For Immediate Release: Friday, December 9, 2011
ROCKVILLE, Md., December 9, 2011—The Montgomery County Council’s Planning, Housing and Economic Development (PHED) Committee and its Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment (T and E) Committee will meet jointly at 1 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 12, to get updates on the status of buildout of planned development and its supporting infrastructure for the emerging northern Montgomery community of Clarksburg.
The PHED Committee, which is chaired by Nancy Floreen and includes Councilmembers Marc Elrich and George Leventhal, and the T and E Committee, which is chaired by Roger Berliner and includes Councilmembers Floreen and Hans Riemer, will meet in the Seventh Floor Hearing Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The meeting will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM—Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon). The broadcast also will be available via streaming through the County Web site at www.montgomerycountymd.gov.
As of March 2011, there were 5,197 housing units and 1.25 million square feet of commercial development in Clarksburg. As of that date, an additional 4,694 housing units and 2.6 million square feet of commercial development had been approved, but not yet built.
The worksession will include the new ownership of the Clarksburg Town Center project. Elm Street Development will soon take over as master developer for Newland Development for that aspect of Clarksburg development.
At 2:30 p.m. in the Seventh Floor Hearing Room, the T and E Committee is scheduled to meet to discuss proposed changes in MARC train schedules.
On Dec. 1, the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) announced its intent to revise MARC commuter rail service on the Brunswick Line, effective Jan. 30. The proposal has two components. One component would take an afternoon train that currently terminates in Brunswick and extend it to Martinsburg, W. Va., and would start a morning train in Martinsburg that currently starts in Brunswick. The second component would have a few trains bypass certain stations in Montgomery County with the intent of providing more reliable service.
The latter component has raised concerns among some of MARC's patrons. At Monday’s worksession, John Hovatter, MTA's director of the Office of MARC Train and Commuter Bus Operations, will present the rationale for these changes. The goal for this worksession is to develop a Council position that can be shared with the Secretary of Transportation in the next week, before she makes a final decision as to whether or not to proceed with the proposed schedule changes.
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Release ID: 11-257
Media Contact: Neil Greenberger 240-777-7939, Delphine Harriston 240-777-7931