Monday, April 15, 2013
The Montgomery County Council discussed buying land adjacent to the Mid-County Regional Services Center in a closed session in March, according to Council President Nancy Navarro.
If the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission were to build a new headquarters south of Reedie Drive in Wheaton, it would need to acquire more land, M-NCPPC Chair Francoise Carrier told members of the Montgomery County Council Friday morning. As presently designed, the proposed building would extend to the edges of the property, with the possibility that taller buildings erected next door in the future could completely block M-NCPPC windows, Carrier said during a joint council committee meeting. The headquarters also would not contribute to the retail flavor of Reedie Drive that is called for in the Wheaton Sector Plan, she said. The council approved exploring the aquisition of land adjacent the Mid-County Regional Services…
County agencies would not be relocated to Wheaton under two options being considered.
The Montgomery County Council is weighing the need for urgency in building a new Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission headquarters in Wheaton against the desire to encourage private developers to share ideas and submit proposals for the Reedie Drive and Parking Lot 13 area. Before budget decisions are made at the end of May, the county’s Department of General Services will be talking with developers who have expressed interest in building in downtown Wheaton. With cramped working conditions at a deteriorating headquarters building in Silver Spring, Park and Planning is eager to move. Meanwhile, the council is eager to signal its commitment to Wheaton revitalization, after a year of talks between the county and M-NCPPC. …
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Councilmembers will consider where the new Park and Planning headquarters should be located and whether it should include significant office space for county agencies.
Two Montgomery County Council committees are meeting together Friday morning to discuss the redevelopment plans for Wheaton. The Government Operations and Fiscal Planning committee and the Planning, Housing and Economic Development committee will consider proposed amendments for two projects included in the county's CIP budget: the Wheaton Redevelopment Program and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission headquarters. Interested in listening to the discussion? You can watch the meeting online starting at 9 a.m. or come in person to the Seventh Floor Hearing Room in the County Council building in Rockville. The redevelopment plan that the County Council voted on last year for Wheaton featured a government office building …
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Find out when Montgomery County Council committees are planning to discuss changes for Wheaton redevelopment.
Montgomery County Council committees are scheduled to discuss Wheaton redevelopment on Friday, April 12, at 9 a.m., and Wednesday, April 24, at 2 p.m., according to an agenda available on the Council's website. The committees will consider amendments to the county's CIP (capital improvements program) budget regarding the government office building and town square proposed for Parking Lot 13 in Wheaton. A revised plan would set up the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission headquarters in a new building at 2424 Reedie Drive, across the street from Lot 13. The Council's Government Operations and Fiscal Policy committee and the Planning, Housing, and Economic Development committee will meet jointly on both days. Six …
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
In addition, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett is recommending against moving county agencies from Rockville to share space with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission in Wheaton, citing high costs.
The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission is still on track to move its headquarters from Silver Spring to downtown Wheaton, but perhaps not to Parking Lot 13 as previously proposed. Instead, Park and Planning is looking across the street, to take over the site currently occupied by the Mid-County Regional Services Center at 2424 Reedie Dr. in Wheaton, according to a project description form submitted in March. (See attached PDF) If this goes forward, Montgomery County likely would receive the Park and Planning headquarters site at 8787 Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring, in a land swap, said Greg Ossont, deputy director of the Department of General Services. Leggett: $67 Million More Would Be Needed to Move County Agencies to …
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
The Wheaton Urban District Advisory Committee discussed the plan's moving parts Tuesday.
Questions remain regarding the siting, scope and size of the Wheaton redevelopment project involving a new Park and Planning headquarters. The Montgomery County Council discussed the project with county officials and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission during a closed session Tuesday, Pete McGinnity, manager of the county's Wheaton Redevelopment Program, told the Wheaton Urban District Advisory Committee later that day. "It was to discuss the acquisition of private property," McGinnity said of the closed session. It's not yet clear what changes could be coming, but the County Council expects to receive amended project description forms from Park and Planning for introduction on March 19, said Adam Fogel, chief of …
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Corporate naming and advertising at athletic fields, ice rinks, dog parks and special events are ways Montgomery Parks could bring in new revenue.
Attaching corporate names to facilities owned by Montgomery Parks is nothing new. Just visit the Discovery Center at SoccerPlex in Germantown, named for the Discovery Channel. But now Montgomery Parks, which is part of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, is developing an official corporate sponsorship policy. The Montgomery County Planning Board gave its initial approval last month. The policy will bring in new revenue for facilities and programs, but it does not involve renaming entire parks or selling parks, according to a Feb. 11 statement from Montgomery Parks. The naming and sponsorship program could include regional and recreational athletic fields, ice rinks, dog parks and picnic pavilions. It could also …
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
The Montgomery County Council had allocated money for the study in the FY2013 budget.
Montgomery County government is not going to proceed with a feasibility study for redeveloping the bus bay area in Wheaton, in the triangle between Reedie Drive, Georgia Avenue and Veirs Mill Road. That's what Steve Silverman, director of the Department of Economic Development, told members of the Wheaton Redevelopment Advisory Committee at their January meeting. "We've made a determination at this point to move on," Silverman said. Last year, the Montgomery County Council approved $650,000 for various studies as part of the Wheaton redevelopment package, including the bus bay feasibility study. The study's inclusion in the budget came after the council rejected a proposal for private developer B.F. Saul to build a platform over the bus …
Monday, January 7, 2013
There will be a presentation of the key components of the Wheaton Sector Plan at Tuesday's meeting.
The Wheaton Urban District Advisory Committee will hold its monthly meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 8, at 6 p.m. at the Mid-County Regional Services Center in Wheaton. Khalid Afzal, the lead planner on the Wheaton Sector Plan, will provide an overview of the plan's key components. A copy of the Wheaton Sector Plan can be downloaded from the Montgomery Planning website. Other items on the meeting's agenda include a Wheaton public safety update and a report from the Mid-County Regional Services Center director. The Wheaton Urban District Advisory Committee's members are appointed by the Montgomery County executive and confirmed by the county council "to provide advice on matters affecting the revitalization and economic and physical development of …
Thursday, November 15, 2012
The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission acquired the land that was formerly home to the Maryland College of Art and Design.
A new park is coming to the stretch of Georgia Avenue between Wheaton and Forest Glen. The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission announced Thursday that it had acquired a 2.47 acre plot of land on the west side of Georgia Avenue to create the new Carroll Knolls Local Park. The site was previously owned by the Montgomery College Foundation, Inc., and formerly home to the Maryland College of Art and Design (MCAD). The land was acquired through the department’s Legacy Open Space Program for $1,140,000. An additional 1.2 acres will be incorporated into the park with the anticipated donation of an adjacent lot and the incorporation of several undeveloped road rights-of-way, resulting in a new local park almost four acres in …
Corbetto
8:56 am on Friday, April 26, 2013
Any building on the Parking Lot 13 site should include a publicly-accessible garage with a substantial increase in the number of meters or spots within. Without such an accommodation, the county will be further dooming the local businesses within the Triangle. Such development will need to strongly consider traffic patterns, because, as noted in an earlier comment, traffic on Reedie between Viers… more ›