Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the May 21 Montgomery County Planning Board meeting. We have a full board this afternoon. Commissioner Linden is home but a virtual nursing occult. So, thank you Commissioner Linden for participating even when you're under the weather. So, I'd also like to acknowledge that this morning that the board went on a tour, the German Town Sector Plan Amendment planning bus tour.

So, I appreciate all that the planning staff did on organizing that tour. So, we'll start with our afternoon session. The first item is one a adoption of resolutions. We have two this morning. On these two, commissioner Hedrick cannot vote. So the first one is the Primrose. It's 16650 George Avenue Preliminary Plan and the second is Primrose at 16650 Georgia Avenue Ports Conservation Plan. Do I have a motion for approval of these two resolutions?

I move for the approval of these two resolutions.

A second. All in favor?

Aye.

The ayes have it. Four zero one. And the second is the we have approval of minutes, the open session minutes of March 26. Commissioner Pedowitz cannot vote on this one. Do I have a motion for approval of the March 26 planning board minutes?

Yeah. I'll move to approve the minutes for March 26. I second.

All in favor? Aye. Ayes have it. 401. And the next, we are on one c, other preliminary matters.

But first, let me just, I'll do the second. First is the acknowledgment of Open Meetings Act compliance board opinion. So on behalf of the planning board, I wanna acknowledge receipt of the Open Meetings Act compliance board's opinion dated 05/07/2026 where they determined that the planning board violated the Open Meetings Act at its 03/05/2026 public meeting on two grounds. First, the compliance board found that the planning board failed to provide the best public notice feasible under the circumstances regarding start time of the public meeting. In addition, the compliance board found that the planning board failed to disclose enough detail of the topic for the closed session to obtain legal advice.

The planning board and its staff take their responsibilities on the Open Meetings Act seriously. As of to the March 5 meeting starting time, we realized that we have overextended ourselves that day and caused confusion which is never our intention. Regarding the closed meeting topic description, we appreciate that the compliance board guidance on this issue. We will continue to do our best to provide clear and transparent process for our meetings. Thank you.

And now I'll go to the other item under one c, other preliminary matters is the historic preservation month proclamation. And we have Serena Bollinger. Okay. Or okay. Oh, Rebecca Bala or but we have a proclamation that we want to read, that I wanna read, regarding, our historic division.

So it says, whereas May is designated preservation month by the National Historic Trust for Preservation and celebrated throughout our nation and whereas Montgomery County is a rich and historic sites and cultural landmarks that foster dialogue and reflection on our shared past and whereas the ongoing study of the Montgomery County's history and identification of historically significant places expands our understanding diversity of our county's past and whereas historic preservation is an effective tool for fostering local pride in maintaining community character while enhancing livability and whereas the Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission supported by the staff of the Montgomery County Department's Historic Preservation Office oversees preservation of more than 2,400 historic buildings and landmarks at more than 430 historic sites and 25 historic districts in Montgomery County and whereas the county's historic preservation tax credit program supports ongoing investment in historic properties and provides incentives and stimulate investment, creates jobs, and improve the local economy. And whereas Montgomery County is home to an excellent network of historians, preservationists, and advocates who dedicate time and resources to promote county landmarks for the appreciation of residents and visitors alike. Now, therefore, it be resolved that Montgomery County Planning Board hereby recognizes the month of of May 2026 as preservation month and recognizes that thanks to the monumental efforts of many organizations, local government, community partners, and the residents of our county who work selflessly to protect our shared past and enrich our future, our county's unique and complex history is recognized and preserved.

Presented on this twenty first day of May in the year 2026 from the Montgomery County Planning Board. So thank you very much, and may we come up and take a picture with the the board. Planning staff led by Rebecca Balo. Okay. We'll continue right into the record plat approvals.

We have three this afternoon. The first is subdivision plat number 220250450 Glen Echo Heights. The second is subdivision plat number 220260320 Montgomery Airpark Business Center. And the third is subdivision plat number 220250500. Alta Vista Gardens, all three staff is recommending approve approval. So do I have a motion for approval of these three record plats?

And I move approval of the record plats.

I second.

All in favor? Aye. Aye. The ayes have it, five zero. And next, we'll go into extensions. We have one this afternoon, Washington Episcopal Day School preliminary plan and site plan where staff extension request number one was was staff is recommending approval of this extension request. Do I have a motion to approve the Washington Episcopal Day School extension?

Yeah. Move to approve the extension request.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Aye. The ayes have it, 50. So we're gonna take a two minute break and go into item number four, the roundtable discussion, with Jason Sartori, the planning director. Thank you. Good afternoon again. We're on Item four, table discussion, and Jason our planning director, is giving this, report. Thank you.

Well, good afternoon, and, thank you, chair Harris. For the the record, I'm Jason Sartori, planning director. Welcome back to you and your fellow board members from your tour of the Germantown sector plan area earlier this morning. I'm pleased to be here with you today virtually to provide my director's report to you. We'll jump right in by talking about what I plan to discuss today.

We'll we'll begin with my usual look ahead. We'll then provide a a a quick personnel update, and then I'll take some time to share the legacy of a Montgomery legend before I turn it over to our design placemaking and policy division to provide an update on recent placemaking initiatives. So jumping right into a look ahead, here are a few dates of note. They're all Thursdays, I would note. So I wanna begin with today.

This evening, the, planning set will be at Montgomery Parks' acoustics and ale from, ales from five to 07:30 at Flower Avenue, Urban Park in Long Branch. Our team will be there to, and available to talk with residents about the Eastern Silver Spring community's plan as we continue to talk about our our our preliminary recommendations there. Then next Thursday, consistent with the proclamation that was just Sorry to interrupt.

I we just learned that event got canceled, I think, because of the weather. So sorry about that.

Yeah. Okay. Well, then we will not be there this evening. Thank you, Bridget. We're we're checking. We will look forward to the next acoustic signals somewhere at at, hopefully, at Flower Avenue Park in the future. But next Thursday, this is still scheduled. I was gonna say consistent with the proclamation that was just read by the chair for preservation month, Montgomery Planning's historic preservation invites you and the public to attend the unveiling of a permanent marker historic marker at Hefner Park in Tacoma Park at 08:30AM. This is within the boundaries of the Tacoma Park minor master plan amendment that, was previously recently adopted. The marker is part of our collaborative marker program with the Parks Department.

The name of that program is Remarkable Montgomery Untold Stories. It's a program that is intended to install historic markers around the county that highlight underrepresented topics in local history. And if you don't mind, I'd like to share some of the text from the marker, which is shown on the right of the screen here. So Hefner Park and its community center exist because of decades of advocacy by Tacoma Park's African American residents. The park building gave black residents of Tacoma Park a public place to gather and celebrate after years without a place of their own.

Beginning in 1941, Tacoma Park's black residents led by Lee Jordan, president of Tacoma Park's Colored Citizens Association, all for dedicated public facilities. Their requests were ignored while MNC PPC built the Tacoma Park Recreation Center for white residents. Even so, the black community persisted, and the city of Tacoma Park purchased land on Oswego Avenue for a playground for black residents. When the city failed to improve the lot, residents cleared the land themselves and installed playground equipment. Tacoma Park dedicated the park in August 1952, naming it in honor of council member Herman Hefner.

The community gathered at Hefner Park to play and watch baseball, throw horseshoes, and listen to local musicians. Residents remember it as the place to go, a long awaited neighborhood venue. Despite the success of the park, the city of Takoma Park decided to relocate their public works facility from a white owned neighborhood to Hefner Park. Although the black community protested, the city implemented the move and announced a land swap to relocate the park. The black community lost its baseball diamond and fields, but they gained a community building, which was open to the public along with the park in 1959.

The building was small and simple, a reflection of the limited funding allocated for the black community. However, it was embraced embraced by the community who finally had a public place of their own. This building hosted a short lived but meaningful teen club that offered local black youths their first opportunity to attend dances, play records, and socialize in public facilities. So, again, I invite to join us when we unveil this, marker next Thursday, the twenty eighth at 08:30AM. And then on June 4, following the board meeting, we will have the semiannual Community Planning Academy graduation there in the auditorium.

I encourage planning board members to join us to celebrate our residents who have completed all 10 modules of the Community Planning Academy. The event will include comments from council president Natalie Fanny Gonzalez as well as a keynote address from Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development secretary Jake Day. Turning to a personnel l update. Today is Russell Corbin's last day with the department. He's been a valuable member of our information counter answering questions answering public inquiries and providing customer service for property owners, developers, and members of the public.

Russell is relocating to the West Coast, and we will wish and we wish him all the best in his next chapter. We'll miss him, and we thank him for everything he's done for us. And now I'd to like take a moment to recognize the life and legacy of Dick Tustin, who passed away recently at the age of 95. As Montgomery planning director from 1969 to 1990

Wow.

Dick was instrumental in developing many of the county's groundbreaking programs and policies that have garnered nationwide attention in replication. Notably, he helped develop the county's comprehensive growth management system with the wedges and corridors concept and the pioneering NPDU housing policy. He worked with former planning board chair Royce Hansen to adopt the 1980 preservation of agriculture and rural open space functional master plan, better known as the ARROS plan. Dick served as Montgomery County planning director during a period that fundamentally shaped not only this county but the the practice of planning nationwide. During his tenure, Montgomery County became a national model for how to manage growth thoughtfully, deliberately, and with long term vision.

Dick was instrumental in developing what is widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive and effective growth management systems in The United States. His work helped define the principles that still guide us today, coordinating land use and infrastructure planning, balancing growth with environmental stewardship, and creating policies that expand housing opportunity while protecting community character. Among his most enduring accomplishments was his leadership role in shaping the ARROW's plan, which led to creation of the Agricultural Reserve. The Ag Reserve remains one of the most studied and emulated farmland preservation programs in the country, a lasting testament to Dick's ability to think decades ahead and act with conviction. Dick also contributed to the advancement of planning as a profession.

He taught, wrote, and advised communities across the country, sharing lessons from Montgomery County and helping elevate standards of practice nationwide. But beyond his professional achievements, those who knew Dick remembered his deep remember his deep intellectual curiosity and passion for planning as a tool to improve communities. He believed in engaging with ideas, debating them fully, and always striving for better outcomes. Even in later years, he remained proud of the places shaped by his work, whether that was the Ag Reserve or the evolution of Downtown Bethesda, and he took great joy in helping others understand the vision behind them. Today, much of what we do at Montgomery Planning builds on the foundation that Dick helped create.

His legacy lives on in our policies, our plans, and the communities that we serve, and I am proud to be following in his footsteps. A memorial service to celebrate his life will be held this Sunday, May 24 at 12:30PM at the sanctuary at the Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church in Bethesda. On behalf of the department, I wanna extend our appreciation for his extraordinary contributions and our condolences to his family, including his wife, Jean. And now I'm pleased to turn my director's report over to Grace Bodden and Rachel Lemana from our design, placemaking, and policy team who will an update to you on the latest with the department's placemaking activities. And I think you guys are going to go ahead and you can share your screen from there now for simplicity.

Thank you, Jason. Good afternoon, members of the board. For the record, Grace Bogdan with Design Placemaking and Policy. We're really excited to share with you today what we've been working on this past couple year. We've been really busy behind the scenes working on some initiatives. And throughout this year, we were excited to finally bring them forward in the spring. We're also very excited to have our new placemaking planner here with us today, Rachel. She started really the week leading up to one of these initiatives going off. So, we've thrown her right into everything and she's been doing great and killing it. And, in that theme, we're going to have her present some updates to you today.

So we are going to cover the placemaking trailer, and its its debut at the Swago Creek Festival, and our updates on the, Eastern Silver Spring Placemaking Initiative as part of the Communities Plan. And then we're going to give you a sneak peek on some of the projects that we're going to be working on in this coming year. Before I turn it over to Rachel, I just want to give you some context on the placemaking trailer. It was about a year ago when our wise deputy director Robert Cronenberg said, hey, wouldn't it be a great idea if we had a trailer that we could have all of this stuff packed into and then we could just take it anywhere we needed to around the county and we had everything in that trailer that we needed to turn a space into a place. And so that thought then turned into an action and we acquired the trailer and then we thought, wow, we need some help figuring out exactly how to pack this trailer.

And so we brought on a consultant to help us do that. And then once we had a good design and plan for packing the trailer, we thought, well, wait a minute. The trailer isn't just a vessel. The trailer itself is a way to energize a place. And so we worked really closely with the communications division. And they helped us create an identity around placemaking, which really fits into the Montgomery Planning brand itself but in a more energizing and colorful way. And so some of the trinkets that we put in front of you today really resemble that. But with that context, I'm now going to go ahead and turn it over to Rachel to give the nuts and bolts.

All right. Hi. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Rachel Holler Umana. This has been a big change and a big transition for me. I started about a month ago. This is my fourth week, and five weeks ago, I moved from Macon, Georgia. But I've received nothing but a very warm welcome. So thank you very much for having me. I've been really excited to learn about our projects.

And the first one that I'm excited to share more about is the mobile placemaking trailer. Like Grace mentioned, we've been working with Envirocollab and the comms division to come up with this great wrap for the trailer and and a plan for spreading the word about the trailer. The placemaking pup may look familiar to you because it was introduced at the Burtonsville placemaking event. The goal it's simple to know what the goal is because it's right there really big on the trailer, bringing people together and ideas to life. So it creates an accessible, engaging, and welcoming space for residents to gather and share their feedback and help shape future plans and places in Montgomery County.

The budget for this was $30,000. About half of that was spent on the actual trailer and wrapping the trailer, and then about the other half was spent on the consultants, EnviroCollab, and then actually filling the trailer. And it hitches onto a vehicle. So the the 15 passenger van, I don't know if you took that today. Hitches. It hitches up to it, and so it can be brought anywhere. It's very mobile, and it's currently parked at Saddlebrook, the the police headquarters there. So if you can't wait to see it at an event, you can go check it out yourself. It's parked. You cannot miss it.

I promise. And so let's open up the trailer and see what's inside. It has a very flexible setup. It can activate anything from a really small space if you just want a couple chairs and a tent, and some simple activities all the way up to a 30 foot by 40 foot space. And, you can see on the left there, that is an example of a layout of of the 30 by 40 space.

It includes everything, everything from seating, shade, lighting. We have a speaker that does music, games, interactive activities, and it's all packed into this very compact eight by 10 trailer. It also includes, these unique and sculptural towers and easels and boards that are very interactive. They have these, like, kids activities affixed to the actual board, so that we can share plans, but also a kid can do an activity while they're, while adults are are engaging with the boards. And it can pop up at any event across the county.

So we also we have several dates already planned with the Wheaton plan, with the Eastern Silver Spring Communities plan. It is going to be at, the picnic on June 9 with the staff, and then we're also doing a site visit with parks pretty soon. So it'll help spark conversations around placemaking, but also contribute to existing planning work. It also comes up comes with a very simple setup guide. So we'll definitely be at all the initial events, but the idea is that eventually anybody can take the trailer.

And then we have this great, plan and layout from our consultants so that you can pop it up yourself and and follow the instructions so that it can stay very mobile, and easy to use for different groups. So how long

how long does it take to on assemble and assemble?

Our very first one at Sligo Creek, I believe, was forty five minutes. To assemble. To to set everything up. But it was our first time. So I think we can beat that.

And then how easy it is to put it back? The same amount, forty five minutes?

I would say it was probably easier to put back in the trailer because we were we had already done it once. Yeah. It was really our first time at Sligo Creek, so we were all learning and trying to figure out what exactly we needed for that event.

And and I love to see that you had the solar. So the batteries and music, everything is self charging. Correct? Correct.

Yes. There's also a

projector. Beautiful. Yeah.

Very cool. Yeah. Yeah. We we got to debut it at Montgomery Park's LEGO Creek Fest on Saturday, May 7. So we definitely wanna thank Parks for for having us there. They gave us a great space. And we were joined by the Community Planning Academy, the Wheaton Plan team, and then also staff our staff from the design placemaking and policy division. And it was a huge hit. Families engaged in multiple ways. So adults were able to come and sit comfortably in these popular bungee chairs.

And we had post cards there so they could read the post card or they could come up and talk to the planning staff. And like I mentioned, we had these engagement boards, so they were able to to stay and and talk with staff while the kids engaged with the boards, on the info towers. So it's it's been a creative way to have these conversations and and help them last a little longer by by people either being comfortable or by kids being engaged so that they're not in a rush. So it it was a a great success. We also launched a fun engagement piece, which was naming our place making pup, which is our new mascot.

We had an activity where we had four different names, and we put a a pom pom to vote for which name you wanted. So it was a nice civic engagement lesson as well. And we have four names. We have Poppy, which is in the lead, followed by Sparky, and we also had Link and Sprout. So we have a QR code here. You can also vote. It's open till June 1. Also, if you just wanna share out loud, if if there's something that really jumps out at you, or you could also introduce your own name, that is also welcome. So please vote. Please share what you think might, be your favorite name for for the pup.

And please enjoy the, the pups that you have, with you right now.

My children will enjoy this very much when they steal it from me. They

were a huge hit. Thanks, Rachel. Okay. So now we are gonna move on to an update on our Eastern Silver Spring placemaking. I think you may recall we were here a couple months ago with the Eastern Silver Spring Communities Plan team when they were debuting their preliminary recommendations to the board and we gave you an update at that time the conceptual idea for our four placemaking gathering spots And just to refresh you, the first one, these are all for our parks properties within the plan area.

And the idea was to listen to what the community really said about the desire to have gathering spots within the plan. And so the first spot is Quebec Terrace Neighborhood Park. This is one of the only neighborhood parks that's actually activated of the four placemaking spots and it's located just south of Piney Branch Road between the road itself and multifamily housing. This is not installed yet. However, I'm happy to report that the remaining three have been installed just a couple weeks ago.

And so that includes the Northwest Branch Trailhead within the Oakview neighborhood at the end of Oakview Drive. It also includes Franklin Knowles within their neighborhood, which is located on McAlpine Road that abuts the Northwest Branch Trail on the Western side. And then Hastings Conservation Area which is in the Indian Springs neighborhood near the YMCA. So here's a fresh look at the three that have been installed. We're so happy with how they've turned out, with our consultants in Viraco Lab and the sub consultants that they have chosen.

And it's really exciting because they look great, but having worked on in past year, there's so much detail that we've put into this. And so I'm just going to advance one more slide and we're going to get into some of these details here. In the top left, this image is taken from Hastings Conservation Area. So each of the information displays include a chalkboard, for kids to be able to write creative comments or draw or play a game, write feedback however they want to engage with the board. And it's been really interesting to see how one person's put one comment and then another person's responded to that.

So it's been really fun to see how that's been responded to. And then right next to that in the Franklin Knowles neighborhood, you can see here this particular installation. It was one of our larger sites and so we really wanted to be able to create a scene around the installation itself. And so there's a series of boulders and log steppers and large logs themselves that Parks was actually able to provide us with. And these sustainably sourced from parks property.

And so it's been, you know, when a parks renovation has occurred, they were able to acquire the boulders. And they were like, we got boulders. What can we do with them? Or similarly, when the trees have fallen, these logs were then taken to be reused and their department usually makes furniture with them but in this case we were able to cut them down, use log steppers, and really create this nature play area for children. And then in the bottom left picture here, this this is also taken from Hastings.

In the foreground, you can see the planter. The sub consultants that worked on this Novak Birch, they're out of Baltimore. They really did a great job with fabricating these. They're so well done that, we're going to to find a good use for them after the six months. And so they, have native plants and drought tolerant plants that we've been on a strict watering schedule.

Sounds like we might not need to go there in the next couple of days, but we've been checking in on the sites. And, also, within this picture, you can see each of the information displays have a weatherproof space for postcards, so people can give us their feedback and drop it in the mailbox. We went out yesterday, and these have been really, well responded to within the community. And so we have a lot to look forward to in terms of comments and sharing those with the with the community plan team and a park staff. In the language on the information displays themselves, we were very clear about wanting everything in English and Spanish to, continue on with what the community plan team has been doing with all of their materials.

Within the information display, we also have a braille prompt so people can take that, go online, and be able to hear what the information display and the gathering spots are about. On the Northwest Branch Trail, so on the bottom right photo, we thought it was important to that this information pylon had something specific for that site. And so we put a very large parks trail map on there. And, one of the immediate feedback that we heard from the neighbors was, thank you. You know, they've been using the trails, but then I think once they saw the map they were like, oh, I can do other things and there's other trails for me to access from here.

And then in each of the sites, the benches and the seating that's put in here, this is also sustainably sourced from the city of Baltimore's forestry department. So they have a division where they also take fallen trees from their city parks and reuse them in furniture. And so these are an example of that reuse. Very intricate details in these installations. And we're so, again, very pleased with how they turned out.

But we are so also equally pleased to see how the community has been responding to them. And so we have received emails, and we received photos. And then you can see here on the chalkboards themselves, they really have been engaged with, in in the community. And so the top left photo, this is from the Franklin Knolls neighborhood. This was a picture that was taken literally just two days or the weekend of the installation, and so the community decided to christen the space with a with a gathering that weekend. In the bottom left, can see the Northwest Branch Trail. There's a bunch of sticks that have been gathered and left for the next person to take a hike. I can't explain what is in the bottom middle. It's a skull of some sort. We can take our guess on what it is, but I think it is beautiful art to add to the planter.

And then a busy, chalkboard in the middle from the Hastings site. There's a variety of comments here and, of course, six, seven reference and some games that are being played. So as we go out and check on the plants and water them, we're also documenting the comments that we receive. And so we'll continually do that and then wipe it down when it gets a little too busy so the next person can have some fun. And in the bottom right, again, is another picture from the Franklin Knowles neighborhood.

This past weekend, they had their book club gather there. So, we do have a video. I'm not sure if it's gonna work, but I think we're gonna go ahead and just send the link after the meeting so you guys can take a look at it. It's on our police making website. And so the communities plan team, is pleased with these gathering spots and, they are going to continue their community engagement throughout the summer on the preliminary recommendations.

I'm sorry, the preliminary recommendations of the community plan. And so they've come up with a planners in the park series where they'll have staff from the master plan go out to each of these gathering spots and be able to answer questions, if, residents want to join them. And so, we have Thursday, May 28, Wednesday, June 3, Saturday, June 6, and that one is at Northwest Branch Trail, and it looks like that's gonna be more of a hike. And, last but not least, the Quebec Terrace Gathering Spot on Wednesday, June 17. This is the gathering spot that has not yet been installed yet, but we're so excited for it.

It will be installed in the first week of June, and it's gonna have a splash of color that we will be so excited to update you on. And so, we just wanna give a huge thank you to our friends in the parks department. They've been so wonderful to work with in both the placemaking trailer and the, installations. It's been really great just working with them and individual staff all around. And also to our consultant, EnviroCollab.

They designed the spaces so well, and they've done a really great job in choosing the right subconsultant to help us bring forward the details. And, of course, a huge thanks to our Eastern Silver Spring Communities Plan team. The ideas, came from them, and they've really helped us be able to engage in the community and, our comms division for helping create our logo. So I'm gonna turn it back to Rachel to give you a look ahead.

Hi. And we are just gonna close out with a teaser of of what's coming up. So we have the Learning Forest, and that is with the environmental division and Montgomery Housing Partnership. We will be working on a Learning us at a newly at a new highly affordable multifamily development in White Flint. That's at the corner of Old Georgetown Road and Neville Street.

It will transform an open parcel into a community space for outdoor learning and gathering. It is in partnership with the environmental division's rain for Reforest Montgomery program. Shade tree plantings will be combined with envirocollab design placemaking element elements. So we've really enjoyed working with them, and and we'll continue working with them on this project. And we'll see things like walking paths, seating, signage, play, and art features, and it'll help create a flexible engaging environment that can serve as a lab for ongoing learning and and activities at the site.

And we are also working on the Germantown placemaking, so I believe you got a a good look at that today. It's an extension of the Germantown sector plan amendment. This pilot in the town center area will explore repurposing underutilized right of way rights of way to improve walking, biking, and street safety. We are partnering with MCDOT and our consultant tool. And the project will design and test temporary installations to inform preliminary recommendations of the Germantown Sector Plan amendment for future street improvements. So we have consultants and and funding designated for both of those projects, so we're excited to be working on those in the next few months.

And that's it. Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah. Well, thank you. What a wonderful presentation. Starting out with, you know, remembering and learning about Dick Tustian. We are celebrating our one hundredth anniversary and we could not be in business that long without people like Dick Tustian and and we always have to remember we're standing always standing on other's shoulders, and so we're just getting better and better better, and we have a great foundation with folks like Dick Tustin. So and then the place making updates. Thank you. Welcome, Rachel. And looking forward to visiting some of the gathering spots, and it sounds like they're already being used very well. So thank you for all all your hard work. Thank you. Any other comments or from the board members?

Okay. I have a comment. The van is an excellent idea. Congrats. And the design is outstanding, and it grabs attention. And, I'm sure you'll get a lot of response and participation from it. Congratulations.

Thank you so much. And we're going to take a two minute break and then start with our last item which is item number six, the FAES Academic Community Local Map Amendment and Forest Conservation Plan where where staff is recommending, one, that we provide approval and and send the, binding elements to the hearing examiner. And then the second is the staffer is recommending approval of the with conditions of the forest conservation plan. Thank you. Welcome back, everyone.

We're on item number six, our last item of the day. It's FAES academic community local map amendment and forest conservation plan where a staff is recommending approval with binding elements and transmittal of comments to the hearing examiner for a 06/05/2026 public hearing for the local map amendment and recommending approval with conditions on the forest conservation plan. And this afternoon, we have Jeff Server with the planning department presenting this item. Welcome, Mr. Server.

Good afternoon. Thank you, Chair Harris. Good afternoon to members of the board. For the record, my name is Jeff Server. I'm with the West County Division. Before you today is FAES academic community. It's local map amendment number h one six zero and preliminary forest conservation plan number F20260270. Staff is recommending approval of the local map amendment, the binding elements and conditions, and then transmittal to the hearing examiner. Staff is also recommending approval of the associated preliminary forest conservation plan. The subject property is located in Bethesda.

It is subject to the 1990 Bethesda Chevy Chase master plan. The location is designated by the gold star in the image to the right. The property is specifically located at 9101 Old Georgetown Road. It's roughly the northeast quadrant of Old Georgetown Road and West Cedar Lane. It's currently zoned r 60 and with a TDR eight overlay zone.

And it's roughly about 1.4 acres in size. The image these images are showing exists currently. The dash red line is denoting the property lines. And the arrow point showing image one, it's just showing a street view of what is currently there. The property is currently developed.

There is an existing private club and service organization able to we're proposal is to provide a new mixed use building that would have up to about nine multifamily units, a 5,000 square foot clubhouse, and that would be organized around a centralized community open space. The mixed use building includes structured parking and would have a maximum height of up to 55 feet. In addition to the mixed use building, there are also nine townhouse units proposed. Surface parking is being provided to the sides and rears of the units and it, as I mentioned, removes it entails the removal of the existing structure. Following the LMA process, it would then be subject to a sketch and site plan moving forward.

Looking at site access and circulation, there are two limited access points proposed. These are designated by the arrows in the image to configuration for site access and circulation was a coordinated effort that was accomplished by teaming with the applicant, MCDOT, and also with SHA. And the proposed access for the circulation ultimately includes a limited write in and right out from West Cedar Lane and then a limited right in, right out from Old Georgetown Road. These are conceptual images suggesting what the architecture may look like. The image number one is what the townhouses might look like.

And the image number two is what the mixed use building might look like. Again, these are conceptual and will be developed in more detail going forward with the sketch plan and site plan. It's worth noting that the mixed use building, as it is currently configured, does anchor the corner. It does activate the front edges along West Cedar Lane and Old Georgetown Road. And the structured parking would be treated with architectural elements.

Looking at the preliminary forest conservation plan, there is no forest located on-site. There is requirement, which would be 0.26 acres, and that requirement is to be met off-site. Looking at there is a tree variance request provided as part of the preliminary forest conservation plan. In the image to the right, you can see the one tree that is shaded in a peach color is showing impact to one protected tree. And then the ones that are shaded red are identifying five protected trees would be removed.

And as a part of mitigation, they're proposing to plant nineteen three inch caliper trees on-site. There is one correction to be made to one of the conditions provided in the staff report. It was condition number one. And in short, there a items a and b were removed and Item C ultimately became Item A. And essentially, it's just adding an additional two feet to an existing two feet of an easement that currently exists.

And this was done in coordination with DOT and the applicant. And the ultimate ask is to try to provide for a wider sidewalk along West Cedar Lane. And the applicant has met all noticing requirements and no correspondence has been received on this item to date. The floating zone conforms with the master plan, meets all the findings for an LMA as articulated in the staff report. Staff recommends approval of the binding elements and conditions of the LMA and seeks transmittal to the hearing examiner for a June 5 hearing and also recommends approval of the preliminary forest conservation plan with conditions.

And that concludes staff's presentation. Thank you.

Great. Thank you for your presentation. We have one person online, Alan Myers from the Maplewood Association to provide, six minutes up to six minutes worth of testimony. Welcome, mister Myers.

Thank you. Thank you, mister chairman. I really won't take six minutes. I'm president of Maplewood Citizens Association. I reside at 9319 Fresno Road in Bethesda.

The applicant brought this proposal. We we have a good working relationship with FAS, and they presented the original plan to our members at a meeting on November 19. And fortuitously, we had a meeting last night, and we were able to squeeze them in. And they were able to bring the current plan that you have before you to our members. And the members support the plan and the and the change in zoning, with one little concern, and it's something that has to be worked out in as part as things progress.

The sidewalk on Old Georgetown Road, I thought on that side is put be used for a part of the bike lane on Old Georgetown Road. The bike lane the separate bike lane picks up just north of there on all of Vista Road. So the concern was that any shrubbery or trees that are planted there near the exit on the Old Georgetown Road not, prevent people from the bicycles from seeing the drivers and vice versa, because that's a major concern for having a vehicle collision for the residents. Other than that, everything was fine. As I said, we do support it. That concludes my testimony.

Thank you so much. It's always, good to hear from local residents. Thank you. We now have the applicant. Would the applicant like to make a presentation?

Thank you, Chair Harris. No presentation other than questions that the board might have of the applicant. I do want to introduce the applicant team so you know who we are and and, be able to direct questions accordingly. With me on my left is Christina Farias who is the, executive director for the the Foundation for Advanced education in the sciences. That's what FAES stands for.

And Jeremy Sharp is to my right, an architect with George Dallas. And to my far left is Kevin Foster with GLW who's helped tremendously with the engineering and landscape and land planning for the project. One thing I do want to bring to the board's attention if it's not abundantly clear in the materials is that FAES is nonprofit organization in service to NIH. And it has had a long time, effort to create housing that it owns and maintains for fellows and scientists that, come to NIH for limited periods of time. It's hard to find a place to stay if you're in that position and they have created a really incredible and much needed niche space for that population.

So this project if you do if the LMA is ultimately approved is going to allow for many more fellows and scientists at NIH proximity to be able to have a place to stay and get to work very easily.

Thank you so much. I'd like my Board Members to give any questions or comments and I'll let you go first and then I'll bring up the rear. Please.

Thank you for clearing that. I was wondering that what is the relation with NIH. Is it open to everybody or is it just for NIH?

Thank you. It's open to everyone. We have open enrollment but we do focus very heavily on the NIH community not only in Maryland but also six sites domestically. But it's an open enrollment set of courses. We're very much like a university at NIH. We do everything excluding grant degrees. So we provide education, networking opportunities, conferences, workshops. We also have some retail within the clinical center at NIH and we have of course the housing right across the street. But the houses themselves are open to the researchers only.

Okay that was the question. And so, are these all rental or for sale? Rental only. Rental only. So those are multi family. They are two by twos or they are actually multifamily? Because I was reading, it looked like that they were somewhere I saw two by two.

No. The the townhomes are five bedroom townhomes that FAES rents by

the bedroom.

So they try to Oh. Create community by having fellows from all over the world share space together.

Okay.

And the multifamily units are expected to be five bedroom units as well.

Okay.

So it's somewhat like a dorm in college or no. It's a house with a shared common area and just rooms.

Thank you. But not a dorm, sir. It's it's more so our our occupants are young researchers. So they're typically in their mid twenties, early thirties. And these are researchers that come who come from all over the world to study at NIH, the best and the brightest.

What we've been doing for the last six decades of our existence is to create a collegial environment on and directly off campus. So the housing in particular is to provide very close proximity below market rate housing for these students of the NIH if you will, the researchers. And the community we're trying to develop is to create more of academic environment while not a dorm. It's very there there's suites. So there are full bedrooms.

They have bathrooms, walk in closets. The houses are actually more luxurious inside spacious than than my own home. But, so it's not like a dorm. It's more, community living to help create community. Many NIH researchers over the decades have, come together to innovate and collaborate by connecting with their cohorts, and they go off to do pretty spectacular things. So this housing has been supported by the last four, NIH directors.

And they are furnished,

company? Fully furnished, turnkey. They even have flatware, cookware. It's pretty That's one of Yes.

Are there more around here or this is the first one that around NIH?

So FAS we have done, we have 13 group homes on West Cedar and Cypress right across the street from the Children's Inn if you know where that is on the NIH campus. So this is very, very close. Believe it's about a half a mile away.

Yeah.

I idea is to, within walking distance, have a lot of these researchers be able to, work and play together.

Thank you. That's very interesting. Thank you.

Yes. Vice chair Linden.

Yeah. It's it's great to hear about this concept. It it really is a wonderful concept and cultivating community like this. I think that we excuse me. Sorry. We probably have a lot to learn from from this approach. I hope that, others can can try to replicate elements of this and elsewhere in the county. I just have a brief question. I'm I'm glad to that, Mr. Myers, you brought up the Bethesda Trolley Trail because that was actually something I wanted to ask, staff about as well.

I didn't notice any discussion of it in the report, but are were there any concerns about conflicts with the write in, out kind of access point on Old Georgetown with the Bethesda Trolley Trail? Any potential mitigation measures just to make sure that that's still kind of a safe point for folks using the trail to make and also for for people in vehicles leaving to make sure that they can they can adequately see people using the trail.

Commissioner Lindner, more quick. Can you pull up the site plan? Can you just outline I mean, you brought up I just where the sort of the motions of the trolley trail.

Could you just show where the trolley tray is?

Yes. I'm not sure if this image is so zoomed in. I'm not sure if it's gonna show the exact location of it.

Also, frontage of the property. I believe at this point, there's a there's a southbound protected lane on Old Georgetown in the street, but I think this is where the Bethesda Trolley Trail is. It's basically like a mixed use path off the street, I think, in this location or multiuse path, I should say. Yeah.

Well, I I I don't know. But I guess you will you can come into it, and they will will it be studied more when they do the Correct. Yes. For the preliminary site plan piece? Or or

Yes. At the time of site plan, it'll be studied in detail as a part of that application.

Yep. That that makes sense. I was just I was just curious if there's any discussions at this stage about that potential conflict point. But, yeah, I'm glad to hear it'll be it'll be talked about more as the as it moves forward.

I'm actually gonna defer to the transportation reviewer on this as he can he can speak more to the the discussions that were held around that configuration.

Thank you.

For the record, my name is Carlos Pazmino. I'm the transportation planner for the transportation planning planning the division. So we did engage in conversation with, SHA and MCDOT in the circulation of the site initially. When the plan came in at first, the primary access was going to be on West Yor Lane. However, being that West Deer Lane widens into five lane, junction, MCDOT agreed with, with us that, the configuration would have been unsafe for, for a site with all of this new traffic coming in.

So the existing, access out of George Road, would have been maintained as a way to, limit, some of the circulation within the site. As for the improvements in the, shared path and, the, the bike lane, at site plan, we will be studying site distance and also other circulation impacts within that immediate access point. However, we are pushing we did push for some improvements within the facility. As you can see, we've included a median to separate pedestrian access and bicycle access. And we've made sure to limit some of the additional parking within the site on the Unit 1 to Unit 6 configuration, that should at the bare at the bare minimum limit, some of that, traffic circulation.

That being said, within, the impacts, we don't believe that there would be, too much of a, of a conflict zone within Old Georgian Road. As you know, there is a median within Old Georgian Road that, limits, the, the necessity for additional circulation within the primary access.

Okay. Thank you. Are you good with that, Commissioner Linden? That it will be Yeah. Some study now, and then it will be further study during the preliminary site plan stage. K?

Mhmm.

Okay. Great.

Thanks.

Alright. Any other questions, commissioner Linden?

No. No other questions. It's a fantastic project. So thanks for moving this forward.

So I have a couple comments just for clarification. So this is for planning staff. So if if all those sites who are around here were zoned already zoned like CRT, would this also have had to have the floating zone? Or because they were not zoned CRT, then you have to add the floating zone to study. So it's we're it's still a learning experience over here.

Sure. No problem. Yeah. The surrounding properties right now are all primarily R 60. Mhmm. So most of everything that does surround this is R 60. The TDR portion is only lands in a couple of locations. So, yeah, by converting it to a CRT because it is for a specific location, that's what creates the floating zone portion.

Great. Great. The other question is, I see there is 5,000 square feet of, like, community space. And the well, if this so you have to have you you is calling that piece commercial versus if just say you wanted to have a 5,000 square foot community space for the people on in that community, would it would have a diff you wouldn't have to have a different criteria for it. Right?

Is it is it because outsiders are able to use this, it has to have it's a different character than if this were a multi family building that had a 5,000 square foot clubhouse. How are they treated differently?

That's a good question. Yes. My understanding is that it is to be used by the residents on-site, but also open to others from outside of the community to use as well. I will certainly defer to the applicant, though, to speak more to that.

Patrick O'Neil, again, for the record. Their current space is FAES office gathering and educational space that will continue in some fashion in this new environment. So it's independent from the standpoint of continuing FAES' mission administratively but also providing that opportunity for residents and to the extent that we have a good relationship with the community, certainly opportunities for the community to use that space as well. But the the primary focus is for ongoing operations of FAES administrative functions.

Great. Thank you. And last question is about the parking. So it says, you know, that you looked at, like, two spaces for each unit and how what about the like, so does that includes all visitor spaces and all like like that? Is that that's there's no and on-site the visitor spaces. Right? There's no separate criteria for if you have visitors to it's just the criteria is just per living unit, and that would include include whether you have visitor spaces or not. Is that how the criteria goes?

Yes, that's correct.

Okay, great. Well, I also feel this is a wonderful project and I like that NIH across the street even has this learning sort of collaborative learning type in bringing in folks. And I'm guessing a lot of the folks can just walk across the street, so it's probably less used for parking per se. And looks like the design, even though it's not final, it seems like a great compact design that will fit in with the community. So I really applaud you for doing this and I hope it can move forward. So thank you. Mhmm.

I have one more question regarding parking. So even though that each townhouse is five bedroom, two parking is enough. Is it close by to to metro or bus or transit? Because I understand they can walk across the state for NIH but what about the rest of the things that they need to do?

It is along some existing transit lines so there is bus service along Old Georgetown Road. The closest metro stop is about 1.2 miles away. So it's a bit of a walk, but there is a metro station. That would be the closest one.

But it's not a requirement requirement for parking. I don't know because they are short term or long term stay. I don't know.

It's shorter. Mean it's a variety of stay lengths. Okay. I think can address the parking question from a practical standpoint.

Yeah, practical. I'm interested to make sure that it's practical. If it is short term, I understand. If it is long term, probably they need to move around with the car. So, I'm just wondering.

Go ahead. Yeah, Christina Frias for the correct way to do it. Yes, so we our current practice with the 13 houses that exist is roughly 50% of our occupants have cars, sometimes fewer. Most of the the individuals come without without a vehicle. And the the metro station is right on the other side of the NIH campus. Yeah. So it's a medical center stop. It's very much frequented by the by NIH community. Now there are also shuttles. There's a shuttle right outside of the property near the firehouse that actually takes people to the metro, to the visitor center on the other side of NIH on Rockville Pike.

So NIH in shutter? I I believe so. And there are buses as well. There's a lot of public transportation. Now many of our occupants also have bikes. We have bike racks inside the garages, of each one of the units in the existing location. So we're gonna continue that as well. A very, very healthy population. They like to white walk and bike quite a bit, so we envision that this will continue. And we do ask before people, sign up with us, you know, if they have a vehicle. So we do check advance so we don't have any any concern that they're gonna be five cars per unit. That is that is not something that we would, allow to happen.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Appreciate you as answering our questions. Do I, we would have two motions here. Okay. Do I have a motion for approval with binding elements and transmitting comments to the hearing examiner for 06/05/2026 public hearing with the corrected, what do call amendments or notes that you yeah.

Yeah. I'll move to, approve with the binding elements transmit comments to the hearing examiner.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. The ayes have it. Five zero. Do I have a motion to approve the preliminary forest conservation plan where staff is recommending approval with conditions? We look forward to moving forward with the project next to the hearing examiner and this concludes our planning board meeting for May 21. Thank Thank you. You. Thank Thank you you so so much.

Thank you for the privilege.

My pleasure.