November 2020
Playing Whack-a-Mole For You
President’s Letter – by Ken Bawer
This past month our Board members have been busy working on issues that impact our quality of life. It feels like we are playing whack-a-mole because some of these issues had been put to rest (or so we thought) only to pop up again!
Potomac Oak Shopping Center (sometimes called the Travilah Oak Shopping Center) and Transquest LLC’s white house at Travilah Road & Glen Road: The owners of these two properties have asserted the only way to make them more commercially viable is to have sewer lines extended to each of them. The shopping center has always been on septic, as is the much larger Harris Teeter supermarket a few miles away on Route 28. Transquest states it wants to turn the house into a Country Inn through the Conditional Use process. After failing to get approval in 2008 for the shopping center, in large part because of the fact that these properties are well outside of the sewer envelope, this issue has popped up again. Allowing this extension of the sewer line outside of the sewer envelope could result not only in a dramatic increase in commericial activity inconsistent with the Master Plan requirements for this low density area, but also set a dangerous precedent, as it would invite the argument from developers that if the County can do it for one property here, they can do it for others. Attend our virtual General Meeting on November 18th to hear their presentation and ask your questions.
Heritage Gardens Townhouse Development on South Glen Road: Last January, the developer withdrew their application for a Conditional Use (formerly, and more accurately, called a zoning special exception) after we and the Greater South Glen Neighborhood Association argued before the Office of Zoning and Administrative Hearings (OZAH) that the proposed development did not meet the County’s requirements for an Independent Living Faciltiy for Seniors. The consensus is that they knew they were going to lose on the motion to dismiss it because it didn’t meet the definition and was simply a glorified townhouse development. Now this issue has popped up again – see the article below.
Forest Conservation Easement violations: This issue has popped up on Valley Drive and another on South Glen Drive. In both cases the cutting of trees was reported and determined to be illegal by the Forest Conservation Inspector. The Valley Drive property was issued a citation for cutting and clearing more than 17,000 square feet of forest including portions of a forest stream buffer. The citation included a $1,000 fine and required a Natural Resource Inventory/Forest Stand Delineation and Forest Conservation Plan (FCP) to be submitted for approval. The Citation requires the FCP to be approved and the planting requirements to be implemented this Fall 2020.
We are following developments at the proposed Spectrum Retirement facility on the old Behnke’s / Potomac Petals & Plants site on River Road.
WMCCA is also investigating if tax incentives can be obtained by putting part of a property into a conservation easement with a land trust. Please email President@WMCCA.org if this interests you – we want to understand the level of interest in the community. Other work by the Board includes preparing WMCCA comments on the County’s draft for the new General Plan, called
You can comment as individuals in writing and/or sign up to testify at the November 19, 2020 Public Hearing.
On a lighter note, there is some interesting native plant activity even as we approach Winter. Our latest blooming tree Witch Hazel is in flower. If you are lucky enough to spot them, two of our native orchids have new leaves: Putty Root and Cranefly Orchid. Plus, our area is full of fall blooming native flowers including goldenrods and asters. I encourage you to go see these and other native plants in our parks and neighborhoods. Consider native plants for your gardens as well – they are needed to feed our native insects which the birds depend on.
Oh No – Please No More Heritage Gardens / Senior Living Zoning Busters
Submitted by Susanne Lee
On October 29, 2020, the Montgomery County Planning Board approved for transmittal to the County Council a Zoning Text Amendment to change the definition and therefore requirements for a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC). West Montgomery joined with the Greater South Glen Neighborhood Association to oppose the ZTA. In addition to turning the concept of a CCRC upside down, like Heritage Gardens it appears to be another effort by the building industry to use age restrictions to end run around the prohibition on townhouses, duplexes and triplexes in low density zones and double or triple the allowed density of the land.
The quality of the staff work and the deliberations of the Planning Board continue to plummet and with this developer-driven ZTA they have reached rock bottom. Without getting too far into the zoning ordinance weeds, but in a large nutshell, the staff introduced the ZTA describing it as a response to an aging County population that wants more housing options and doesn’t want to be limited to living in large nursing homes. While certainly a laudable objective, the County Planning Department itself recently conducted an extensive study of senior housing needs and existing and proposed facilities. The study also contained multiple recommendations to address future needs. Meeting the Housing Needs of Older Adults in Montgomery County (2018). What is clear from the study is that there are already many housing options with still more under construction.
Rather than focusing on the study results and the changes in the zoning code proposed there, in what can only be described as bizarre, the ZTA changes the definition of just one type of housing – Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC). CCRCs are unique in that they provide “long-term uninterrupted care that includes independent living units, residential care/assisted living services, and skilled nursing care, usually in one location, and usually for a resident’s lifetime. CCRCs allow residents to ‘age in place’ as they typically sign a contract for lifetime care.” Housing Needs study at p. 15. There are also specific state law requirements for CCRCs. The study identified nine in the County. They provide multiple levels of services, including nursing care, to over 4,000 seniors in a variety of housing types, including townhouses and detached single family, e.g., Friends House, The Village at Rockville, Asbury Methodist Village, Ingleside at King Farm, etc.
Likewise, the County requirements currently define CCRC as a “building or group of buildings providing a continuity of residential occupancy and health care for senior adults.” It “must include dwelling units for either independent or assisted living or both, plus a nursing home of a suitable size to provide treatment or care of the residents.” Emphasis supplied. The new ZTA would require both independent living and assisted living, but totally eliminates the requirement for nursing home care, making it optional. This change turns the basic concept of CCRCs – ensuring lifetime care – on its head.
It appears, however, to solve the problem of at least one of the clients of Lerch, Early & Brewer, the law firm the staff report indicates is “interested in the introduction and adoption of the potential legislation.” The firm represented the Heritage Gardens townhouse development on South Glen Road. More recently, in a February 28, 2020 Advisory Opinion provided to Lerch Early, the Director of the Office of Zoning and Administrative Hearings stated that Lerch Early’s client’s proposal that included building 45 duplex and triplex buildings could not be approved as an Independent Living Facility or alternately as a CCRC because it didn’t include a “a nursing home and comply with State law.” By eliminating the nursing home component, the ZTA would remedy their client’s problem and presumably via a conditional use allow construction of these duplexes and triplexes in low density zones.
REMINDER: IT’S TIME TO RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP FOR 2020-2021!
Please renew or become a new member of WMCCA. Go to our website http://www.wmcca.org to download a membership form or join using PayPal: Individual: $25 / Family: $50. We welcome donations to our Legal Fund. While we try mightily to get good results without litigation, sometimes it is unavoidable and highly effective. Contributions from members enabled us to join efforts to successfully fight the Brickyard Road soccerplex, the Old Anglers Inn event complex, and the Heritage Gardens townhouse development on South Glen Road. We also joined with neighbors to oppose the Brandywine Senior Living facility and in the appeal of the Glen Mill Road Piney Branch Stream Valley subdivision currently pending before the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.
If you have any issues or concerns in your neighborhood, please contact WMCCA. We appreciate the input from our neighbors and are glad to review and address issues as they affect the Potomac Subregion Master Plan, zoning, and environmental threats to the “Green Wedge”, our creeks and water supplies, and the Agricultural Reserve.
WMCCA is actively looking for volunteers for:
Website Assistance Needed by Peter Poggi:
WMCCA is looking for someone to help modernize our website.
While the current http://www.wmcca.org website has served us well since 2003, it is built upon an outdated Microsoft Frontpage 2003 platform, written entirely in HTML using frames, and reliant upon one individual. Our objectives are twofold. First and foremost, we need to have a trained backup who will share responsibility for maintaining the current site alongside our current website administrator. Once familiarized with the site, this responsibility will require a minimal time commitment of less than 30 minutes monthly. Our second goal is to identify and begin transforming the site to a more maintainable, perhaps template driven platform. This will require gaining an understanding of the existing website structure and working closely with the WMCCA Board and website administrator to come up with a suitable design.
Interested candidates should have a current background in current document management type website design and development methodologies, and a familiarity with available hosting options. Please contact Peter Poggi, peter.poggi@yahoo.com.
If you have any issues or concerns in your neighborhood, please contact WMCCA. We appreciate the input from our neighbors and are glad to review and address issues as they affect the Potomac Subregion Master Plan, zoning, and environmental threats to the “Green Wedge”, our creeks and water supplies, and the Agricultural Reserve.
West Montgomery County Citizens Association Newsletter
P. O. Box 59335
Potomac, MD 20854-9335
President – Ginny Barnes 301 762-6423
Newsletter – Lois Williams
The Newsletter is published monthly, and the Board of Directors meets each month. We welcome any suggestions for upcoming meeting topics and ways to further utilize our web site (www.wmcca.org).
Check the web site for information on issues we are working on.
West Montgomery County Citizens Association 