Wednesday, February 20, 2013
The county planning staff will make recommendations to the board about future bus rapid transit systems at the meeting on Thursday.
Discussion about the implementation of dedicated bus lanes or bus rapid transit systems in Montgomery County will continue at the Montgomery County Planning Board's next meeting, on Thursday, Feb. 21. The county planning staff will update the board on its recent work on the Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan. A public hearing for the plan will be held on May 2, according to a planning department briefing. The planning staff recommends that Maryland State Route 355 "is the best candidate for pursuing a high-quality BRT treatment to serve future planned growth," and that U.S. Route 29 "is the best candidate for implementing dedicated bus lanes in the near term," according to the briefing. There is a concern, however, that …
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Corporate naming and advertising at athletic fields, ice rinks, dog parks and special events are ways Montgomery Parks could bring in new revenue.
Attaching corporate names to facilities owned by Montgomery Parks is nothing new. Just visit the Discovery Center at SoccerPlex in Germantown, named for the Discovery Channel. But now Montgomery Parks, which is part of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, is developing an official corporate sponsorship policy. The Montgomery County Planning Board gave its initial approval last month. The policy will bring in new revenue for facilities and programs, but it does not involve renaming entire parks or selling parks, according to a Feb. 11 statement from Montgomery Parks. The naming and sponsorship program could include regional and recreational athletic fields, ice rinks, dog parks and picnic pavilions. It could also …
Sunday, January 27, 2013
A community meeting is set to detail plans to mark the former plantation home of Rev. Josiah Henson, whose story inspired "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
The Montgomery County Department of Parks will detail plans Feb. 4 to renovate North Bethesda's Josiah Henson Park, the former plantation where Josiah Henson lived and worked as a slave in the early to mid 1800s. Henson, who eventually escaped slavery, is credited as being the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe’s landmark novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. A facility plan is underway that would develop a museum at the site with interacive exhibits highlighting Henson's life. The proposed project would rehabilitate the existing historic Riley/Bolten House—which was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places—and an attached log kitchen. The Parks Deparment will host a community meeting where residents can view schematic designs for…
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
The deer to be culled in the Chevy Chase portion of Rock Creek Park will feel no pain, a natural resource specialist with Montgomery Parks assured Patch.
When news broke about the upcoming culling of deer in Chevy Chase's Rock Creek Stream Valley Park (Unit 2)—the 277-acre part of the park between East-West Highway and the Capital Beltway—many Patch readers expressed concern for the deer, especially pregnant deer. "I understand that there are too many deer. What I don't understand is why this hunt is in February and March when the female deer (doe) are heavily pregnant and ready to give birth. This just adds to the suffering..." Patch user Madelaine Waltjen Shedlick wrote in the comments section of a Jan. 9 Chevy Chase Patch story on the upcoming deer culling. "I totally agree with Madelaine about the deer hunting situation. Please thin the herds in a humane manner so that we will continue …
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Certified park police sharpshooters will begin culling the deer herd in Chevy Chase's Rock Creek Stream Valley Park starting Feb. 11.
It's official: Some of Chevy Chase's deer population will be reduced. Starting Feb. 11, certified police sharpshooters from Montgomery Parks will cull the deer herd in Chevy Chase's Rock Creek Stream Valley Park (Unit 2)—the 277-acre part of the park between East-West Highway and the Capital Beltway. "Highly trained and certified Park Police Sharpshooters will lethally remove deer from the park, under very stringent guidelines and in the most humane way possible," according to a statement from the park and planning commission. Sharpshooting will take place when the park is closed to the public—from 5:30 p.m. until sunrise, through March 31, 2013, and will recur annually from Jan. 1 through the end of March as necessary, the statement added…
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Montgomery County planners will present their vision for development in Glenmont.
Montgomery County planners are looking to bring new development in and around Glenmont’s shopping center and Metro station. Residents can get a preview of the Glenmont Sector Plan Thursday when county planners present a staff draft to the Montgomery County Planning Board. The presentation, “A new vision for Glenmont,” will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Park and Planning Headquarters, 8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring. According to planners, the sector plan “will assess what has changed in the area since 1997, re-evaluate past recommendations, and reflect the community’s vision for a transit-oriented, revitalized community.” Glenmont, according to the vision in the draft, is seen “as a predominately residential neighborhood with new transit-…
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Montgomery Parks proposes adding a park area in Chevy Chase to the county's deer management program.
It's not your imagination—the local deer population really is booming. The number of deer inhabiting a section of Rock Creek Park in Chevy Chase is more than three times what is recommended for the area, according to a news statement from the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. A study by the park and planning commission "indicated that 40 to 50 deer inhabit the 275 acres of parkland located within the boundary of Interstate 495 and East-West Highway," in what is referred to by the commission as Rock Creek Stream Valley Park, Unit 2, Chevy Chase. To control the deer population, Montgomery Parks proposes adding Rock Creek Stream Valley Park, Unit 2, to the county's deer management program, and is accepting public comment…
Allan Suchinsky
12:27 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
So it's okay to shoot your neighbor as long as you aim for the head? Deer wind up in residential areas because we destroy their natural habitats and they have little choice but to forage wherever they can. But this is all their fault and they deserve to pay the ultimate price. Very humane world we live in. more ›