What we discussed at this week’s White Flint 2 planning meeting

The focus of this month’s White Flint 2 Sector Plan meeting was parks and open spaces. It featured a presentation by Rachel Newhouse from Montgomery Parks and a quick summary of the Urban Land Institute Technical Assistance Program recommendations for Executive Boulevard.
You can see the full set of slides from ULI with their analysis and recommendations for Executive Boulevard here. Here is a summary of their recommendations:
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Accelerate implementation of the north/west Pike & Rose Metrorail station entrance.
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Implement the planned Old Georgetown Road and Executive Boulevard realignment (called the Western Workaround).
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Improve pedestrian connections to amenities, such as those at Pike & Rose, and the existing White Flint Metrorail station.
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Leverage and link to the White Flint recreation loop for walking and biking.
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Introduce Bikeshare as a multimodal connector.
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Introduce convenience retail for office workers and future residents, including coffee shops, cafes, drug stores, dry cleaners.
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Decrease perceived distances between office building entrances and the street by encouraging small retail spaces, pop-up amenities (food trucks, parklets) and outdoor seating.
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Embrace and enhance the ample green spaces, including mature trees and landscaping, already present.
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Leverage and link the Executive Boulevard office park to Pike & Rose’s identity.
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Create a consistent signage and streetscape package to reinforce new identify for office parks.
Andrea Gilles from MNCPPC discussed how pedestrians must walk 15 to 20 minutes from Executive Boulevard to the metro along a convoluted path. She suggested that a new metro entrance on the north side of White Flint metro would be quite beneficial in making the walk from Executive Boulevard to metro manageable and attractive.
The presentation on urban parks began with a description of the hierarchy of urban park planning.
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Active recreation destinations
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Central civic green for community gatherings
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Interconnected system of sidewalks and trails
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Wooded areas
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