.
On Monday, Councilman Sidney Katz cautioned that figuring out only an interim plan and not a permanent plan “is not going to work.”
A few possible permanent solutions are under consideration, though council staff have said these sites need to be studied to determine if they could work.
The list includes a Montgomery Village-area site on Woodfield Road that the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission owns, the county-owned Oaks Landfill in Laytonsville, the site of the county’s old animal shelter, and the school system’s Blair G. Ewing Center...

 http://www.gazette.net/article/20150401/NEWS/150409853/1261/montgomery-council-delays-decision-on-bus-depot-land-disposition&template=gazette

County to do new feasibility study on Blair Ewing Center

...“The fact of the matter is English Manor is not going to be a new school, it’s going to have to be completely remodeled and I have not seen the feasibility study under this new program for example to understand clearly what would happen,” Navarro said. “For me it’s not about ‘we don’t want to give our students the best possible facility.’ For me, it’s about ‘have we done the feasibility study that we need to do under this new direction of this new program? Do we have enough data to know that the program is going to actually work?’” ...

...The future of the Ewing Center is further complicated by plans to relocate the Shady Grove bus depots on Crabbs Branch Way to the current Ewing Center site on Avery Road. MCPS has to vacate the bus depots by January 2017 to make way for county redevelopment.

Some who live near the Ewing Center said they much prefer the school to be there rather than hundreds of buses turning out onto Avery Road.

“I’m concerned about safety. Avery Road is a two lane winding country road with no shoulders, absolutely none, and when I encounter a school bus now I have to virtually come to a stop,” said resident Brenda Vaughan at the rally before the committee meeting. “I can’t fathom the amount of traffic.”

The community has also voiced concerns because the bus depot currently fits 410 buses onto 35 acres and is already a little too small, according to Song. Song said MCPS would design efficiently to try to fit 370 buses on the 22.5 acre Ewing Center site, more than six acres of which is protected by a conservation easement. Also on the site is the Mark Twain Athletic Fields, which the city of Rockville maintains and uses outside of school hours.

Committee Chair Craig Rice (D-2) said he views the bus depot and the Ewing Center relocations as two separate issues. Councilmembers Navarro and Marc Elrich (D-At large) said the two are intertwined.

“We can’t not know what we know,” Elrich said...

 http://www.thesentinel.com/mont/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1623:county-to-do-new-feasibility-study-on-blair-ewing-center&Itemid=766

Councilmember Craig Rice Supports "blink of an eye" school planning. OK to skip public process. #72hours #no1cares #mcpswaste

...“(The County Council) should ask the Board of Education why they’re tearing schools down and then asking for money for school construction. It makes no sense. It’s waste,” said Jamison Adcock, vice president of the Aspen Hill Civic Association...

...The quick change does not seem unusual to [Councilmember Craig] Rice, as new research comes to light.

“We change parameters all the time...it happens in the blink of an eye and you start changing your thought process,” Rice said. “Feasibility versus really providing students with what they really need are two different things.”...

 ...[MCPS Planner] Crispell reached out to the neighborhood about 72 hours before the board’s Capital Improvements Program (CIP) hearings on Nov. 12 and 13...

...“Based on what I’ve heard, unfortunately I don’t think the community felt as though they were engaged and involved in the process. That’s unfortunate and it should never be that way,” Rice said. “What I don’t want to say is that alleged transgressions of the school board change the decision before us.”

Leggett OKs Demolition of 600 Seat Public School Building, Intentionally Under Funds Cost of Moving Bus Depot

On January 15, 2015, County Executive Ike Leggett released a Memorandum on his recommended Capital Budget. Included in County Executive Leggett's Capital Budget is $32 million to build a bus depot at the Ewing Center School site.  That budget item signals County Executive Leggett's approval of the Board of Education surprise plan to demolish an 85,400 sq. ft. public school building and replace it with a triple decker (maybe quadruple?) school bus parking garage. 

County Executive Leggett's budget of $32 million for a new MCPS bus depot intentionally under funds the project.  In 2009 the Board of Education discussed the cost to re-locate the MCPS Shady Grove bus depot and at that time the anticipated cost was triple the funding that Leggett is proposing today. 

Why is the County Executive intentionally under funding the cost of moving the MCPS Shady Grove bus depot?  

Is the County Executive trying to force MCPS to take the rest of the Capital funding needed to move the bus depot away from current MCPS school renovation, repair and construction funds? 

Which school construction projects are going to get delayed for the construction of a new MCPS Shady Grove bus depot?  Any parents want to volunteer their local school for a delay in construction funding so that the MCPS Shady Grove bus depot can be moved to satisfy the demands of a private developer? 

Councilmember Sidney Katz, "This is not the problem that is really going to be the County Council solving it..."

Ewing Center School

On Thursday, January 15, 2015, over 100 citizens from all over Montgomery County met in Aspen Hill to discuss the Board of Education's surprise plan to demolish an existing school building and replace it with parking for 400 school buses.  What limited information the public knows about this plan can be found by following this link.

On January 29, 2015, the Montgomery County Council's Education Committee will vote on whether or not to strip the Ewing Center school building of its renovation funding.

If the Education Committee votes to strip this 600 seat building of funding, that will pave the way for the full Council's approval of this plan.

When the full Montgomery County Council votes to strip the Ewing Center School of its renovation funding they will be condemning this school building to death.  The Board of Education will then demolish the building and 600 seats of indoor classrooms will be lost to Montgomery County students forever. 

Yet, when Councilmember Sidney Katz spoke to citizens at this community meeting he gave the impression that the Council was powerless.

Let your Councilmembers know that they are not powerless. The Montgomery County Council has a vote in determining if the Ewing Center School will be demolished.

10,000 MCPS students sitting in classroom trailers will be watching how the Montgomery County Councilmembers vote on the resolution before the Council to strip the Ewing Center School of $16.6 million in renovation funds.  

WJ Cluster Coordinator: “Stop approving non-priority developments..."

...Not far from the site is Walter Johnson High School, which is near capacity and projected to be over capacity by the 2017-2018 school year with no addition or modernization projects on the horizon.
Jennifer Cope, representing the Walter Johnson cluster of PTAs, told the Planning Board she saw a “major disconnect” in the county’s planning strategies and the approval of the EYA townhouse proposal. She also questioned how accurate the county’s school population projections are.
“Stop approving non-priority developments, especially those that are far from established rapid transit,” Cope said...

 http://www.bethesdanow.com/2014/07/17/planning-board-approves-bethesda-office-park-townhome-community/

We're Havin' a Party!

Yep, that's right.  EYA, property developers in Montgomery County and the greater Washington area, are celebrating 20 years of business.   Entertainment by Dark Star Orchestra. To be held at the Fillmore, Silver Spring on November 29th.

And guess who is on the guest list and has accepted?

Of those listed below, the highlighted names have direct impact on how many units EYA can build in any of its developments.

Confirmed:

Casey Anderson (party of 2), Planning Board Member

David Dise, Director, Montgomery County Director, Department of General Services

Hans Riemer, County Council member (D-At-Large)

Nancy Floreen, County Council member (D-At-Large and Chair of Planning, Housing, and Economic Development [PHED] Committee)

Robert Kronenberg, Planning Department staff member

Steve Silverman, Director, Montgomery County Department of Economic Development

Cheryl Cort, Policy Director, Coalition for Smarter Growth

Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director, Coalition for Smarter Growth

Maybe:

Ike Leggett, County Executive

Roger Berliner, County Council member (D-District 1 and County Council President)

EYA hired Dark Star Orchestra, a Grateful Dead tribute band whose gigs (U.S. and Canada) are managed by SRO.  Tickets for events at the Fillmore usually go for $35 and up. Fillmore's pricing list for renting the place...about $10,000, plus the requirement to use their bar ($42/person if you want top shelf booze);  and their caterer. 

It appears that EYA will be spending over $50/person -- the legal limit according to County ethics law.

Sec. 19A-16. Soliciting or accepting gifts.

(c) A public employee must not knowingly accept a direct or indirect gift from any individual or organization that the public employee knows or reasonably should know:

              (1)     is registered, or must register, as a lobbyist on a matter

that is or could be considered by the County agency with which the public

employee is affiliated;

              (2)     does business with the County agency with which the public

employee is affiliated;

              (3)     owns or operates a business that is regulated by the County

agency with which the public employee is affiliated; or

(4)     has an identifiable economic interest that is different

from that of the general public, which the public employee may substantially

affect in performing the public employee's official duties.

(d) Subsection (c) does not apply to:

              (1)     meals and beverages which do not exceed $50 from the same

source in any calendar year;

              (2)     ceremonial gifts or awards with a resale value of $100 or

less, if the gift or award commemorates an event or achievement associated with

the public employee.

              (3)     items of personal property, other than cash, worth less

than $10;

              (4)     reasonable expenses for food, travel, lodging, and

scheduled entertainment of the public employee, given in return for the public

employee's participation in a panel or speaking at a meeting;

              (5)     gifts to an elected official, or that official’s designee

who is assigned to represent the official at an event included in this

paragraph, if the gift:

                       (A)     is a courtesy extended to the office; and

                       (B)     consists of tickets or free admission for the employee

and one guest to attend a charitable, cultural, civic, labor, trade, sports, or

political event, including meals and beverages served at the event;

              (6)     any item that is solely informational or of an advertising

nature, including a book, report, periodical, or pamphlet, if the resale value

of the item is $25 or less;

              (7)     gifts from a relative;

              (8)     honoraria or awards for achievement; or

              (9)     a specific gift or class of gifts which the Commission

exempts from this Section after finding in writing that accepting the gift or

class of gifts is not detrimental to the impartial conduct of the business of a

County agency.

(e) Subsection (c) does not apply to unsolicited gifts to a County agency.

(f) A public employee who receives a gift that the public employee must not accept under this Section must report the gift to the Commission, if otherwise required to report it, and return the gift to the donor or transfer the gift to the County. If the unacceptable gift is a perishable item, the employee, instead of transferring the gift to the County, may transfer it to a charitable or educational organization that can make timely and effective use of the gift, so long as the employee is not an officer, director, trustee, partner, or employee of the receiving organization. (1990 L.M.C., ch. 21, § 1; 1994 L.M.C., ch. 25, § 1; 1997 L.M.C., ch. 37, § 1; 2010 L.M.C., ch. 5, § 1.)

NOTE—See County Attorney Opinion dated 12/6/02 discussing whether a public employee may accept an honorarium or other reimbursement of expenses in return for a speech or presentation. See County Attorney Opinion dated 7/8/02 describing the extent to which quasi-judicial officials may engage in political activities. See County Attorney Opinion dated 12/14/98 addressing the creation of “Friends of Recreation” for revenue-raising activities. 

If you can’t make it next week, we hear there is an even bigger holiday party at the Congressional Country Club -- sponsored by Linowes and Blocher.