SILVER SPRING, MD – On Thursday, the Montgomery County Planning Board recommended that the U.S. Navy, which plans to expand the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, perform a better analysis about the effects of its plan on surrounding roads, housing availability and other key impacts anticipated for the community. The expansion is part of the Navy’s Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) initiative and will consolidate services from the closure of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Board members were unusually harsh in their criticism of the Navy’s draft environmental impact statement, to which commissioners were responding Thursday. They complained that the report, which was intended to examine the potential impact of the expansion, was vague and incomplete.
Specifically, the board asked for better information about housing needs for patients and visitors, saying the report did not specify the number of patient beds and the anticipated lodging needs of patient visitors. The board asked to see a study of Bethesda housing stock, given that medical workers and patient families may relocate nearby.
The board also suggested that the Navy improve its analysis of the impact of the medical center expansion on roads both adjacent to the site as well as arteries used to get to and through Bethesda. As part of that, the board requested projects that would invite pedestrians and bicyclists to access to the center, such as sidewalks and a tunnel under Wisconsin Avenue linking to Metro’s Red Line, to alleviate traffic.
The Navy should consider the road and sidewalk improvements and the proposed pedestrian tunnel as qualifying for federal defense funds, the board said, considering that the center expansion is proposed for an urban area – on Rockville Pike just south of the Beltway – that will be greatly impacted by the project.
“The transportation analysis ought to look at all alternatives to traveling by car,” said Board Chairman Royce Hanson. “We have a tendency to think about traffic based on today’s conditions, but that is going to change. With the federal government as the major employer here, we really need to provide leadership in changing transportation behavior.”
The board questioned whether the Navy had considered homeland security in its plan, given that the report covered routes that provide access to the center, but not exiting in times of emergency.
Partly in response to Bethesda residents who testified, the board also recommended that the Navy establish a community liaison to keep neighborhood associations apprised of the expansion project. It also asked that the construction conform to state and county forest conservation laws as well as green building principles.
The board will send its input to the County Council on January 15, and comments from all Montgomery County agencies will go to the National Capital Planning Commission, which is overseeing the expansion for the Navy, on January 28.
Currently, about 8,000 employees work at and some 435,000 people visit the medical center each year. Under the proposed increase, the Navy report predicts, visitors would increase by 484,000, placing new pressure on surrounding roads.