SILVER SPRING, MD – At
a public hearing scheduled for approximately 4 p.m. Thursday, November 15, the
Montgomery County Planning Board will analyze the merits of several properties
recommended for inclusion in an open space protection program.
The Legacy Open Space (LOS)
program identifies and protects properties featuring vital natural, historic or
strategic open space needs. On a two-year
cycle, park planners present a slate of potential properties that may qualify
for LOS status to the Planning Board. The board then may direct staff to
try to purchase the sites, negotiate protection agreements with property owners,
or take no action.
LOS is but one of
several sources of funding for the purchase and protection of Montgomery County
parkland.
The properties
recommended for inclusion in LOS are:
Beverly Property,
Broad Run Watershed, Poolesville. Staff determined that the property contains endangered species habitat
and is part of a critical mass of mature forest.
Wild Acre/Grosvenor
Mansion, Bethesda.
Originally the home of Gilbert Grosvenor, founder of National Geographic, and
Elsie Bell, daughter of telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell, the mansion
is a key historic resource, staff says.
Milton Property,
Capitol View Park. The site
connects two parks and is considered to have valuable natural and historic
resources.
Hickey and Offut,
Bethesda. Located next to
Rock Creek Park, these four forested sites would help protect water resources,
staff says. Property owners have submitted plans to develop 11 single-family
lots; park planners recommend that the board require the owner to protect
important forested areas on site.
Ireland Drive/National
Park Seminary Carriage Trails. The property would add to a cluster of historic sites, including the
National Park Seminary, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The paved carriage trail includes five scenic bridges on the Forest Glen annex
of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
National 4H Council
Headquarters, Chevy Chase. Staff
identified this site as a scarce open space within a heavily urbanized
community. The property sits on 12 acres on Connecticut Avenue.
Montgomery College
of Art and Design, Wheaton.
This four-acre site along Georgia Avenue was recently rezoned to allow
townhouses. However, at the request of area residents, park planners recommend
that the parcel become a park to meet a need for more public open space in the
heavily developed area.
As part of its review
of potential LOS sites, staff also recommended rejecting proposals for the
following two properties:
Selden
Island/Walker Village Site, Poolesville. This 400-acre island in the Potomac River is now used as a turf farm by
tenant farmers. The property is the only prehistoric National Registry site in
the county. Staff recommends developing a partnership with the property owner
regarding preservation, reforestation and land management.
Edson Lane Forest,
Bethesda. This heavily
forested 1.8-acre parcel contains mature hardwood trees near a middle school
and park. Staff reports that the site is too isolated and forested to become a
public park, but recommends evaluating other options to preserve the woods.
LOS staff also
recommended that the board defer a decision on a Bethesda property known as
Woodmont East, which was proposed to become a hotel. However, after a more than
three-hour public hearing on the matter last week, the developer asked the board
to defer a decision until the applicant can submit a revised plan. LOS staff
plans to review the revised application and make a recommendation to the board
about potential inclusion as a future protected site.
The board will limit
testimony on LOS items to 90 minutes. The board expects to hear 12 items
over the course of the day.
WHO:
Montgomery County Planning Board
WHAT:
Legacy Open Space acquisition program
WHEN:
Thursday,
November 15, 2007 – approximately 4 p.m.
WHERE:
Park
and Planning Headquarters
8787
Georgia Avenue
Silver
Spring, MD