Statement Regarding MC Planning Board Meeting

Statement on behalf of the Huntington Terrace Citizens’ Association, from Allan Gold, association president

 April 18, 2013

“We are gratified that the Montgomery County Planning Board today confirmed important changes in the Suburban Hospital expansion plan that would greatly benefit the Huntington Terrace neighborhood, including saving 13 homes from demolition, limiting the height of a new parking garage on Southwick Street and addressing traffic patterns related to its use, and maintaining strict limits on noise pollution. The changes in the plan approved by the Planning Board, and the Montgomery County Board of Appeals before it, are the fruit of years of hard work of many neighborhood residents and our counsel, Norman Knopf.

“We look forward to the decision of the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, which is expected to rule this year on whether the Board of Appeals should rehear important elements of the hospital expansion issue.

“We also take this opportunity to remind everyone that the Huntington Terrace neighborhood has never opposed the modernization and expansion of Suburban Hospital. What we have sought are improvements in its plan that balance the needs of the hospital with those of our neighborhood.”