Statement Regarding MC Planning Board Meeting

~ htcawebmaster ~ Leave a comment

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.”

Upcoming MC Planning Board Meeting on Suburban Hospital

~ htcawebmaster ~ Leave a comment

MC Planning Board meetingThe Montgomery County Planning Board will hold a hearing next Thursday, April 18, regarding Suburban Hospital’s proposed expansion. The hearing will be held between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. in the first floor auditorium at 8787 Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring, MD.

The hearing is the result of previous legal decisions by the Board of Appeals and their impact on Suburban’s proposed expansion, along with the subsequent re-submittal of Suburban’s drawings and plans to the Planning Board for review.

The hearing will begin with a presentation by planning board staff of their formal report. You can read the report here (it offers a good summation of the state of play):

http://www.montgomeryplanningboard.org/agenda/2013/documents/SuburbanHospitalstaffreport.pdf

Suburban’s legal counsel and the hospital’s new president will then make a formal presentation to the five commissioners. Individuals may testify in Suburban’s behalf. Norman Knopf, our Huntington Terrace Citizens’ Association (HTCA) lawyer, will then present the neighborhood’s response. There may or may not be a need for individual testimony in behalf of Huntington Terrace.

However, there is an important need for a significant turnout of Huntington Terrace residents. Please make every effort to attend.

This hearing does not pre-empt the pending decision by the Court of Special Appeals in Annapolis of HTCA’s appeal of the original 2010 Board of Appeals approval of Suburban Hospital’s proposal.

March Updates

~ htcawebmaster ~ Leave a comment

Copy of DSC_0079It’s spring (in a manner of speaking), and the HTCA and its new board of directors are moving into high gear.  Here’s a summary of what we’re working on.

Refreshing our infrastructure:

  • The HTCA board is drafting a revision of the association bylaws. The last revision was done in 2001. We will circulate the draft to the community, take feedback, and vote on it at a forthcoming association meeting.
  • We have begun to study the possibility of revising the HTCA neighborhood directory, last published in 2010. We are considering both print and on-line options, and no decisions have been made. Mary Beth Sitrick is leading the effort (thank you!). Any thoughts are welcome (please email htcabethesda@gmail.com).
  • We previously mentioned the refreshment of our digital communications channels. We’re up to 25 Likes on Facebook (Huntington Terrace, Bethesda Maryland) and 17 followers on Twitter (@htcabethesda). OK, it’s a start. There are new items almost every day, depending on news of the area (for example, we followed closely the water main break). Also, in the near future, we will add links on our Web site (HTCA.net) to association meeting minutes and past Suburban Hospital expansion court and agency decisions. More transparency is the goal.

Meetings:

  • Allan Gold met with the president of the Bradmoor Neighborhood Association, Jed Meline. Residents of Bradmoor, a community of 449 homes (HT has about 300), voted to revive their long-dormant association last year. We agreed to discuss some joint social events, such as a July 4 party.
  • Allan Gold met with Dr. Gene E. Green, the new president of Suburban hospital. This was strictly a get-to-know-you, open-the-communications-channels session. For background about Dr. Green, visit: http://www.suburbanhospital.org/News/PressReleaseDetails.aspx?prid=147

Other activities:

  • The association wrote to county officials in support of a request to clean up the many unsightly stumps left over following tree removal. It’s not clear whether there will be money in the budget this year to accommodate this request.
  • We are looking into resident complaints about construction noise. (If you’re interested in the subject, here’s a link to the current regulations: http://www6.montgomerycountymd.gov/dectmpl.asp?url=/Content/dep/community/constructionnoise.asp )
  • We joined in a resident’s complaint to the county about the sorry condition of the playing field at Bradley Hills elementary school and its use this spring by a local high school team, limiting its availability to our neigborhood’s kids.

Our community garden:

Additional funds are urgently needed to maintain the award-winning community garden at the intersection of Garfield and Roosevelt streets. Please consider making a contribution; no amount is too large or too small. Please make checks payable to “HTCA” and indicate that the donation is for the “Triangle Fund” in the memo portion of the check. You can mail or deliver checks to:

Stephen Brown, HTCA treasurer, 5504 Hoover Street
Terese Bernstein, 8610 Garfield Street
Deborah Perry, 8506 Garfield Street

Thanks for helping to keep our neighborhood garden a place of beauty for all to enjoy!

A final plea:

Please consider becoming a dues-paying member of the HTCA. It’s only $20 a year and helps pay for our social events and newsletters, among other things. You can even pay by Paypal at our Web site (htca.net). Otherwise, please send a check payable to “HTCA” to Stephen Brown, HTCA treasurer, 5504 Hoover Street.