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SILVER SPRING, Md–The Montgomery Parks Foundation Board of Trustees elected Theresa Cameron and Kelly Groff to three year terms on the governing body at its March 28 meeting. The appointments were approved on April 19 by the Montgomery County Planning Board. The Montgomery Parks Foundation, a 501 c (3) charitable organization, is a champion for M-NCPPC Montgomery Parks, promoting the values and benefits of the park system to residents and policy-makers and raising private sector revenue to help it preserve and enhance its award-winning status.
“Both Kelly and Theresa are well-connected in the County, bring an incredible amount of local experience and appreciate well the importance of our parks to what attracts businesses and residents to our county,” indicated Joseph Isaacs, President of the Board of Trustees of the Montgomery Parks Foundation. “Their insights into our community will help the Foundation enormously as we identify private sources of revenue to support the preservation and improvement of our parks at a time when tax revenues are limited and appropriations to parks cannot meet the demands.”
Teresa Cameron
Theresa Cameron is the Manager of Local Arts Agency Services at Americans for the Arts, where she develops and implements programs and services to strengthen the area’s 5,000 local arts agencies. Previously, Cameron served for 10 years as the CEO of the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County (AHCMC), overseeing the operations of this $4 million quasi-governmental agency. Prior to joining AHCMC, she was manager of corporate and foundation relations at the Association of University Women Educational Foundation and held a post with the National Endowment for the Arts.
Cameron brings considerable board experience to the Montgomery Parks Foundation Board of Trustees, having chaired the Maryland Association of Nonprofits Board, Maryland Citizens for the Arts and the Silver Spring Arts and Entertainment District Advisory Committee. She also served on the Boards of the Montgomery County Conference and Visitor’s Bureau and the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce. She is a graduate of the Leadership Maryland and Leadership Montgomery programs and was named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women.
Kelly Groff
Kelly Groff was appointed Director of the Conference and Visitors Bureau of (CVB) of Montgomery County, Maryland in 1994. Prior to joining the CVB, she served as an Economic Development Specialist in the Tourism division of the Baltimore County Department of Economic Development. Groff began her career in 1985 as a travel trade development officer with the Baltimore City Office of Promotion and Tourism. Following this position, she worked as the director of catering and room sales at the Admiral Fell Inn in Baltimore’s Fells Point, and then as director of sales for the new Clarion Inn at Pier 5 at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
A native Marylander, Groff was an Adjunct Professor with the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Department of Hotel Management at the Universities at Shady Grove. She taught Eco & Cultural Tourism and Hospitality and Leisure Services Marketing.
The Montgomery Parks Foundation provides opportunities for county residents and businesses to support Montgomery Parks as members, donors, sponsors, and advocates, and actively seeks individual donations, sponsorships, legacy gifts, and endowments to support park operations, development and maintenance.
SILVER SPRING – When an application for new development is brought before the Planning Board for consideration, planners calculate how much impact each proposal would have on area roads and transit.
Last year, the County Council asked planners to develop a new policy area test, the Transportation Policy Area Review (TPAR), that would ensure that transportation infrastructure – roads or transit – would be adequate to serve new residents or anyone traveling to or from a new development. In response, planners developed a draft TPAR test, which will be the subject of a public hearing before the Planning Board next week.
The proposed transportation test would measure the effect of new automobile or transit trips that would be generated by new development in each of the 21 policy areas in Montgomery County. TPAR would replace the Policy Area Mobility Review, or PAMR, that planners have used for the last several years to measure transportation adequacy.
TPAR is based on transportation recommendations that are included in each master plan and take into account regional growth projections. TPAR also would measure automobile and transit adequacy separately to make it clearer for decision-makers to understand how new trips would affect the policy area and make it easier to determine where solutions are needed.
The TPAR test would identify specific road and transit solutions, making it easier to schedule and fund capital projects. Funding is suggested to occur through public-private partnerships linked to county and state transportation budgets.
Under the proposed TPAR guidelines, an annual report would monitor both development and the progress of transportation projects.
Sign up to testify at the public hearing. At the date prompt, scroll to 4/19 and scroll to item 7.
WHO:
Montgomery County Planning Board
WHAT:
Transportation Policy Area Review (TPAR) Public Hearing
WHEN:
2 p.m. Thursday, April 19
WHERE:
Park and Planning Headquarters auditorium
8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring
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SILVER SPRING, MD – A community plan for White Flint, which transforms large parking lots and suburban shopping centers into a mixed-use, compact urban center, won an award for best neighborhood/small area plan from the National Capital Area chapter of the American Planning Association.
Montgomery County Planning Department staff will receive the award at an October 26 ceremony in Washington, D.C.
The plan, which has been hailed as a model for smart growth, focuses development at the White Flint Metro station on Rockville Pike. The transit station opens up potential for a community scaled to pedestrians and cyclists, improving connections to transit as well as parks, retail, community facilities and nightlife.
Master plans envision land uses, zoning, transportation, community facilities, environmental assets and historic structures, among many other elements. The plans, after being reviewed and approved by the Planning Board and County Council, help planners and policy-makers guide proposed development and resolve community issues.
The White Flint Sector Plan calls for 9,800 new homes, including affordable and workforce units, and 5.69 million square feet of commercial and office development. Much of the new development will occur on 160 acres of surface parking lots. White Flint, planners say, holds huge potential for economic development.
The plan also specifies public facilities, such as an elementary school, library and recreation center, as well as new parks and open spaces, including a civic green.
Moreover, the White Flint plan redesigns Rockville Pike, with an expanded local network of streets, to create a safer, more walkable place. The Pike’s 150-foot right-of-way would be rebuilt into an urban boulevard with a treed median, street trees, on-street parking, bikeways and space for future bus rapid transit.
SILVER SPRING, MD – As part of the National Naval Medical Center expansion, the county Planning Board is reviewing a number of transportation studies and projects intended to alleviate the impact of the medical center’s growth in the Bethesda-area community.
On Thursday, the Planning Board will review four of those projects – intersections along Rockville Pike (MD 355), Connecticut Avenue (MD 185) and Old Georgetown Road (MD 187) – as mandatory referrals, which provide the Board an opportunity to make recommendations to the appropriate agency for consideration.
The Medical Center expansion, occurring as part of the federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, will require improvements to area intersections, trails, and pedestrian access points. For each transportation project, planners have reviewed the extent of planned improvements – from new turn lanes to sidewalk reconstruction to building hiker/biker paths – and recommended changes to improve function and access. Learn more.
Many of the recommendations concern ways to improve conditions for pedestrians and bicyclists. For example, planners recommend better pedestrian access to National Naval Medical Center and National Institutes of Health campuses, improved handicapped ramp design, wider crosswalks, and shade trees along sidewalks, as well as completion of the southern end of the North Bethesda Trail.
Other recommendations concern landscape improvements so that the roadways are more compatible with the federal campuses and adjacent communities.
The web page features the proposals put forward by the county and state Departments of Transportation along with the planner-recommended changes for Planning Board review. The web pages includes drawings of current and proposed intersections, as well as aerial maps that put each project into context.
WHO:
Montgomery County Planning Board
WHAT:
National Naval Medical Center projects
WHEN:
Thursday, July 22, 2010, approximately 1 p.m.
WHERE:
Park and Planning Headquarters
8787 Georgia Ave.
Silver Spring, MD
SILVER SPRING – In response to a Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) report specifying alternative approaches for the Purple Line, Montgomery County transportation planners will brief the Planning Board in early December on key issues to consider as Board members form a local recommendation for the project.
On January 8, the Board will hold a public hearing on the Purple Line to inform its decision on a recommendation for the route and type of transit – light rail or bus rapid transit – for the Montgomery County section of the Purple Line. The Board’s recommendation will go to the County Council and then to MTA, which will make the final decision.
The Purple Line, a proposed 16-mile light rail or bus rapid transit line, would run from Bethesda to New Carrollton and provide direct connections to Metrorail, local and inter-city bus and the MARC train.
In preparation for the January decision, the Board has invited MTA on December 8 to review key issues in a work session format. No public testimony will be accepted.
Also in advance of the January hearing, the Board’s transportation planning staff will present some of the main issues to its advisory group, among them:
- Ridership data for each Purple Line segment contrasted for bus rapid transit and light rail
- Funding opportunities and constraints
- Whether the route should run along Jones Bridge Road between Bethesda and Jones Mill Road
- How the Purple Line route might impact the Georgetown Branch trail, a popular bikeway along which the county and state have acquired right-of-way for an eventual transit route
- How to accommodate the route through downtown Silver Spring and East Silver Spring
The public is welcome to speak at the Board’s January 8 public hearing, although Chairman Royce Hanson is encouraging people to send written testimony, which can be of any length, given the large number of people who may wish to be heard. Written testimony should be received by noon on January 2. Testimony will be limited to two hours, with each speaker receiving no more than three minutes.
People wishing to sign up to speak on January 8 will need to specify which segment of the Montgomery County Purple Line they wish to address – Bethesda/Chevy Chase; Silver Spring; Long Branch/Takoma/Langley; or the entire length – using the online sign-up system available in late December on the Planning Board website or by calling 301/495-4600.
SILVER SPRING, MD – History buffs and others interested in Montgomery County’s historic log cabins, which date back to the 1700s, should mark their calendars for a cabin restoration presentation on Sunday, June 1 at historic Oakley Cabin, Brookeville.
The program will be led by Hank Handler of Oak Grove Restoration, Inc., who restored Oakley Cabin after a devastating arson fire in 1988. Oakley Cabin is owned by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and is part of Reddy Branch Stream Valley Park. Handler will describe the techniques that brought Oakley Cabin back to life, including log cabin construction and antique carpentry tools, many of which are displayed in a new permanent exhibit there.
Oakley Cabin was built in the 1820s to house enslaved African Americans. It later became part of a freed African American roadside community. Today, the cabin is furnished to represent post-slavery life and is interpreted by trained volunteers.
M-NCPPC historic preservation planners estimate Montgomery County is home to about 20 log houses, even though they were the dominant house wherever good timber was available after Swedish immigrants brought the design to the New World in the 1630s. Log cabins can be small one-room buildings or as big as two stories with four rooms and two chimneys.
Oakley Cabin’s tool collection includes woodworking implements that were prized possessions of early settlers. The only tools actually needed to build a log cabin were an axe and a saw. A maul for hammering logs into place, specialized axes, a measuring tape and plumb line were used by more experienced carpenters. Since carpenters once lived in Oakley Cabin, preservationists from M-NCPPC, funded with various State and Local Grants given and Friends of Oakley Cabin and the Underground Railroad, created a permanent exhibit of antique carpentry tools last year.
Oakley Cabin is open Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m. from April through October.
WHO: Hank Handler on log cabin restoration
WHAT: Log cabin restoration presentation
WHEN: 3-4 p.m. Sunday, June 1
Capital Crescent Trail Coalition Recognized for New Research Findings on County’s Most Popular Trail
SILVER SPRING, MD—The Montgomery County Planning Board awarded certificates of appreciation to 92 Capital Crescent Trail Coalition (CCTC) volunteers for collecting user data on the county’s popular Capital Crescent Trail. CCTC Chair Peter Gray and volunteers Wayne Phyillaier and Christopher Marston were present at last Thursday’s Planning Board meeting to accept the award on the group’s behalf.
“I want to thank the Capital Crescent Trail Coalition for their efforts,” said Montgomery County Department of Parks Director Mary Bradford during last Thursday’s Planning Board meeting, “and pledge our department’s continued commitment to working with the coalition to improve management, safety and future development of the trail.”
The 92 CCTC volunteers gathered data from thousands of Capital Crescent Trail users during the fall of 2006 to produce the May 2007 Capital Crescent Trail/Georgetown Branch Trail Survey Report for the Department of Parks. The Department of Parks will use these survey findings on the amount and type of use on the trail to make future management decisions about park trail planning and proposed development projects near the trail.
“The coalition’s survey analysis is a tremendously valuable resource for us,” said Department of Parks Park Planning Supervisor Tanya Schmieler. “This is the largest, single, park and trail planning volunteer effort to date and we are extremely appreciative of the coalition.”
The 140-hour CCTC volunteer project detailed user counts at 4 locations along the Capital Crescent Trail: Grubb Road, Elm Street Park, the Bethesda Trailhead and Brookeway Drive. The group first conduced a survey of trail users in 1996 and again in 2000. Survey findings from 2006 reveal that Capital Crescent Trail use is up significantly—over 50 percent—from 160 average users per hour in 1996 to over 240 hourly users in 2006. The group’s findings also substantiate the popularity of hard surface trails in the county, with more than 500 hourly users on the Capital Crescent Trail during peak periods. In addition, survey results document trends in the variety of trail use, finding bicyclists were the heaviest users at all survey sites except Bethesda Avenue where walkers predominated, and people using roller blades on the trail have consistently declined—from over 10 percent in 1996, down to only 1-2 percent in 2006.
During last Thursday’s meeting, CCTC Chair Peter Gray told the Planning Board that one of the most pressing issues along the trail was the safety of all of the trail users and avoiding conflicts and accidents among and between users, especially pedestrians and bikers.
The Department of Parks met with representatives from the CCTC earlier this month to discuss trail safety. During the meeting the group discussed current safety measures being employed along the Capital Crescent Trail, such as rule enforcement by Park Police, Park Rangers and Park Police volunteers and public education about sharing the trails; and identified possible safety improvements, such as progressive physical trail improvements and the redevelopment of the trail if required.
The Capital Crescent Trail is an 11 mile paved trail, which follows an abandoned railroad right of way which extends from Georgetown in the District of Columbia to Silver Spring in Montgomery County. It is the most popular trail in the county’s parks system, which includes nearly 200 miles of paved and natural surface trail.
For more on trails in the county’s parks system, visit www.MontgomeryTrails.org.
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INTERESTED MEDIA: Photo of certificate presentation available upon request.
Contact:
Kelli Holsendolph
Media Relations Manager
Montgomery County Department of Parks
301-650-2866
SILVER SPRING, MD—The Montgomery County Department of Parks is presenting a concept plan for the new Llewellyn Fields Sports Complex—on Norbeck Road, east of the intersection with Layhill Road—and answering questions about the project during a public meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, June 13 at 7:00 pm.
The Llewellyn Fields Sports Complex is a community stewardship project for the Intercounty Connector (ICC), which includes new ballfields and amenities to address the replacement of the existing ballfields projected to be lost during the construction of the ICC. The proposed plan for the new Llewellyn Fields Sports Complex includes 5 lighted and irrigated ballfields: one full sized baseball field, three soccer fields and one footfall field. Other plans include one large playground, approximately two miles of looped perimeter hiker-biker trails, one picnic shelter, picnic areas with an open play area, one restroom facility, reforestation areas and an interpretive area/kiosk for the adjacent Rachel Carson Greenway trail.
This is a joint development project between the Department of Parks and the Maryland State Highway Administration.
WHO:
Montgomery County Department of Parks
WHAT:
Public Meeting on the Concept Plan for the New Llewellyn Fields Sports Complex
WHEN:
Wednesday, June 13, 2007 at 7:00 pm
WHERE:
James Hubert Blake High School Cafeteria
300 Norwood Road, Silver Spring, MD 20905
For more information, contact Department of Parks Project Manager Rick D’Arienzo at rick.darienzo@mncppc-mc.org or 301-495-2568.
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Contact:
Kelli Holsendolph
Media Relations Manager
Montgomery County Department of Parks
301-650-2866
American Planning Association President to Link Growth, Quality of Life at Montgomery Planning Board
SILVER SPRING, MD – At a 7 p.m. Thursday, May 17 presentation to the Montgomery County Planning Board, newly elected American Planning Association President Robert Hunter will explore how to measure the impact of growth on local communities. Hunter will address the Board as it puts the finishing touches on its recommendations for comprehensive changes to the county’s growth policy.
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