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April 7, 2016

Nancy Floreen
President,
Montgomery County Council
Rockville, Maryland
Dear Councilwoman Floreen:
We are a small subgroup of the SaveWestbard Citizens Group, writing on behalf
of our community which is opposed to the proposed Westbard Sector Plan.
Thank you for your April 6, 2016 response to the SaveWestbard correspondence
and sharing with us the Council's proposed changes to the Planning Board
recommendations. Those changes, however, fail to address the concerns
expressed in our correspondence and underscore the need for further
deliberations by the Council and delay of the Council's scheduled vote on the
subject.
Your letter refers, as one basis for the Council's proposals, to consultations the
Council has had with area community associations. Let us assure you that
neither we nor any of the 1000 plus people who oppose the current plan, process
and scope are represented by those associations in respect of such serious
matters. If community associations have indeed offered their support to the
Planning Board's recommendations and Council's proposed changes, it has been
without consultation or authority. If through their participation, the associations
purport to confer legitimacy on the planning process, it would be deeply
concerning, and clearly an issue for consideration by our community. We
therefore will take this opportunity to make investigation.
It should therefore come as no surprise that the Westbard community continues
to oppose the Planning Board's recommendations, as modified by the Council's
proposals, because the plan, even as modified, disregards basic, common sense
development planning and would ignore the adverse impact of the plan on our
community. The plan would inflict on the community a dramatic increase in
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residential density and adversely impact our roads, utilities, taxes, schools, and
quality of life. None of the changes proposed by the Council fundamentally
mitigates these problems.
At the heart of our concern is the Council's proposal to permit an additional 800
residential units. The stated justification for this major increase in residential
density is that it would facilitate the commercial redevelopment of the Westbard
shopping center. Eight hundred additional residential units, on top of the
approximately 580 authorized under current zoning, would increase density more
than 2 fold! Thats approximately more than 4,000 additional people in the area,
overcrowding our roads and schools, and straining county infrastructure and
services.
That the Council has decided to sacrifice the schools, roads, amenities,
infrastructure and character of our community in order to facilitate a developer's
windfall profits is an outrageous perversion of the public interest. Equity One
bought the property subject to the prevailing zoning. At a very early meeting they
acknowledged that they could easily and would happily build within the current
scope. There is absolutely no public interest justification for this imposition on
our community.
The Planning Board, in its deliberations and its report to the Council, has relied
upon an inadequate traffic study and unreliable population projections in order to
minimize projected impacts, and advance a planning agenda contrary to the
public interest. It has done so clearly in order to favor Equity One's interests.
We challenge the integrity, basis and motivation of the Board's process and
resulting plan.
The Council, if it supports this plan, will have left the community and citizens to
which it is accountable vulnerable to Equity One, its lobbyists, and its ever
demanding, predatory development strategy. It is Equity One's history to pursue
profit to the detriment of community and quality of life. Its history in other
locations is clear. The community is unalterably committed to halting this
development.
We respectfully request that the Council reject this plan, or at a minimum delay
its scheduled vote until the community has an opportunity to review the materials
we received only yesterday and to receive additional documents requested from
the County Council and its members relating to Equity One and its plan, including
all communications from, about and between the Planning Board, the Council,
and Equity One. We insist on transparency and a fully participatory democratic
process. We insist that the Council fulfill its obligations as our elected
representatives.
Below we address the balance of the Council's offered positions:

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Delete recommendations for potential redevelopment of the existing light


industrial land, which has services (such as car repair shops) that are
important to the community.
SW: This is justified, but not a material concession.

Delete the "floating zone" recommendation and all references to potential


redevelopment of the Little Falls Library.
SW: We insist on a vote by the Council that affirms that this Library and its
surrounding area will neither be replaced nor built upon.

Delete all zoning recommendations that would have increased the heights
and density of properties in the River Road Corridor (including the
shopping center with Whole Foods).
SW: This is consistent with SW's position.

Reduce heights and densities on various properties in the Westbard


Avenue District (including the Westwood Shopping Center, Westwood II,
and the Manor Care site).
SW: Only a 50 ft limit on all these properties is acceptable.

Require additional affordable housing on larger developments.


SW: We do not agree that additional affordable housing development is
necessary. We also challenge whether the proposed affordable housing
will indeed be affordable by any reasonable measure.

Take steps to ensure the creation of the Willet Branch Greenway Park and
other new parks recommended in the Sector Plan.
SW: This was offered to neighborhood groups as a concession to secure
support for increased development. We do not object to additional green
spaces, but not if this is a concession to secure support for the planned
development.

Council staff is now preparing a resolution to document all of the specific


changes to the Planning Board Draft needed to implement the Council
changes. As soon as a draft of this document is ready, it will be available
on the Council website for public review.
SW: The community requires that any resolution be available for public
review and comment before a vote, which would require at least 4 weeks
in light of the voluminous documents involved and the delays created by

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the Council in failing to promptly deliver requested documentation.


Please share this letter with the other members of the County Council.

Respectfully submitted,

SaveWestbard Citizens Group

Contacts:
Jeanne Allen, jeanneallen1@me.com
Patricia Kolesar, pkoles@verizon.net
Robert Lipman, bobbylipman@gmail.com
Jonathan Cahn, jonathan.cahn@gmail.com
Dominique Cahn, cahndm@gmail.com

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