We will follow up with an announcement of the date and time of the public hearing before the Board of Appeals when that information becomes available.
Would you send your child to an elementary school next to a commercial HAZMAT site located on an abandoned pool property?
Check out what the property on the left of this above image looks like up close. The Gazette photo on the left shows you what the area to the left of the red circle above looks like.
The swimming pools have been abandoned and are now filled with brown/green water and who knows what else. The property is in extreme disrepair and the barbed wire fencing to keep kids out is no longer in place. Any child from the elementary school across the parking lot could easily climb into this abandoned swimming pool property and explore the open waters.
Right now, Montgomery County wants to allow the cell tower on the pool property to grow. They want to permit a larger cell tower compound and higher cell tower without addressing the condition of the underlying property! The Board of Appeals has granted the request to enlarge the cell tower compound without hearing from the public.
Montgomery County and MCPS are totally ignoring the incredibly dangerous situation that has been created by the abandonment of this property right across the parking lot from Nix Elementary School in Silver Spring.
Would Board members Patricia O'Neill and Shirley Brandman permit this dangerous condition to exist on the parking lot of any Bethesda elementary school?
Would they sit by and watch as the commercial HAZMAT use of abandoned property was increased next to a Bethesda elementary school?
We know the answer to the above questions is NO!
But, Silver Spring? This is where you can send your kids to school.
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| Roscoe Nix Elementary School is shown on the right side of this Google Street image. All of the parking in this photo belongs to MCPS. Access to the abandoned pool and cell tower site on the left is through MCPS property only. |
Would you send your child to an elementary school next to a commercial HAZMAT site located on an abandoned pool property?
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| Gazette March 26, 2014 article and photo |
The swimming pools have been abandoned and are now filled with brown/green water and who knows what else. The property is in extreme disrepair and the barbed wire fencing to keep kids out is no longer in place. Any child from the elementary school across the parking lot could easily climb into this abandoned swimming pool property and explore the open waters.
Right now, Montgomery County wants to allow the cell tower on the pool property to grow. They want to permit a larger cell tower compound and higher cell tower without addressing the condition of the underlying property! The Board of Appeals has granted the request to enlarge the cell tower compound without hearing from the public.
Montgomery County and MCPS are totally ignoring the incredibly dangerous situation that has been created by the abandonment of this property right across the parking lot from Nix Elementary School in Silver Spring.
Here's the question: Should a property owner be allowed to expand a commercial use of a property while allowing the property to decay to the point of becoming a hazard to neighborhood children who might decide to explore these abandoned pools?
Would Board members Patricia O'Neill and Shirley Brandman permit this dangerous condition to exist on the parking lot of any Bethesda elementary school?
Would they sit by and watch as the commercial HAZMAT use of abandoned property was increased next to a Bethesda elementary school?
We know the answer to the above questions is NO!
But, Silver Spring? This is where you can send your kids to school.
This matter is before the Montgomery County Board of Appeals on September 10th. See Agenda Item #15 below. The issue is that there has been NO public hearing on the request to expand the cell tower on the abandoned pool property.
A request has been made to the Board of Appeals for a public hearing to permit the public to discuss the request to build on this property.
Will the Montgomery County Board of Appeals permit the public to be heard?
Will anyone from the Board of Education speak up on behalf of this elementary school community and advocate for this property to be made safe before any further construction or expansion is allowed?
