6Ej?W AmWN 141 7M uc NS7wjGT I r~. MM Parking Lots/Parking Garage ^, I wesp . - ~~;~(; Gazette .. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - • - - - V~ednesday, 'I10;1996 g Parking parkingMARC plan garage on MTA-has put on hold.for' hold plans for \\~~,a~'S' h:Nqyi, ~'»q.ir ,.., . ,;~!-.,"`3., µ x .r ?, ;..'.ffi' F. .z ' .it.vaa;'a'.;.b< INIARC. 01 by Karen Louden ' ' " Planned o i Staff Writer <N pArlcit3g tOi Plans for a parking garage at. ~7roa a the Germantown MARC train ,~ 118 Lot B % S station are on hold as trans-';. portation officials look at an'al- p #g ternative to accommodate coin- e~~•FF'~, '„yp~i.~l muters. Lot A/I The station is located in 0 Germantown's. historic district off Route 118 near Wisteria Drive. The station has two parking lots on the east side of Route 118,' one on each side of the train tracks. The existing lots can hold a total of 348 vehi- cles. 0 118 mie Last summer, the Maryland Mass Transit Administration the county, with 425. to 450 pas- 118, and recommended a more (MTA) suspended preliminary sengers daily. Philips said the modest structure of a two- or engineering and design plans parking lot is 80 to 90 percent three-story complex with 768 for a parking garage at the full each day, and plans for an- spaces. The Planning Board Maryland .Rail Commuter sta- other lot are in response to Ger= also suggested the surface lot be tion. mantown's steady increase in suspended in place of the MTA.is moving forward with population. garage. a proposal approved by the "It's one of the fastest grow- Included in the debate was Montgomery County Planning ing communities," she said. which location would have the Board last year for a 340-space MTA's move• to put garage least 'impact on the surrounding lot on the west side of Route plans on-hiatus came after a de- community. 118, opposite the station. cision last July that had the In a planning staff report last . Anthony Brown, MTA county Planning Board and the year, Matthias stated that the spokesman, said the cost of the state at odds on the location and MTA proposed east-side site lot is $1.5 million, and is sched- design of the garage. would conflict with the Ger- uled to be completed in the Moreover, Matthias said the mantown Master Plan that calls summer of 1997. Brown said garage is not an immediate for' a structure that is visually MTA, plans to build a surface need, but could be in the future and functionally compatible lot at the 3.6-acre site' and will as Germantown continues to with the neighborhood. re-evaluate the need for more grow. Brown said when the parking parking. "It's an issue that didn't have garage issue is revisited in the John Matthias, planning co- to be resolved at the time," future, officials will consider ex- ordinator for the county's trans- Matthias said. isting studies while updating in- portation planning division, said MTA favored building a five- formation based on the "needs MTA will look at how the lot is level, 780-space garage on the of the community and develop- used by commuters to deter- existing lot on the east side of ment of the area." mine if additional space is war- Route 118, next to the historic Matthias.said he hopes MTA ranted. Pumphrey-Mateney house. will "take in consideration the Nancy Philips, MTA spokes- The county-suggested build- issues the community and our woman, said the Germantown ing on the west side of Route staff have raised." station draws the most riders in Mass.tree clearing irks16cal. residents by Susan Singer- the trees along New Hampshire down. Horan. Staff Writer ~%O i~f"''' Avenue provided, said - Do- In the last few years, BG&E He asked BG&E to stop cut- minique. has received numerous com- ting down trees until all parties can Ortuzar- Throughoutg the winter, Alice "All of New Hampshire Av- plaints from customers about meet with Margaret Rifkin, the looked out her window and watchedrtuzarlooked in planner for and. enue is important to the character power outages, said Kurt Merkel, county's lead the horror as workers cleared the trees BG&E's district forester. The Sandy Spring-Ashton Master Plan. Avenue ofSandy Spring/Ashton," reads the .Shrubs along New Hampshire master plan. utility is responding to customer Ortuzar asked that someone north of Route 108, The plan recommends preserv- complaints in doing tree work from .the Sierra Club be included ing.the character of New Hamp- along New Hampshire Avenue, in the meeting to explain a better She spoke to friends and neighbors and said. way of while no one liked to see the trees and shire Avenue by keeping the cur- he controlling tree growth vegetation cut, no one knew what to do tent road classification and the "Last time we trimmed through along roadways. about it. number of through-lanes. It offers here, we got a lot of complaints on "In areas they're doinga master way it looked," said Merkel. plan, we need to be part of the She spoke to the foresters from the De- strategies for preserving and en- the hancing the road's character. "We're to a no-win situation." process," said Horan. Since February,from Route 108 The .quality of the branches . Rifkin said the Planning Board partment of Natural Resources and the north toward Brinklow, contractors along New Hampshire Avenue routinely reviews state and county Baltimore Gas & Electric,Co. who were have been cutting down the trees was low, said Rodney Riffle, a for- road projects. State Department of ,on the job. The trees had to go, she was that form a canopy over the road est ranger with the State Depart- Natural Resources projects do not told. and give New Hampshire Avenue ment of Natural Resources. currently get reported to the Plan- But she didn't like their answer. its rural character. Riffle said BG&E has a state ning Board for review. Then last week, Ortuzar called "Utilities need to provide elec- permit foi the tree work and the "We need "to set up a system her state representative, Sen. trical service," said Jeff' Horan, re= permission, of all homeowners where we need to be contacted Christopher McCabe (R-14, Easi gional forester with the Maryland whose trees are being cut. when there's work," said Rifkin. County, Howard County) of Elli. Department of Natural Resources. "Usually, there is not a great Horan and Rifkin agree the rur- cott City and Del: Pat Faulkner "BG&E hires foresters to figure deal,of consensus — people either al character of New Hampshire (R-14A, Olney) of Silver Spring. out the best way to have electricity love or hate trees," said Horan. Avenue can be preserved if slow They arranged a meeting last and preserve resources." He did not know about the.new growing indigenous plants and week on New Hampshire Avenue Tree trimming, he said, opens master plan or the general feeling shrubs, such . as dogwoods and between Ortuzar and representa-. the trees to disease. After several of community concern for the redbuds, are planted along the tives of the Department of Natural trimmings, . trees became un- ,. trees. edge of the 'road. resources, BG&E.and Russell Do- healthy and need to be cut down "We need to come to some Horan said he hopes to meet minique. before the branches start falling agreement about proceeding," said with Rifkin this week. Dominique is acting president. of the Ashton-Sandy Spring Civic Association and a member of the Sandy Spring-Ashton Master Plan Citizens Advisory Committee. The new master plan declares the importance of the rural charac- ter of the area's roads, an element TEL: Mar 16'95 17:05 No.002 P.01 Raymond J. Hower 19215 Blunt ave. Germutown, Maryland 20874 FACSiMII.E TRANSMISSION L fhYKAI~Vvr~~hlNl,.1I3:'i?rJ,iu ~ I DATE: 03-16-95 ) MAR 16 1995 n TEL #: 301-217-2170 -7- '$ -- JLJ TO: MR. EDWARD DANIEL SILVER SPRING. MD FROM: RAYMOND HOWAR SUBJECT: GERMANTOWN TRAIN STATION PAGES: { )INCLUDING GOWER PAGE Dear Mr. Daniel; Many thanks for the letter notifying me ofthe meeting ca w rning the proposed changes at the train station. It has been difficult to determine which governmental agency to correspond with as the field changes so quickly. All ofthe proposed building has caused great concern and will continue to be involved in the changes that are taking place, I will address this letter to you and forward copies to related persons and agencies-gencies_ AAfter ter the Action Committee meeting it was apparent that there are several outstanding issue that need to be resolved and the impact of these changes on the Historic District and residential neigihborhood. 1.) Acquisition of water Street property and subsequent building of parlong lot 2)Building of commuter shelter in and around station platform 3.) Proposed acquisition of additional property lot P-209 by NITA from CSC and future use as a parking lot 4.) Train Station attendant moving to the Station in front of my house The above described issues are of great concern to me, as my house sits directly across from the train station. My position has not changed as it relates to the fundamental issue TEL: Mar 16'95 17:05 No.002 P.02 of continued commercialization ofthe Germantown Hstorical District and the enclosed residential neighborhood by the agencies involved . I am still opposed to any additional parking lot allocated for the District and my reason are as follows, 1.) The existing parldng lots are not to capacity and have never reached capacity.