Friday, March 1, 2013
A hearing examiner and the Board of Appeals will make the final decision on the proposed gas station's fate.
Costco should not be able to build a gas station at its new Wheaton location, county planners said Thursday night. In a 3-2 vote, after nearly six hours of reviewing a planning staff report and hearing testimony that at times became emotional, the Montgomery County Planning Board recommended denial of Costco's special exception application for the 16-pump gas station. The case next goes to a hearing examiner, who will take up Costco's application at 9:30 a.m. on March 11, 15, 18, and 22 in the Stella B. Werner Council Office Building, Second Floor Davidson Memorial Hearing Room, at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The Costco store is scheduled to open April 10 at Westfield Wheaton. Why the Planning Board Voted 'No' The Planning Board came …
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, October 4, 2012
Planners will be on hand to answer questions about the Wheaton Sector Plan at Saturday's open house.
Montgomery County's planning department is hosting an open house on Oct. 6 at its headquarters building, with 11 displays about various community master plans and countywide initiatives. One of the displays will be about the Wheaton Sector Plan, which was approved last fall. Khalid Afzal, the primary planner behind the Wheaton Sector Plan, will be on hand to answer questions. Those wishing to comment can also do so on the Montgomery Planning website. Another display features plans for the implementation of a bus rapid transit (BRT) network in Montgomery County. The "Planning Smarter Open House" is from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. at M-NCPPC headquarters: 8787 Georgia Ave Silver Spring, MD 20910
Monday, March 19, 2012
The council also talked about a proposed zoning amendment about the MARC train station in the Wheaton Sector Plan.
Stay informed with Wheaton-related items that the neighboring Kensington Council discussed last week at its meeting. See the Kensington Patch for the full story. Kensington MARC train station A proposed zoning amendment would pull the MARC train out of the commercial/residential zones for the Wheaton Sector Plan as transit proximity. If the zoning amendment passes, the site would not get parking reductions and would not be able to maximize density just by being next to MARC station. A public hearing on this matter will take place on April 10. Wheaton Redevelopment Larysa Kurylas, who attended the meeting as a resident and not a representative for the Wheaton Redevelopment Advisory Committee, supports the platform project in an upcoming …
Monday, January 23, 2012
The Montgomery County Planning Department says that the Wheaton Sector Plan does not affect the determination of an exemption from submitting a Forest Conservation Plan, which Westfield obtained in 2010 for its Costco construction project.
Update, Jan. 25, 1 p.m.: Montgomery County's Department of Permitting Services has confirmed that Westfield does not need a sediment control permit for the outfall pipe repair project in the stream buffer separating the Wheaton mall from adjacent neighborhoods. Rick Brush, of the Land Development Division in the Department of Permitting Services, told Patch that the maintenance project does not require a sediment control permit because it meets certain conditions required by Montgomery County code (Section 19-2): Any minor land-disturbing activity that: (a) Is not associated with construction of a new residential or commercial building; (b) Involves less than 100 cubic yards of earth movement…
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Cast your vote on whether the Wheaton Sector plan should include language that protects and expands the buffer zone between the Wheaton mall and the neighborhood to the south and west.
Environmental groups and the Montgomery County planning department staff disagree over how much the Wheaton Sector Plan should protect the five-acre "forest buffer" zone between the Wheaton mall and the neighborhood. The county council is scheduled to take action on the sector plan on Nov. 29. In its last worksession, the council took a straw vote, which revealed unanimous support. The planning department has submitted new language regarding the forest buffer, but is sticking to its original position. Audubon, the Anacostia Watershed Society, the Rock Creek Conservancy, GreenWheaton and various other groups are circulating an “action alert,” asking people to call and email members of the Montgomery County Council about the buffer zone. …
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Environmental groups say the Wheaton Sector Plan should include language that protects and expands a forest buffer between the Wheaton mall and neighborhoods.
Without protection, the five-acre green space between the Wheaton mall and its bordering neighborhoods could shrink and eventually disappear. This is why the Audubon Naturalist Society and other environmental groups say they are pushing to include language that preserves this buffer zone in the Wheaton Sector Plan, a document that will guide redevelopment decisions in Wheaton for at least the next decade. But the Montgomery County planning department strongly opposes this change. The five-acre buffer in question lies between Westfied’s southern and western property line and the Ring Road that encircles its large parking lot, and ranges in width from 30 to 200 feet. The Montgomery County Council deliberated the sector plan in a worksession …
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
The Montgomery County Council unanimously supported the Wheaton Sector Plan in a straw vote, but will not officially take action until Nov. 29.
As the Wheaton Sector Plan goes forward in the Montgomery County Council, the appeals of two property owners in the Wheaton Triangle were passed over yesterday morning. The council took a straw vote to unanimously approve the Sector Plan in a Nov. 15 worksession that reviewed the recommendations of the Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee. The Sector Plan analyzes zoning, land use, environmental impact and transportation, among other things, in Wheaton’s Central Business District. It is part of a larger master plan and would shape redevelopment in Wheaton for the next 15 to 20 years. Todd Brown, representing property owner Lenny Greenberg and his company GreenMountain, asked the council to reconsider what the Sector Plan …
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The Big Egg
8:39 am on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Commentous--that makes sense to me. It reminds me of how Congress used to pass laws from which it exempted itself. Classic do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do. I may be proven wrong, but I have a hard time believing that there will be a solely-office building here. Of course, adding a tiny snack store in the corner of the building that is geared at the office occupants will not be in the spirit of mixed-use … more ›