Monthly Archives: February 2010
I visited the Audubon Naturalist Society’s bookstore at the Woodend Sanctuary on Jones Bridge Road yesterday and may again today (best binocular and birdseed prices around, especially with the 20% ANS member discount). And ANS and similar environmental groups are natural allies of smart growth and New Urbanism, as our long association with the Coalition for Smarter Growth shows.…
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Comments Off on Council Considers Land Use in White Flint
The Montgomery County Council will continue its consideration of the White Flint Sector Plan on Tuesday, March 2, at 10:30AM in the County Council building in Rockville. This is the Council’s second recent hearing on the White Flint Sector Plan, and Council President Nancy Floreen recently said that she expects final Council action on the Plan by March 23.…
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Comments Off on Draft FoWF Letter on Needed Improvements in WF Plan
It is the policy of Friends of White Flint to request public comment on public policy statements. The FoWF Board, in its meeting on February 26, 2010, unanimously approved sending a letter to the Montgomery County Council thanking the Council and the PHED Committee for incorporating many of the FoWF recommendations from our October 09 Report to the Council on the Plan.…
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Comments Off on Now or LATR? And Perhaps Never.
Live-blogging from the February 25, 2010 meeting of the Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee of the Montgomery County Council. Topic for today is a continuation of yesterday’s third hearing on “staging” in the White Flint Plan, with a likely emphasis on the use of automobile speed tests in White Flint and nearby areas.…
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Comments Off on PHED Committee Meeting February 25, 2010
Live-blogging from the hastily-scheduled continuation meeting of the Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee of the Montgomery County Council. Today’s topic is “staging” in the White Flint Sector Plan, which is the timing of the implementation of various infrastructure projects required as part of the renovation of White Flint. Yesterday’s hearing ended with a request from Councilmembers Marc Elrich and Roger Berliner for clarification of the role of a particular traffic test, known as the Local Area Traffic Review, or LATR.…
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Comments Off on Yes . . . But . . .
The White Flint Sector Plan appears to be rolling toward enactment in mid-March. The Montgomery County Council is pretty much on board with the transit-oriented, sustainability concepts behind the Plan. Even the most opposed residents have quieted in favor of those a little less prone to shrieking wildly over the evils of growth.…
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Comments Off on LATR Hearing at 12:30, Not 1PM Tomorrow
If you were watching the PHED hearing today, you might have left with the impression that the continuation hearing tomorrow will be held at 1PM. That’s what was said from the Committee table. But after adjournment, Committee Staff came out into the audience to say that the hearing will actually be held at 12:30PM in the County Council Building.…
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Comments Off on Now or LATR?
Live-blogging from the February 24, 2010 meeting of the PHED Committee of the Montgomery County Council; this hearing is to finalize the staging portion of the White Flint Sector Plan.
Committee staffer Glenn Orlin opened the meeting by pointing out that the staff memorandum for the hearing is largely the same as the last meeting, except for a few points identified in bold italics.…
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Comments Off on PHED Committee Meeting February 24, 2010
Live-blogging from the February 24, 2010 meeting of the Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee of the Montgomery County Council. Today’s topic is staging, or the timing of implementation, of the White Flint Sector Plan. Staging is critical to the success of the revitalization of White Flint because it helps to ensure that the infrastructure required to support the developments is available at the time it is needed.…
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Comments Off on What Live-Blogging Looks Like
Dan Hoffman, from the Randolph Hills Civic Association, was our volunteer photographer this morning, and he insisted on taking a picture to show what live-blogging the Montgomery County Council meetings actually looks like. Not very glamorous.

And, as an aside, because Council President Nancy Floreen asked me the other day, my explanation of how live-blogging differs from “mainstream” news coverage: It’s like the difference between a painting and a photograph.…
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