MoCo Government

“Our approach is to Protect, Preserve and Produce dedicated affordable housing – protecting tenants from displacement while we produce needed new affordable units,” said Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich. “At 515 Thayer, we are protecting tenants from displacement and preserving NOAH housing before it was lost to rising rents. In FY22, the County committed $69 million in low-cost loans to support long-term control of rents on over 1,200 units, including preserving 627 units in 11 properties and producing 587 new units in six properties—which includes repurposed office buildings and on church-owned land.  To protect more tenants and produce even more affordable housing, I recommended, and Council approved, $140 million for affordable housing, with $100 million of that for capital lending—two-and-a-half-times previous budgets.  We have dedicated at least $40 million of that capital lending to preserve affordability of up to 700 units facing increasing rent pressures, including properties near transit like the Purple Line.”

The County provided a $6 million HIF loan in 2021 to support the recapitalization and full renovation of the property.


Takoma Park

On Friday, Takoma Park Police Chief Antonio DeVaul released a message to the community regarding school security preparedness in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The full message can be seen below:

“Our hearts are with the families of the children and teachers who lost their lives in the senseless act of gun violence in Uvalde, Texas, earlier this week.


MCPS

Nearly 6,000 MCPS employees increased their physical activity during Well Aware’s spring physical activity challenge: Fountain of Youth. They took part in a variety of physical activities to compete for prizes, and more importantly, to adopt or maintain healthy lifestyles. Each of the top 15 schools averaged at least 76 minutes of physical activity per employee per day.

Congratulations to all those who improved their health by participating!


Kensington

Kensington’s history began as Joseph’s Park through a land grant of 4,220 acres, located at the time within Charles County, to Mr. William Joseph in 1689. Permitted on September 25, 1705, and now within Prince George’s County, William Joseph’s son used the land for agriculture until he sold it in 1736 to Mr. Daniel Carroll of Upper Marlboro. Carroll, who was one of only five men to sign both the Articles of Confederation (1777) and the Constitution (1787), sold various parcels of land to local farmers. Kensington’s current day form came about from Mr. George Knowles’ property following the construction of the Metropolitan Branch line from Washington, DC to Point of Rocks in 1873.

Bisecting Mr. Knowles’ property, the train began stopping in 1891 at Knowles Station to participate in commerce with Mr. Knowles and the other local farmers. Taking this into account, Mr. Brainard Warner purchased property south of Knowles Station in 1890 from the Brown family and built a summer retreat home. Mr. Warner then began encouraging his friends to purchase parcels of land from him so that they could build summer homes as well. Mr. Warner’s property became known as a “garden suburb” in which he designed after Kensington, England.


Gaithersburg

The Gaithersburg Mayor and City Council held a policy discussion on this application on May 16, 2022, regarding the application of Brett Schaecter of Crain Partners, LLC, to combine the three lots into a single lot to construct a 5,617 square foot automatic car wash building and associated parking lot.  The video of the meeting can be found here where approval was recommended by City Staff (with policy discussion going 3-2 against approval). A final action on the application will be made at the June 21 meeting.

The concept site plan is the first stage in the site plan process. If the concept site plan is approved, which is recommended, the Mayor and City Council can either require that the project come back as a Schematic Development Plan application for Mayor and City Council and Planning Commissions review or direct the Planning Commission to review a Preliminary/Final Site Plan application.


Gaithersburg

BPTC Eighteen, LLC has submitted this Application for Schematic Development Plan approval for development of a multi-family residential building on an approximately 1.25- acre site in the Spectrum at Watkins Mill mixed-use development (103 and 203 Spectrum Ave, located off of Watkins Mill Rd and 355). The plan proposes a 219 unit residential apartment building, and integrated parking garage which will be partially below grade.

The Application includes a sketch plan that was approved on November 3, 2021 to convert the use of the site from commercial to mixed-use commercial and residential.


MoCoSnow

Earlier today we reported on damage at a few Olney homes due to the storms that included Tornado Warnings that came through Friday afternoon. It has been confirmed that an EF-0 tornado touched down in various parts of Olney. Additional information can be seen below, courtesy of the National Weather Service via Iowa State University.

“An EF-0 tornado with winds estimated at 80 MPH briefly touched down in Montgomery County, MD, in the town of Olney on the afternoon of Friday, May 27, 2022.


Gaithersburg

Flags for Our Heroes,” featuring an impressive display of more than 700 American flags, has returned to the lawn at Bohrer Park at Summit Hall Farm for Memorial Day Weekend through Monday, May 30. The flags, which are lit at night, can be viewed 24 hours a day. There is no charge to enter the park.

A formal opening ceremony for the display will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 28. Bohrer Park at Summit Hall Farm is located at 506 South Frederick Ave. in Gaithersburg, adjacent to Gaithersburg High School.


MCPS

Walt Whitman High School has been named a 2022 Maryland Green School, bringing the MCPS total to 91. Staff and students at the certifying schools went above and beyond in this COVID-impacted year: 27 Green Schools successfully recertified this year to retain the honor.

Six schools reached the highly valued “sustainable school” status—Ashburton, Bethesda, Forest Knolls, New Hampshire Estates, Rosemary Hills and Sligo Creek elementary schools—and two schools reached Sustainable Bronze Level: John Poole Middle School and Westbrook Elementary School. Sustainable schools have maintained Green School certification for 16 years. Bronze Level schools have maintained Green School certification for 20 years.


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