Three sites remain for possible elementary school in Bethesda area

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/three-sites-remain-for-possible-elementary-school-in-bethesda-area/

But wait, there's more...

...And more development in the WJ Cluster. This time its Lerner Enterprises, and the Tower Companies owner of the White Flint Mall property, who have sent out their plans for development in the White Flint Sector (please note, now we live in 'White Flint, MD') and here it is, below. All in the WJ Cluster. So let me see, that's 339 residential units + 2459 residential units + ?? Oh my.

NOTICE OF SKETCH PLAN APPLICATION

Sketch Plan No: 320120040
Name of Plan: White Flint Mall Redevelopment
Current Zoning: Cr-4, C3.5, R2.0, H-250', CR3, C1.5, R2.5, H200' and CR1.5, C0.25, r1.5, H50'
Geographical Location: Southeast quadrant of the intersection of Executive Boulevard (extended) and Rockville Pike in White Flint, Maryland
Plan Proposed: 2,059,985 sq ft of commercial development (office and retail), 2,911,815 sq ft of residential development (approximately 2,459 residential units), 279,175 sq ft of hotel, and multi-level parking garage structures, for a total maximum density of 5,250,975 sq ft.
Date: February 15, 2012

The above-referenced Sketch Plan application has been filed with the Montgomery County Planning Board. ...You may participate in this review by sending written comments at any time to the Development Review division, M-NCPPC, 8787 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910-3760, or by contacting the M-NCPPC Lead Reviewer, whose name you can get by calling 301-495-4595

The Montgomery County Planning Board will also hold a public hearing on the above-referenced plan application to obtain public comment. Written notification of the public hearing date will be sent no later than ten days before the hearing.

And More Development in WJ Cluster

Hi all,
I received the following notice for development in the White Flint Sector, below. All the development will be in the WJ Cluster. I believe 'east of Woodglen' means those children will go to Garrett Park ES.
Paula Bienenfeld

Notice of Public Hearing, March 1, 2012
A hearing for the Preliminary Plan and Site Plan referenced below will be held March 1, 2012 in the Montgomery County Planning Board’s first floor auditorium at 8787 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring. You may testify before the Planning Board by signing up in advance at daicsearch.org/planning_board/testify.asp, by calling 301-495-4600, or by filling out the yellow form at the public hearing.

Name of Plan: North Bethesda Market IIZoning: Split Zoned CR3 C1.5 R2.5 H150 & CR4 C3.5 R3.5 H300
Acres: 4.41
Location: Located in the southeast quadrant of the intersection of Nicholson Lane and Woodglen Drive
Proposed Use: 290,282 sq ft of commercial uses and up to 382,986 sq ft of residential uses for up to 339 units, including 12.5% MPDUs; modifications from the approved Sketch Plan for this site include changes in building massing and public benefits.

The staff report will be available online via the link to the Planning Board’s Agenda at http://www.montgomeryplanningboard.org/ on Monday, Feb 20, along with an approximate time that this item will be heard, or call 301-495-4600 for more information.

For information about the staff recommendation or to offer comments on the plans, please contact Patrick Butler via email at Patrick.butler@montgomeryplanning.org or by phone at 301-495-4561 for the preliminary plan, or Joshua Sloan via email at Joshua.sloan@montgomeryplanning.org or by phone at 301-495-4597 for the site plan.

Written testimony should reference the agenda item and must be submitted at least one full business day before a scheduled hearing, i.e., by COB on the Tuesday before a scheduled Thursday hearing, may be emailed to MCP-Chair@montgomeryplanning.org or faxed to 301-495-1320.

More Development in WJ Cluster -- Planning Board Hearing Tomorrow

Hi all,
Here is the notice of public hearing for the Federal Realty plans for Mid-Pike Plaza (where Toys R Us, CVS, etc. are currently located). This is another enormous development with residential/commercial that will affect our traffic, pedestrian and bicyclist safety, schools and existing infrastructure and demands on our parks and libraries, police, etc. This is in the WJ cluster. Please take a look at the plans and see if this amount of density is appropriate for our current infrastructure and schools. While there may be an additional elementary school built eventually there are no plans for a new middle or high school. If you are concerned please write to the Planning Board today. The hearing is tomorrow, Thur, Feb 23rd.

Thanks.
Paula Bienenfeld

Name of Plan: Mid/Pike Plaza
Zoning: Split Zoned CR3 C1.5 R2.5 H200 & CR4 C3.5 R3.5 H300
Preliminary Plan No. 120120020 $& Site Plan No. 820120020
Master Plan: White Flint Sector
Location: northwest corner of the intersection of Old Georgetown Road and Rockville Pike
Acres: 24.38 acres (6.77 acres - Site Plan)

Proposed Use: Five (5) lots (2 temporary) dedication for two new roads and additional right-of-way along three perimeter roads for ultimate construction of up to 3,442,888 square feet of mixed-use development over multiple phases; phase 1 to include 605,057.5 square feet for commercial uses and 818,507.5 square feet for residential uses.

The staff report is available online via the link to the Planning Board's agenda at http://www.montgomeryplanningboard.org/ along with an approximate time that this item will be heard, or call 301-495-4600 for more information. If the approval of a final water quality plan is required, the Board will consider such plan at this public hearing.

For information about the staff recommendation or to offer comments on the plans, please contact Patric Butler via email at patrick.butler@montgomeryplanning.org, or by phone at 301-495-4561 for the preliminary plan or Joshua Sloan via email at Joshua.Sloan@montgomeryplanning.org or by phone at 301-495-4597.

White Flint Sector Plan: Town Hall Meeting TONIGHT

All,


It is very important that we all be at the Town Hall meeting tonight, which is for the residents, to let our councilmembers know we do not want inappropriate development, overcrowded schools, and dangerous traffic.  We do not want our children breathing in dangerous air quality.  We want to REDUCE our carbon footprint, not increase it with tens of thousands of new cars.
As a resident of Luxmanor, I live in a community of some 800 homes on 400 acres. On about the SAME amount of property, the Planning Board wants to put 9800 residential units.

Thanks,
Paula Bienenfeld

DATE: TONIGHT Nov 18
TIME: 7:30PM
LOCATION: TILDEN MIDDLE SCHOOL, 11211 OLD GEORGETOWN ROAD

Here is the information (below):
Montgomery County Council to Host White Flint / Kensington / Garrett Park/ North Bethesda Areas Town Hall Meeting On Wednesday, Nov. 18

Residents Invited to Express Their Views on Issues, Ask Questions of Councilmembers at Tilden Middle School

ROCKVILLE, Md., November 9, 2009—The Montgomery County Council will continue its efforts to find out what issues most concern residents when it hosts a Town Hall Meeting for the White Flint / Kensington / Garrett Park / North Bethesda area on Wednesday, Nov. 18. The meeting at Tilden Middle School will start at 8 p.m. A pre-meeting reception will begin at 7:30 p.m.

This will be the third Town Hall Meeting hosted by the Council in 2009. The Council is composed of President Phil Andrews, Vice President Roger Berliner and Councilmembers Marc Elrich, Valerie Ervin, Nancy Floreen, Mike Knapp, George Leventhal, Nancy Navarro and Duchy Trachtenberg. The Council previously held Town Hall Meetings this year in Germantown/Boyds and West Gaithersburg/Darnestown areas. Most meetings have attracted more than 200 residents.

Tilden Middle School is located at 11211 Old Georgetown Road between the Wildwood section of Bethesda and the southern area of Rockville, adjacent to White Flint.

The meeting will allow residents to let the Councilmembers know how they feel about specific issues and will allow them to ask questions of the Councilmembers in an organized, but informal, setting.

Topics expected to be of interest include the proposed White Flint Sector Plan, schools, public safety, traffic, growth, the County budget and taxes.

“In many ways, our County is facing one of its most difficult periods in a very long time. We are all in this together and we want residents to tell us about their most important concerns as we approach making important decisions about growth in this area,” said Council President Andrews. “This Council has made a priority of having better direct communication with residents, and Town Hall Meetings have proven to be an excellent way to do just that. For the citizens, these meetings provide a forum where they can see their elected officials in a different format than a televised meeting or through a news release.”

The meeting will be taped for later broadcast on County Cable Montgomery (CCM—cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon). Susan Kenedy, a producer for the county station, will moderate the meeting.

For more information about the Town Hall Meeting or about the broadcast times, call 240-777-7931.

MCPS Math and the Monocacy Madness

Our friends in the Gifted and Talented Association have agonized about Montgomery County School Superintendent Dr. Weast and math for years, stating that MCPS math is shallow on teaching arithmetic concepts needed to prepare our children to take their place in society.

Here is another demonstration of Dr. Weast's failure in math.

Dr. Weast announced he plans to close Monocacy Elementary School at the end of this school year because of declining enrollment.  

Wait - don't we have over 400 portables next to schools across the county?   Three portables are currently sited at Monocacy.  Are we hearing that the school population is rising?

So why close Monocacy now?  According to Dr. Weast, this will save $1 million dollars.  How?  He doesn't say.  Won't the kids still need to be in a classroom somewhere in the county?  Won't the teachers and staff  be placed elsewhere and paid?  And school buses?  What about that new roof?  Don't forget, we still need to keep a vacant building heated, so the pipes don't freeze.

Sorry, but the capacity is needed elsewhere - down the road in Clarksburg, where Dr. Weast plans on building two new elementary schools.  And yes, MCPS can always add on to Poolesville, with more portables in the short term and an addition at an estimated cost of $14 million - oops, that's not in the current plan.

Are Dr. Weast's projections all that accurate?  You need to look no further than Matsunaga ES, an overcapacity school that was supposed to be relieved by the opening of Little Bennett.  Matsunaga still has portables - so what happened there?

And Wootton High School with its mega additions a few years back is still over capacity.  Wootton manages by running College Institute classes in cooperation with Montgomery College and sending a signficant portion of its kids out on internships, so they get the staffing allocations without having the kids in the building.   Don't forget the monster development called Science City coming to the Wootton cluster with no new schools on the table.

I would be remiss to not mention the White Flint buildup.  Again, more building without more school capacity.

Dr. Weast doesn't get the math or the big picture.  Saving $1 million dollars in operating budget costs by closing Monocacy and then spending $14 million in capital costs for an addition to Poolesville ES does not make sense.  Given the Balkanization of our county by individual clusters, the budget makes even less sense - robbing from Poolesville cluster to satisfy new MoCo residents in Clarskburg doesn't make sense,  especially when the rest of the county has unmet needs too.

Closing any school in MoCo doesn't make sense, especially when we can't accomodate the students we currently have without the extensive use of portable learning cottages.  Dr. Weast's proposal is more than foolish  - it is almost unconscionable to continue to look at the cluster model as individual units without even considering the movement of programs or boundaries.

To repeat the mantra from the elementary school teachers across the county, its time to reteach and relearn the budget math.