planners, residents discuss new white oak science center (updated)

UPDATE: Jeanette Der Bedrosian writes up the meeting in the Gazette as well, with this quote:

Kate Prager, a Colesville resident of 30 years, said she went to the open house to learn what exactly the master plan is.

"It sort of gets me alarmed about more congestion, more building, more taking out trees," she said. But Prager said she has no plans to move, so she's just hoping planners find the right balance of building a thriving mixed-use community while preserving forests and finding a transportation solution.

She's the typical person at a lot of community meetings in East County - white, middle-class, and established, with no need to buy a house or find a job. And while her concerns are valid, they're representative of a small silver of the population here. We must bring a wider variety of people into the discussion, or we'll get a community that only reflects the wants and needs of a few.

East County residents and businesspeople met with Montgomery County planners last Wednesday at the Regional Services Center to learn about a proposal to bring a life sciences center to White Oak. When completed, the East County Science Center Master Plan will recommend creating a mixed-use community with a focus on science and technology in an approximately 1400-acre area bounded by the Beltway, New Hampshire Avenue, Columbia Pike, Cherry Hill Road and the county line.

Kim Bobola from the East County Citizens Advisory Board looks at a map.

The goal of the plan, as outlined on its website, is to create a 21st-century vision for the "Cherry Hill/FDA/White Oak area." The main tenets of that vision are a community built around a "bio-tech employment cluster"; a "better jobs/housing balance" in an area with more residents than employment opportunities; creating "more diverse housing options" in the area, and bringing it all together with "efficient transit" and open space.

While previous master plans have taken up to 3 1/2 years to draft, staff will finish the plan on an abbreviated schedule at the behest of the County Council, eager to bring more attention to the neglected communities east of Rock Creek Park. "This is a big master plan, and we only have two years," explains project leader Khalid Afzal.

Those seeking to build in the area were at the open house, including some of the car dealers located on Cherry Hill Road and Jere Stocks, president of Washington Adventist Hospital, which has land for a new facility on Plum Orchard Drive.

Also there were Jonathan Genn and Ayana Lambert, president and general counsel for developer Percontee, who's proposed a large development on Cherry Hill Road called LifeSci Village. "This is exciting because it means something's happening," says Lambert. "It's a step in the right direction."

Transportation planner Eric Graze brought a board showing proposed rapid transit routes in the master plan area, including ones along New Hampshire Avenue, Columbia Pike, and Cherry Hill Road. He explains that the map was largely derived from County Councilmember Marc Elrich's county-wide bus rapid transit plan, currently under study.

One line crossing the Food and Drug Administration campus between New Hampshire and Cherry Hill was an unknown, however. "I have no idea what that is," Graze says.

Map of potential BRT routes in Montgomery County.

Planners seemed to outnumber residents at the four-hour-long open house, but those who did stop by could write comments on large boards. Their suggestions were heavily favored towards more development in East County. "Allow high density at the existing shopping centers (White Oak & Hillandale)," wrote one commenter. Another advocated a bus rapid transit line down Route 29.

Because of the plan's abbreviated schedule, some opportunities for community outreach - like an advisory committee made up of local stakeholders - may not happen. That'll be a big concern in White Oak, where reaching out to tenants of apartment complexes or non-English speakers in the area can be difficult.

"We haven't figured out how to get that segment of the population to come out," Afzal says of the area's large immigrant communities.

While drafting the sector plan for the Wheaton CBD - now going before the County Council - planners visited the owners of local ethnic shops to get their opinions and ideas. "We went to them" in Wheaton, Afzal notes. "If you don't have time, we'll come to you."

As with most land use issues, getting anyone involved is difficult regardless of their background. "There's an entire group of people interested in land use, and another group who won't come no matter how much we reach out to them," Afzal says. "Maybe they think we're doing okay."

what's up the pike: ughhhhh

It's been a busy past few days here at JUTP headquarters. My family was out of town for the weekend, leaving me alone to defend the house (still accustomed to nights in College Park listening to drunken revelers stumbling home, I am suspicious of the quiet of our cul-de-sac); I participated in parades in Takoma Park and Leisure World; and finally replaced my 2004-vintage laptop with a Mac (finally!), which means I spent a significant amount of time re-learning how to use a computer.

On top of that, I left my job (a special thanks to George for the opportunity and the experience!). Unfortunately that means my will to do work, be it for pay or for blog, is largely sapped. A vacation would be nice about now, but in the meantime, here's a somewhat anemic review of what's happening in East County this week:


- Matchbox makes toy fire trucks that say "Burtonsville Volunteer Fire Department" on them. It even has the same livery as the real thing. Check it out on Twitter, eBay, and Diecast Direct.

- The National Pinball Museum, currently run out of its curator's house in Colesville, will move to Georgetown later this year.

- A profile of local swing band Swingtopia, who we've been relentlessly promoting over the past three months.

- Silver Spring, Singular already covered this, but: Silver Spring is a "amusement park complemented by a scary mall and expensive baked goods." Watch as the brave commenters quickly but politely tear this silly prattle apart.

- Indefatigable photographer and friend of JUTP Chip Py sent us these photos of the fireworks at Einstein High School in Kensington Sunday night:

what's up the pike: in which I express thinly-veiled disdain for governor ehrlich

Former Governor Bobby Haircut Robert Ehrlich announced his running mate for his re-election bid yesterday on Ellsworth Drive in downtown Silver Spring.

It's an ironic location for someone who once said that "multiculturalism is bunk" or repeatedly attempted to kill the Purple Line. Perhaps he waited until late Wednesday night to announce the event and running mate Mary Kane - on Facebook! - because he imagined that Silver Springers and Takoma Parkies drawing from their long tradition of liberal activism would protest in full force.

Of course, Ehrlich first announced his candidacy by scooping ice cream at the store I once worked at. If he's looking for my vote, he never had it to begin with.

Phew! Now that that's over:

- A study from the Latino Economic Development Corporation says that Fenton Street Market is good for the economy. The weekly market, located in a parking lot at Fenton Street and Silver Spring Avenue, has brought local businesses over $300,000 in additional revenue since opening in April, says the study (PDF!). As always, it'll be there tomorrow from 9am to 3pm.

- The Historical Society found twelve signed dollar bills in a time capsule left in the now-demolished Silver Spring Moose Lodge, says the Gazette. We're waiting for that video you promised, Jerry.

- Also in the Gazette: restaurants in White Oak are hungry for business from the Food and Drug Administration next door, whose employees prefer eating at its two in-house cafeterias. Of course, it doesn't help that the walk from the FDA campus to the White Oak Shopping Center is nearly a mile long.

- Metro Man discovers that God must hate Silver Spring.

asian bistro opens on tech road; chick-fil-a soon to follow

The unrelenting march of progress continues at the WesTech Village Corner shopping center on Tech Road, where three years after opening almost all of its vacancies have finally been filled. The newest addition is Siu's Asian Bistro, which I failed to notice has already been open for two weeks:

Sitting outside is a woman who introduced herself to me as "the 'Siu' in 'Siu's Asian Bistro.'" According to her website, she believes "the key to one's heart is through the stomach," which is all I need to hear. Their menu is a mix of Japanese, Chinese and Thai food, including fresh sushi.

A few doors down, my beloved Chick-Fil-A - whose owner Erik Amick we interviewed a little while back - which is still on schedule to open in just four weeks! Hopefully, you'll find me outside the day before seeking to be one of the coveted "First 100" to get in the door. (Note to self: I need to buy a tent.)

And as friend of JUTP and Burtonsville resident Dr. F pointed out recently, the Moe's Southwest Grill has closed. Inside, it looks as if they closed up for the night and never came back.

I guess Silver Spring wasn't a Moe's neighborhood, after all. Hopefully, this location will become a classy Peruvian rotisserie place, as was done to their former store in Rockville.

Finally, the Hilton Garden Inn Silver Spring North Hotel is almost completed, and will start taking reservations August 18. (If you book your vacation to scenic Calverton now, we'll give you a tour of the old sludge treatment plant for free.)

Inside the hotel will be The Great American Grill, which doesn't seem too inspiring judging from their other locations. But because it's food, and it's nicer than Wendy's, you can bet it will probably become very popular with East County diners who'd "rather poke their eyes out" than go to downtown Silver Spring, in the words of one Burtonsville resident.

At the end of the day, that's all that really matters. Because no one likes getting their eyes poked out, ever.