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The letter discusses concerns from the Garrett Park Estates – White Flint Park Citizens’ Association regarding the White Flint Sector Plan. Specifically, it addresses: 1) Support for focusing high intensity development within a half mile of the Metro to encourage transit-oriented development. 2) Requests more details on how floor-area ratios would be implemented to understand the impact on their community. 3) Emphasizes the need to increase infrastructure to support population growth. 4) Expresses concerns about shifting the center line of Rockville Pike and its potential traffic impacts. 5) Strongly opposes any increased property assessments on existing homes.

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The letter discusses concerns from the Garrett Park Estates – White Flint Park Citizens’ Association regarding the White Flint Sector Plan. Specifically, it addresses: 1) Support for focusing high intensity development within a half mile of the Metro to encourage transit-oriented development. 2) Requests more details on how floor-area ratios would be implemented to understand the impact on their community. 3) Emphasizes the need to increase infrastructure to support population growth. 4) Expresses concerns about shifting the center line of Rockville Pike and its potential traffic impacts. 5) Strongly opposes any increased property assessments on existing homes.

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March 24, 2008

Margaret K. Rifkin RLA, AICP


Community Based Planning
Montgomery County Planning Board
8787 Georgia Ave.
Silver Spring, Md. 20910-3760

Dear Margaret:

I am writing on behalf of the Garrett Park Estates – White Flint Park Citizens’
Association in reference to the January 24, 2008 White Flint Sector Plan Status Report.
This report was presented to the Montgomery County Planning Board on January 31,
2008. I listened to the presentation via download on the Planning Board’s web site. The
Garrett Park Estates – White Flint Park Citizens’ Association held a Board meeting on
March 12, 2008 to discuss the report and hearing.

We agree with the staff’s preliminary recommendation on Land Use to focus the highest
intensity near the White Flint Metro station. We believe this is the right approach.
Concentrating development within a 1/2 mile radius of the Metro encourages the transit
oriented development that we believe is so important in this area. The attachments to the
January 24 presentation suggest a lower FAR near our community; however, the devil is
in the details. For example, Chairman Royce Hanson discussed “FAR averaging”. We
would like to understand how the FAR would be implemented so that we would have a
clear understanding how our community will be impacted. Additionally, we look for the
increase in dwelling units and other uses to be matched by an increase in infrastructure to
accommodate the growth.

With respect to pedestrian safety, we believe the plan should address this topic
specifically under the Circulation section. On the proposal to widen Rockville Pike north
of Nicholson Lane by acquiring 16 feet of right-of-way on the west side of the Pike, it
appears from the Planning Board discussion that the staff is contemplating shifting the
center line of Rockville Pike. We are concerned that shifting the center line at Nicholson
Lane would have profound impacts on traffic flow south of Nicholson Lane. We would
certainly want to see more details on this proposal. Moreover, we recognize the need to
expand the network of north/south streets, but are concerned about maintaining a traffic
flow on Rockville Pike.

Officers
Jay Hansen - President ■ Jeff Deragotis - Vice President
Krista Merker Reilly - Treasurer ■ Carol Alderson - Secretary
▬
4914 Flanders Avenue, Kensington, MD 20895
T: 301.946.5920 ■ Website: www.gpe-wfp.org
Margaret K. Rifkin RLA, AICP
March 24, 2008
Page 2

Also mentioned in the Open Space, Public Realm, and Community Facilities section is
the transformation of Rockville Pike into a boulevard. We would be delighted to see
Rockville Pike transformed into a boulevard with a green median; however, there are
several aspects under consideration that concern the community. For example, we cannot
envision parking along Rockville Pike while, at the same time, maintaining traffic flow.

We would appreciate a detailed discussion, including implications for current


homeowners, on Implementation, bullet five, “Create public/private funding strategies
that use ideas from tax increment financing.” We can assure you now that we will
vigorously oppose any increased assessments on our homes.

We were surprised to see that the staff report did not include any language on addressing
the White Flint Sector Plan’s compatibility with existing neighborhoods. In fact, we
would urge you to consider adding “compatibility with existing neighborhoods” as a 5th
discrete section in the staff report. “Compatibility with existing neighborhoods” is a
critical performance measure from our community’s perspective and we strongly believe
there should be a number of outcomes identified in the staff draft that we can all embrace.
Examples include, buffering and access between the urban village and our community,
minimizing light, noise, and shade impacts, and mitigating environmental impacts such as
storm-water runoff.

In addition, “Compatibility with existing neighborhoods” could identify community


amenities such as adequate police protection, sufficient firefighting capabilities, public
education and library infrastructure to support and protect the proposed 14,000 dwelling
units. On traffic, we agree with the staff draft and Board discussion that circulation is
critical, but the impacts on Rockville Pike south of the White Flint Sector Plan area, and
especially on Strathmore Avenue are also critical.

We agree with the staff report about the importance of open spaces including both an
urban park and neighborhood parks. We encourage use of the neighborhood park as a
buffer between new development and existing neighborhoods. We support the placement
of green space adjacent to neighborhood boundaries. Again, this could be referenced in
the “Compatibility with existing communities” section.

Lastly, the Garrett Park Estates and White Flint Park communities have unique issues
which we would like to see addressed during the planning and zoning process. We
realize our issues may be too specific for this document to address. Examples include the
Margaret K. Rifkin RLA, AICP
March 24, 2008
Page 3

dangerous intersection at Flanders Avenue and Rockville Pike, increased through-traffic


in our community, and impacts from the two medical buildings and White Flint Mall. All
these issues will certainly be addressed in greater detail later in the process. In the
meantime, we strongly recommend the final staff draft include language that the White
Flint Plan be implemented in such a way as to respect the livability of existing
communities directly contiguous to the White Flint Sector Plan area.

There is currently a great deal of skepticism within the community that the White Flint
Sector Plan, the biggest development plan to be undertaken by Montgomery County
according the Chairman Hanson at the hearing, will be implemented fairly by
government agencies. Listening to the hearing, it appears the most important issue is
creating a high enough density to create a financial incentive for landowners to redevelop
their property in a slumping economy.

The perception within our community is that these incentives will be maximized without
regard to our children in overcrowded schools, as well as the traffic implications within
and surrounding the sector boundaries. We respectfully request that the staff draft
acknowledge all participants in this process by addressing these concerns. If these
concerns are acknowledged and addressed, the resulting report could present a more
balanced plan that provides a truly successful urban village while at the same time,
improving the livability of impacted nearby communities.

I hope these comments are helpful. We appreciate all the hard work you have put into
this and at the end of the day would like to support the final product. If you have any
questions or require additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Jay Hansen
President

C/ GPE-WFP Board of Directors


GPE-WFP Community

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