Montgomery County will hold a ribbon-cutting event next week to celebrate several new BikeShare stations in the Pike District. The event will be held on Wednesday, April 4th at 11:00 a.m. at the new BikeShare station located at White Flint Metro. (Specifically, they will be on the east side of 355, just north of Marinelli Road.)
Well, lucky for you, MCDOT has a whole website full of information all about Bus Rapid Transit on Route 355 just waiting for your eyeballs.
Learn what the candidates think about issues important to the White Flint area so that you can be an educated voter in this critical election. Please RSVP to attend our District 1 Candidate Forum. This important forum will be held Thursday, April 12, 7 pm, at the Bethesda North Conference Center. Please RSVP to info@whiteflint.org.
From Bethesda Beat
An initial proposal submitted earlier this month to the Montgomery County Planning Department by Guardian Realty LLC indicates the three new buildings would be arranged around an existing office building at 6000 Executive Blvd. The company owns the roughly 7-acre property and has its corporate offices in the seven-story building that currently stands on the site, just southwest of Pike & Rose.
The first phase of the project would be to construct a six-level building with 131 residential units for people aged 62 and older. The housing would sit above four levels of underground parking and would be on the south side of the existing office building.
The second phase would involve building a larger active adult complex, which could be up to 150 feet tall and have 233 units, according to the plan. An urban plaza would be wedged between the building’s north side and Executive Boulevard, and above-ground and underground parking would serve the community.
The final building would be an office and retail tower of up to 200 feet, standing at the intersection of Old Georgetown Road and Executive Boulevard. The plan calls for a neighborhood green of about a half-acre near Old Georgetown Road, possibly including seating areas and public art or a pavilion. Sidewalks and paths would connect an urban plaza at the tower’s northeast side with the entrance and the neighborhood green.
Read the entire article here.
From The Washington Post
Maryland will give Metro its full share of $167 million a year in new, permanent funding, the governor and leaders of both legislative chambers said Thursday, putting the transit system on track to win a historic regional deal to support it.
Virginia and the District have committed to provide their share for a total of $500 million a year in the dedicated funding that Metro says it needs for capital investments to ensure safety and reliability.
With Maryland’s assent, and barring last-minute hitches, the system will receive a reliable revenue stream for the first time since its trains began rolling in 1976.
“This is terrific news for Metro customers, as well as the businesses and communities we serve,” Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld said.
“In the last two weeks, we have seen history made in the Greater Washington region” as jurisdictions have joined “to make an unprecedented commitment to our Metro system,” said MetroNow, a broad coalition of business, nonprofit and advocacy groups.
In a related development, Metro got some good financial news from Capitol Hill: The omnibus federal spending bill moving through Congress includes a full $150 million annual appropriation for its capital spending for the current fiscal year. The White House has proposed cutting the subsidy to $120 million for the next fiscal year
Read the full article here.
On Tuesday the Montgomery County Council unanimously agreed to a compromise proposed by County Executive Ike Leggett that delays the start of construction of Montrose Parkway East for one year.
In a memo, Ike Leggett said that the one-year delay from Leggett’s initial proposed construction schedule will allow Montrose Parkway to be redesigned to incorporate better pedestrian and bicycle facilities and connections.
The savings from the delay in Montrose Parkway will allow the following projects to be funded:
Begin making progress on adding a new entrance at the White Flint Metro station
Design and initial construction of Forest Glen Metro station access improvements
Design of bus rapid transit on Veirs Mill Road
Planning a new bus rapid transit system for New Hampshire Avenue
Buying land and beginning the designing of the Burtonsville Access Road
Making investments on new infrastructure in the bicycle and pedestrian priority areas
Buying land and conducting design work for the first phase of extending Observation Drive in the Clarksburg area
Planning for Dale Drive safety improvements in Silver Spring
Read more at Bethesda Beat and in The Washington Post.
We need your help to make our April 12 District One Candidates Forum a huge success. Will you volunteer?
We need note takers to jot down the pithy and not-so pithy points made by the candidates. We also need someone to videotape the forum and do a Facebook live video. Email info@whiteflint.org to learn more and to volunteer.
Thank you!
(As a reminder, the forum is Thursday, April 12, 7 pm, Bethesda North Conference Center.)
The modern and hip 177-room Canopy by Hilton opened last week. Also, folks began to move into their gorgeous new condos at 930 Rose last week.
Canopy by Hilton and 930 Rose at Pike and Rose
A condo at 930 Rose
The just right room at Canopy By Hilton
The White Flint Downtown Advisory Committee met this week, and here’s what happened.
Corey Pitts, BRT Project Manager for Montgomery County’s Department of Transportation, gave a presentation on Bus Rapid Transit on Route 355. (We’ll post his presentation as soon as we receive it.)
The executive committee met with County Executive Ike Leggett and said it was a positive meeting.
Ken Hartman Director of the Bethesda Regional Services Center said that his crew removed 150 bags of litter from the WMATA site and will soon tackle the Gables site.
Peggy Schwartz from the Transportation Management District announced Bike to Work Day is May 18 will be held in Rose Park at Pike and Rose.
Nkosi Yearwood from Montgomery County said no new projects have been filed. He thought Pike and Rose’s new office building should go before the Planning Board next month. On April 9, the G & O committee takes up the expansion of the White Flint taxing district to include Guardian, Wilco and part of the Wilgus properties.
The next WFDAC committee will be Wednesday, April 4 at 8am at a location TBD.