White Flint Sector Plan Phase I Presentation Montgomery County Planning Board April 13, 2009

WHITE FLINT SECTOR PLAN PHASE I
PRESENTATION
Montgomery County Planning Board
April 13, 2009
Luxmanor Citizens
Association
An Inclusive Master Plan
 The Vision of a Better Community

– Pedestrian oriented
– Mass transit - easily accessible
– Publicly-owned green spaces
– Public Art
– Neighborhood involvement
– New communities
– Best Management Practices to restore the natural
environment
– Sustainable Development
Pedestrian Oriented
 Wide sidewalks
 Open-to-the-street markets and shops
 Significant, visible Bicycle parking areas
 Pedestrian-oriented signalization
 Easily accessible mass transit
Mass Transit
 Additional mass transit is REQUIRED for any

plan to work
 Mass transit is REQUIRED for easy access
to metro and buses
 Additional neighborhood friendly public
transit is REQUIRED so neighbors in
surrounding communities can access mass
transit without using their cars
Mass Transit
 The plan will not work and is not sustainable without

additional mass transit, outside the „Sector‟
 The Advisory Group agreed that additional
significant mass transit and not ephemeral „circulator
buses‟ was required
 The revised plan must include significant mass
transit to accommodate 20,000 new jobs and
residents of ~10,000 new residences
Publicly-Owned Streets and Green
Spaces
 Streets must be publicly owned

 First amendment rights must be protected
 Green spaces must be publicly owned and
maintained
 Green spaces must be designed with
community input
Publicly-owned Streets and Green
Spaces
 Model: Solar1, at www.Solar1.org

 Solar1 is a highly successful
neighborhood/government partnership
 Protects and maintains public parks
 Provides environmental education
 Involves citizens in the public process
 Funding: percent of revenue from nearby
parking facilities
www.Solar1.org
www.Solar1.org
 Volunteer in Stuyvesant Cove Park

 Stuy Cove Park has both a dedicated group
of volunteers that help take care of the beds
and planters, and periodic public volunteer
days. Volunteer days will show up on the
events calendar. If you would like to be one
of our dedicated group of volunteers go to
the contact page and send us a message.
www.Solar1.org
 Stuyvesant Cove Park

– 1.9 acres
– Formerly a concrete factory and other industrial
uses
– Green Master Plan
– Public Open Space
– “Stuyvesant Cove Park now represents a shift in
civic values and community land use.”
Public Art
 Public Art must be a part of the new

environment
 Model: Seattle DOT Art Master Plan
 http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/artplan.
htm
 Required in the WF Master Plan: a section
on Public Art
Public Art
 Seattle DOT Art Master Plan

Public Art
 “A plan of action”
 comprehensively detailing how Seattle can become
a national leader in creating a more humane,
layered, beautiful and relevant transportation
system.
 It offers a completely new methodology for rethinking
the practicality and use of our shared right-of-way.
By employing the work of artists, the creativity of
citizens and the ingenuity of SDOT employees, the
gradual implementation of this plan will contribute
significantly to a Seattle whose streets and
sidewalks celebrate life, discovery and creativity.
Public Art
 Hired an Artist-in-Residence
 Produced:
 Book I: The Diagnosis – the big picture of art
in the right-of-way
 Book II: The Toolkit – a reference for project
managers and special projects ideas
 Book III: Sidewalk Survey – a visual
encyclopedia of creativity in the right of way
Public Art
 Directions:
 Work with existing neighborhood artists to
develop a section in the WF Draft Plan on
Public Art
 Reach out in a verifiable way to neighbors
and citizens in a Democratic process
Neighborhood Involvement
 Hold discussions with surrounding neighbors in a

verifiable, transparent manner
 Record comments and provide feedback in a
„comment matrix‟ that is accessible to all and is part
of the Master Plan record
 Continue to keep the Meeting Log current
 Create a mechanism to make sure the residential
landowners are on an equal footing with the
commercial landowners
 Verify that surrounding neighbors have been
involved in the Master Plan Process
New Communities
 Required:
 Library
 Schools that are not over-crowded
 Police, Fire, Emergency Medical
 Parks, small and larger
Best Management Practices
 White Flint exists in a natural environment

and known watershed
 Emphasis must be on restorative practices
 The Upper Rock Creek watershed contains many miles of small

headwater streams unlike Lower Rock Creek, where prior
development piped many headwater areas, impacting aquatic
habitat and stream systems
 The high level of development and lack of stormwater controls

have led to unmitigated flows that have damaged Rock Creek
and its tributaries
 MDE has identified the Rock Creek Watershed in Montgomery

County in the State‟s 303(d) regulation as impaired by nutrients,
sediments, fecal bacteria, and impacts to biological
communities (MDE, 2006)
 Directions:
– Section on sustainability focused on Restoration
and Repair
– BMPs regarding restoration of Rock Creek
– BMPs to decrease CO2 substantially
Sustainable Development
 • Practice “Restorative Redevelopment”

 • Increase the resource efficiency of facilities and buildings
 • Reduce pollution from vehicles
 • Build and Buy Green
 • Work towards reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
 • Reduce the use of pesticides
 • Protect and restore the urban creeks and streams
 • Promote Environmental Stewardship
 • Encourage residents to drive less
 • Improve and optimize Transportation Infrastructure
 • Improve and expand the Green Infrastructure
The Devil is in the Details
 Wall Park
 Access from existing neighborhoods to public
transit
 Building Heights
 Appropriate Density
 Neighborhood/Government Partnerships
Wall Park
 Very important to our neighborhood

 A large community of swimmers in our
neighborhood
 Little attempt by Planning to contact the
neighborhood or the swimming community
 One community meeting to date, at our
behest
Wall Park
 Directions:
 Verifiable Public Involvement
 Transparent Public Process
 Interaction with surrounding community
 Comment matrix accessible to the public
 A model of Park development that is a two-
way street
Access to Public Transit
 Now:
– Existing neighborhoods cannot access public
transit
– Bus signs are confusing
– Bus stops are in dangerous locations
– It is not possible to walk to the metro
– Street crossings are dangerous; signalization is
designed for auto traffic
Access to Public Transit
 Directions:
 Solution:
– Easy access to public transit via Luxmanor Jitney, a small
van that is in the neighborhood linking the neighborhood to
the White Flint Sector
– Bus Signs: Easy to read; inviting; destination and times
written ON THE BUS SIGN
– Bus stops in areas with sidewalks and cross walks
– Slow traffic; fix signalization so it is pedestrian and bicycle
friendly; provide signalization as in DC
Building Heights
 300 feet is too tall

 500 feet is too tall
 www.youtube.com, type „LCA Balloon Test‟ in the
search box
 There are no 300-ft tall buildings in the Mid-Atlantic
region
 Washington DC has height limit
 White Flint Phase II shares a boundary with
Neilwood Drive and Danville Drive, residential
neighborhoods with one story and two story homes
Red Balloon at 300 Feet
Building Heights
 Solution:
– Limit heights
– Explicit height limits in the WF Master Plan
– Do not allow inappropriate building heights along
the Rockville Pike or along Executive Boulevard
– Do not allow Vertical Sprawl
Appropriate Density
 Density must be in keeping with expectations

of the citizens and residential landowners of
the County
Solution:
limit density in the plan in accordance with
public transit and sustainability
conduct a public, transparent discussion on
whether the county residents want to
urbanize
Neighborhood/Government Partnerships
 Directions:
– Work continually with the neighborhoods and
residential landowners
– Listen to the residential landowners for creative
solutions
– Build a democratic, transparent system
End
 Questions?

White Flint Sector Plan Phase I Presentation Montgomery County Planning Board April 13, 2009

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WHITE FLINT SECTOR PLAN PHASE I

 The Vision of a Better Community

 Additional mass transit is REQUIRED for any

 The plan will not work and is not sustainable without

 Streets must be publicly owned

 Model: Solar1, at www.Solar1.org

 Volunteer in Stuyvesant Cove Park

 Stuyvesant Cove Park

 Public Art must be a part of the new

 Seattle DOT Art Master Plan

 Hold discussions with surrounding neighbors in a

 White Flint exists in a natural environment

 The Upper Rock Creek watershed contains many miles of small

 The high level of development and lack of stormwater controls

 MDE has identified the Rock Creek Watershed in Montgomery

 • Practice “Restorative Redevelopment”

 Very important to our neighborhood

 300 feet is too tall

 Density must be in keeping with expectations

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