Press Releases

Montgomery County Council Committee Meetings on March 4, 2024

For Immediate Release: Friday, March 1, 2024

Five Council committees will meet to review a wide range of capital budget issues, including transportation, public safety, recreation and health and human services projects

The Public Safety (PS) Committee will meet on Monday, March 4 at 9:30 a.m. to review the 2023 Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) and the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025-30 Capital Improvements Program (CIP) for the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) and the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (DOCR).

The members of the PS Committee include Chair Sidney Katz and Councilmembers Dawn Luedtke and Kristin Mink.

The Transportation and Environment (TE) Committee will meet at 9:30 a.m. to review the FY25-30 CIP for transportation projects, storm drains, stormwater management, and recycling and resource management.

The members of the TE Committee include Chair Evan Glass, Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe and Vice President Kate Stewart.

The joint Planning, Housing and Parks (PHP) and Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee will meet at 1 p.m. to review the FY25-30 CIP for the Western County Recreation Center, which would provide for the design and construction of a new community facility to serve the Poolesville area.

The members of the PHP Committee include Chair and Council President Andrew Friedson and Councilmembers Natali Fani-González and Will Jawando.

The members of the HHS Committee include Chair Gabe Albornoz and Councilmembers Luedtke and Laurie-Anne Sayles.

The PHP Committee will meet at 2 p.m. to review the Takoma Park Minor Plan Amendment and the FY25-230 CIP for the Department of Recreation.

The HHS Committee will meet at 2 p.m. to review the FY25-30 CIP for the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

More detail on each agenda item is provided below.

2023 Emergency Operations Plan (EOP)

Review: The PS Committee will review the 2023 EOP, which is a multidisciplinary, all-hazards plan that establishes a single, comprehensive framework for the management of major emergencies and disasters affecting the County. The plan provides an overview of emergency response operations in Montgomery County and establishes the roles and responsibilities of various departments during emergency operations. In addition, the EOP fulfills state requirement for each city and county to prepare and keep current plans to respond to disasters or large-scale emergencies. The 2023 revised EOP will replace the existing EOP, which was adopted through a Council resolution on March 20, 2018.

Montgomery County Police Department FY25-30 CIP

Review: The PS Committee will review the FY25-30 CIP for MCPD, which has three projects at a cost of more than $31 million over the six-year period. This is a decrease of nearly $18 million from the FY23-28 amended CIP. The change is primarily due to the 6th District Station Police Station Project nearing completion. The CIP includes two additional projects. The first is the Public Safety Communications Center, Phase II, Electrical Distribution and HVAC Upgrade, which provides for both the purchase of the building and the replacement of mission-critical HVAC systems. The second is for the relocation and upgrade of the Outdoor Firearms Training Center, which is located in Poolesville and functions as the department’s primary open air training area. Two additional projects are currently found in the Facility Planning: MCG Project. These include the 4th District Station in Wheaton and a new Alternate Emergency Communications Center.

Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation FY25-30 CIP

Review: The PS Committee will review the FY25-30 CIP for DOCR, which has three projects at a cost of nearly $93 million over the six-year period. This represents an increase of $24 million from the Amended FY23-28 CIP. The increase is due to construction costs for the Justice Center project, which provides for the design and construction of a new Justice Center near Wooton Parkway and Seven Locks Road. The CIP also includes the Montgomery County Correctional Facility and Community Corrections Wi-Fi project and the Montgomery County Correctional Facility Refresh project.

Transportation Projects FY25-30 CIP

Review: The TE Committee will hold its second meeting to review the FY25-30 CIP for transportation projects, which includes a recommended $1.7 billion over the six-year period. Compared to the FY23-28 CIP, this amount represents a $73 million, or a 4.2 percent, decrease in expenditures. The CIP includes funding for bridges, highway maintenance, mass transit, parking districts, pedestrian facilities and bikeway, road and traffic improvements. This meeting will include a project-by-project review of the highway maintenance, traffic improvement, parking and bridge subcategories.

The first meeting on Feb. 26 included an overview of the CIP and a review of mass transit projects. A third meeting is scheduled for March 11 to review pedestrian facilities, bikeways and roads. A fourth meeting is scheduled for March 18 to follow-up on outstanding questions from the first three meetings.

Conservation of Natural Resources - Storm Drains FY25-30 CIP and Stormwater Management FY25-30 CIP

Review: The TE Committee will review the FY25-30 CIP for storm drains and stormwater management. The recommended Storm Drains FY25-30 CIP is more than $35.2 million over the six-year period, or a decrease of 2.9 percent from the approved FY23-28 CIP. The decrease is due to the removal of one-time American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. However, there are inflationary increases recommended for three ongoing projects and the addition of the new River Falls Storm Drain Improvements project.

The recommended Stormwater Management FY25-30 CIP is more than $306 million over the six-year period, which is an increase of more than $177 million, or 137.6 percent, from the approved FY23-28 CIP. Much of the increase is for the implementation of the new Flood Management Plan, which includes $153 million over the six-year period. Additionally, ongoing work in the CIP is intended to meet the impervious area retrofit requirement in the County’s current National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System-Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System permit. In addition, the Wheaton Regional Dam Flooding Mitigation project had been moved to FY26 due to delays in the Dennis Avenue Bridge Replacement project.

Recycling and Resource Management FY25-30 CIP

Review: The TE Committee will review the Recycling and Resource Management FY25-30 CIP, which includes more than $41 million over the six-year period. This is a decrease of nearly $16 million, or 27.8 percent, from the Amended FY23-28 CIP. The CIP includes two ongoing projects for the full upgrade of the recycling center complex and the remediation of the Gude Landfill. The Oaks Landfill Leachate Pretreatment Plant Retrofitting project is a new CIP project. The reduction in six-year expenditures is due to the ongoing projects moving through design and construction phase and the completion of the Transfer Station Fire Detection and Suppression System.

Western County Recreation Center FY25-30 CIP

Review: The joint PHP and HHS Committee will review the FY25-30 CIP for the Western County Recreation Center, which would provide for the design and construction of a new community facility to the serve the Poolesville area. The Town of Poolesville currently has limited access to County services due to its location in the Agricultural Reserve. The new facility would allow local community groups and County departments to improve and expand programming. If approved and constructed, the facility would accommodate a recreation center with a multi-purpose room, social hall, gymnasium and a medical suite to support community health initiatives. Currently, the program of requirements for the facility has not been finalized and the $15.5 million in costs included in the CIP are based on a proposed facility with an estimated 15,000 gross square feet.

Takoma Park Minor Master Plan Amendment

Review: The PHP Committee will hold its third meeting to review the Takoma Park Minor Master Plan Amendment. The plan makes recommendations to improve quality of life, guide future development and encourage improvements to the natural and built environments within the plan area. A minor master plan amendment, like the Takoma Park Minor Master Plan Amendment, revisits a specific portion of the approved and adopted master plan and reexamines certain elements, often to address a change that was not anticipated at the time the adopted master plan was approved. This plan amendment would update portions of the 2000 Takoma Park Master Plan with the Takoma Park Minor Master Plan Amendment.

This amendment re-envisions the areas within the plan boundary that include the Washington Adventist Hospital and University campuses, the Erie Center (located at the intersection of Flower Ave. and Erie Ave.), multi-family properties, parks and the Takoma Park Community Center located along Maple Ave. The plan boundary was determined by the Montgomery County Planning Board in coordination with the City of Takoma Park. The plan boundary was approved by the Planning Board on Sept. 30, 2021. The Council held a public hearing on the plan at Takoma Park Middle School on Jan. 25.

In recent years, the Council and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) have approved and adopted two sector plans for communities in Takoma Park and adjacent areas. These include the 2012 Takoma-Langley Crossroads Sector Plan and the 2013 Long Branch Sector Plan. These plans, in addition to the 2021 Retail in Diverse Communities Study, will inform the Takoma Park Minor Master Plan Amendment process. 

Department of Recreation FY25-30 CIP

Review: The PHP Committee will review the FY25-30 CIP for the Montgomery County Department of Recreation, which has 14 projects at a cost of more than $154 million over the six-year period. The FY25-30 CIP represents an increase of $21.8 million, or 16.4 percent, from the Amended FY23-28 CIP. The increase is primarily due to new projects. These include the Western County Recreation Center, recreation facilities asset replacement, playground replacement, cost escalation for refurbishment projects, and a new cost estimate for the Holiday Park Net Zero Initiative. These increases are offset by the completion of Silver Spring Recreation and Aquatic Center and savings from Wall Park Garage and Park improvements. 

At this meeting, the PHP Committee will review 12 of the 14 projects. The Western County Recreation Center will be reviewed jointly with the HHS Committee. The EC Committee will review the Public Arts Trust and Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center projects.

Department of Health and Human Services FY25-30 CIP

Review: The HHS Committee will review two recommended FY25-30 CIP projects for DHSS that are not education-related. These include the Diversion Center and Non-Congregate Shelter Space. The Diversion Center will offer a continuum of interconnected crisis services that support the diversion of people experiencing a behavioral health crisis from emergency departments and criminal justice facilities to a more clinically appropriate community-based setting. The Non-Congregate Shelter Space Project will allow the County to consider how a non-congregate shelter space for individuals who experience acute challenges in congregate shelters could add to the County's homeless services system.

The joint HHS and Education and Culture (EC) Committee is scheduled to meet on March 21 to discuss five additional education-related DHHS FY25-30 CIP projects. The total FY25-30 CIP for DHHS includes more than $81 million over the six-year period, which represents a $9.8 million, or a 10.7 percent, decrease from the Amended FY23-28 CIP.

---

The Committee meeting schedule may change from time to time. View the current Council and Committee agendas, Council staff reports and additional information on items scheduled for Council review on the Council website.

Council and committee meetings are streamed live on the Council’s web page via YouTube and on Facebook Live and can be watched on County Cable Montgomery on Xfinity/RCN 6 HD 996/1056, Fios 30, and on the CCM live stream.

Release ID: 24-078
Media Contact: Sonya Healy 240-777-7926, Benjamin Sky Brandt 240-777-7884