Kathy Strom for CC on Growth Policy

Chevy Chase Councilwoman Kathy Strom testified before the County Council for the Town on the proposed growth policy changes:

Good evening. My name is Kathy Strom, I . . . am a Council member of the Town of Chevy Chase. We appreciate the opportunity to appear tonight and present testimony on behalf of the Town concerning the Montgomery County Planning Department’s recommended amendments to the County’s Growth Policy.

As you know the Town is a residential community located adjacent to downtown Bethesda. The Town has been directly impacted by the prior Montgomery County growth policy and will be directly impacted by the policies proposed in this plan. We are currently experiencing a very congested traffic situation throughout downtown Bethesda and the neighboring communities and we are concerned that the real world “on the ground” situation will only get worse as the projects already approved and “in the pipeline” are built. Thus, while we are supportive of the direction in which the Planning Department’s proposals are heading and we appreciate that the current Council is seeking a new direction in growth policy from that which has been in place for the past several years, we wanted to bring to your attention a few specific areas where we believe the policy could be improved to the benefit of our community and the Bethesda area as a whole.

We have three specific recommendations related to traffic:

-We believe there is a need for a more stringent transportation test than that proposed. We need a test that is both practical and based on the real situation on the ground. It is clear to anyone driving in Bethesda today -- without the additional retail spaces, hotels, and apartments that have been approved and are in the pipeline or might be approved under the proposed test -- that congestion is extreme already. This is also important when considering the response time for public safety services which will always rely on the roads.

- We also believe that the traffic mitigation measures under the LATR guidelines that are currently available to developers in exchange for changes to zoning restrictions should be considered more rigorously for real public benefit and, if granted, be strictly enforced.

- We recommend that the Council ensure that traffic mitigation and traffic flow issues relating to all of the approved and pending projects be required to be coordinated. Under current policy, Maintenance of Traffic Plans (MOTs) are considered and approved for individual projects without sufficient regard to cumulative community impacts. For example, there are currently two large projects planned for the intersection of Woodmont and Bethesda Avenues (one of which is anticipated to close an access portion of Woodmont Avenue for two years), two along Arlington Boulevard, and at least one along Wisconsin Avenue near Montgomery Avenue – all which may come to fruition within the next few years and continue on for several years. Access to essential services such as grocery and drug stores which are in the vicinity will be greatly restricted and therefore the impact on our community will be immediate and significant. We may have no choice but to go into the District for such services until all projects are completed and therefore businesses will suffer as well from such uncoordinated, large, simultaneous projects as are currently anticipated for the next several years.

Likewise, we are concerned about the potential for overcrowding at our area schools with the continued influx of residential development of apartments and town homes. Therefore,

- We support the proposed revision to use the Montgomery County Public Schools program capacity figures and endorse the proposed change to discontinue the current practice of borrowing enrollment capacity from adjacent school clusters. We feel strongly that portable figures should not be included in figuring capacity, particularly as the County is committed to eliminating them altogether.

- We do, however, think that a 135% of capacity level as the point at which approval should not be granted is too high and that a lower level would be much more appropriate in light of existing crowding at our local schools.

We will also submit these comments for the record and appreciate the opportunity to provide you with our views on ways in which the proposed growth policy could be improved to better manage future growth, especially in already highly highly developed and congested areas such as Bethesda/Chevy Chase.