Council meets at 1:15 p.m. on March 26 to review the Veirs Mill Corridor Master Plan

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Also on March 26: Public forum on County’s Campaign Finance Program begins at 7:30 p.m.

The Council meeting on Tuesday, March 26 will begin at 1:15 p.m. Individuals interested in attending a Council meeting should confirm the information on the day of the meeting by visiting the Council’s web page or by calling the Council’s Communication Office at 240-777-7832. All meetings are held in the Council Office Building (100 Maryland Ave., Rockville, MD.) in the third-floor hearing room, unless otherwise noted.

Veirs Mill Corridor Master Plan: Land Use and Transportation
The Council will discuss the Veirs Mill Corridor Master Plan, which focuses on pedestrian safety, compatibility with adjoining land uses, potential redevelopment opportunities and improved connectivity. The plan extends approximately four miles, from the City of Rockville to the Wheaton Central Business District and Vicinity Sector Plan boundary. The Council held a public hearing on the plan on Feb. 7 at the Holiday Park Senior Center to hear directly from residents in their own community. The Veirs Mill Corridor Master Plan seeks to:

•  improve connectivity between transit and community uses and facilities;
• enhance safety for all users of Veirs Mill Road;
• support the existing residential scale and character; and
• introduce limited redevelopment opportunities to strengthen the existing neighborhood centers and identity.

The plan recommends retaining most existing multi-family residential developments but recommends rezoning garden-style apartments in the Twinbrook area to “facilitate the redevelopment of higher density housing” close to transit. With concerns that redevelopment could increase the affordability of housing in the area, the Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee is recommending “no net loss” in market-affordable housing for the area, meaning that current affordable housing units will be replaced one-to-one with units that will be required to offer rents that are affordable to families earning 80 percent or less of the area median income for 20 years.

The County Executive’s staff estimates the County cost of new capital improvements associated with the draft plan to be $175.3 million, all of which would be transportation improvements. The largest items are for the assumed County costs to construct Veirs Mill Road Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Alternative 2.5 ($39.6 million) and, ultimately, to include continuous BRT lanes (Alternative 3, another $34.4 million); and grade separating Veirs Mill Road over the Matthew Henson Trail ($44.4 million). The $56.9 million balance is almost entirely for other bicycle and pedestrian improvements.

The Council staff report can be viewed here. The Council staff report with the transportation elements of the plan can be found here.

Vision Zero: Veirs Mill Corridor
The Council will discuss Vision Zero, a long-term plan that aims to eliminate fatalities and severe injuries on Montgomery County roads by 2030. The County’s plan puts resources in place to reduce severe and fatal collisions on County roads by 35 percent for vehicle occupants, bicyclists and pedestrians by November 2019. This discussion will focus specifically on the Veirs Mill corridor considering the current master planning of this area.

The Council staff report can be viewed here.

The following public hearings will be held on March 26 at 1:30 p.m.:

• Bill 4-19, Personnel - Merit System - Requesting Salary History Prohibited
  Councilmember Evan Glass is the lead sponsor. All other Councilmembers are cosponsors. The goal of this bill is to help eliminate wage inequity between genders for Montgomery County Government employees. The Council staff report can be viewed here.
• Bill 5-19, Development Impact Tax for Transportation and Public School Improvements - Exemptions – Amendments. Councilmember Hans Riemer is the lead sponsor. The goal of this bill is to limit the exemption of market rate dwelling units to situations where at least 25 percent of the units in a development are Moderately Priced Dwelling Units (MPDU) with a long price restriction. The Council staff report can be viewed here.
• Bill 6-19, Landlord-Tenant Relations - Termination of Lease - Tenant Health and Safety. Councilmember Tom Hucker is the lead sponsor. The goal of this bill is to allow tenants to protect their health by providing them an opportunity to terminate their lease if there are serious health and safety violations that remain uncorrected. The Council staff report can be viewed here.
• Bill 7-19, Environmental Sustainability - Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy Program - New Construction. Councilmember Tom Hucker is the lead sponsor. The goal of this bill is to promote environmental sustainability by allowing new commercial construction to be eligible for the CPACE program. The Council staff report can be viewed here.
• Supplemental appropriation to the Montgomery County Public Schools’ (MCPS) FY19 Operating Budget - $300,743 for the Learning in Extended Academic Programs Grant. The Council staff report can be viewed here.
• Supplemental appropriation to MCPS’ FY19 Operating Budget - $1,350,000 for the Striving Readers’ Comprehensive Literacy Grant. The Council staff report can be viewed here.
• Supplemental appropriation to MCPS’ FY19 Operating Budget - $2,068,305 for the Title IV, Part A: Student Support Enrichment Grant. The Council staff report can be viewed here.

At 7:30 p.m. the Council will hold a public forum on the County’s Campaign Finance Program. Residents are encouraged to testify regarding their observations, opinions and experiences to help inform the Council’s future deliberations on this matter. In 2014, the Council enacted Bill 16-14 establishing a voluntary public campaign financing system for candidates for County Council and County Executive.

• Beginning with the 2018 election, a candidate for County Council or County Executive could seek matching funds for small dollar contributions of $150 or less from a Public Election Fund.
• During the program’s inaugural election cycle, 68 candidates ran for either County Executive or County Council.
• Of the 38 candidates that filed an intent to use public campaign financing for one of these offices, 23 candidates ultimately obtained public financing.
• Two-thirds of Councilmembers that won an elected office in 2018 chose public financing, as did the County Executive.
• The County ultimately spent approximately $5.2 million during the 2018 elections on public financing ($4.1 million during the primary election and $1.1 million during the general election).

The public forum will focus on potential improvements to the current program. A copy of the press release is available here.

The Council meeting and public hearings will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM). The channel can be viewed on Cable Channels 996 (high definition) and 6 (standard definition) on Comcast; Channels 1056 (HD) and 6 (SD) on RCN; and Channel 30 on Verizon.

The Council meeting also will be available live via streaming through the Council web site at: http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/ondemand/index.html.

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Release ID: 19-111
Media Contact: Sonya Healy 240-777-7926, Juan Jovel 240-777-7931