Community Issues

Our Community Issues page contains detailed information and links regarding a wide variety of local interests. Use the inks below as a means to explore some of the most recent developments in our community and feel free to peruse the other resources on our web site to develop a greater understanding of matters of concern to the citizens in our community.

Purple Line

The Purple Line is a proposed 16-mile light rail that will be operated by the Maryland Transit Authority (MTA) and will run from New Carrollton to Bethesda. The current plans call for a station at Connecticut Avenue, near the Chevy Chase Lake Shopping Center. The Purple Line will run on the Capital Crescent Trail in close proximity to many homes in our community.

On May 14, 2012, representatives from the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) met with our community to discuss the latest Purple Line plans. This meeting focused on the segment of the Purple Line that is planned to run through our community, between Connecticut Avenue and Rock Creek Park. A copy of the slide presentation can be viewed by clicking here. Drawings depicting the segments of the Purple Line and the Capital Crescent Trail that will run through our community can be viewed by clicking here.

For more information about the Purple Line, please click on the links to the articles listed below:

Chevy Chase Lake Re-Development

We live within what the County refers to as the Chevy Chase Lake Sector. Planners are laying the ground work for a major re-development of the commercial and residential area along Connecticut Avenue, Manor Road, and Chevy Chase Lake Drive. The biggest landholder in this sector is the Chevy Chase Land Company, which is proposing a large, mixed-use re-development on the shopping center site.

The Montgomery County Planning Department has submitted its Draft Sector Plan to the Planning Board. The planners have recommended that future development be capped at a total of 1,500,000 square feet of additional development, including about 1,000 additional apartment units. They also have recommended that this development be staged, such that only 250,000 square feet of development (including about 150 apartments) would be permitted before the Purple Line is funded, with the rest to be permitted only after the Purple Line is funded.

However, the major landowners - which include the Chevy Chase Land Company, the Housing & Opportunities Commission, Newdale Mews apartments, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute - are seeking zoning changes that would permit far more development than what the planners have recommended. In total, they appear to be asking for zoning changes that could permit as much as 2.7 million square feet of development, including as much as 1,600 new residential units. Also, they all want much more pre-Purple Line development than the planners have recommended. In particular, the Chevy Chase Land Company is seeking permission to replace the grocery store and TW Perry's with a development that would include about 700 new apartments, before the Purple Line.

Following the October 18th public hearing, the Planning Board will decide whether to adopt a Sector Plan that follows the recommendations by the Planning Staff, or whether it will adopt a Sector Plan that more closely follows what the developers are proposing. For more information about the re-development of Chevy Chase Lake, please see the articles below.

Education

The schools in the B-CC cluster are some of the best schools in the State of Maryland, but overcrowding is a serious concern. The Board of Education recently selected the Rock Creek Hills Local Park as the site for a new Bethesda-Chevy Chase Middle School. To see the Board's official action paper, click here.

The County also plans to expand elementary schools and the high school within the B-CC Cluster, including Rosemary Hills Elementary School and North Chevy Chase Elementary School. The proposed expansions of the elemenary school are to be completed by August 2015. The new middle school is to be built by 2018, and the expansions to the high school are to be completed by 2018.

Click here to view the FY 2013-2018 Capital Improvements Program, which contains the enrollment projections for the schools within the B-CC cluster, the current enrollment vs. school capacity, and information related to the planned expansions of our schools.

Traffic and Pedestrian Safety

In April 2012, the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) implemented several traffic-calming and pedestrian-safety improvements to Jones Bridge Road, including raised pedestrian crosswalks and medians to prevent the dangerous use of the middle turn lane as a passing lane (which has caused many accidents over the years). These improvements are a great first step in making this road safer for everyone, especially our community's children. This Summer or Fall we will be forming a committee to discuss ideas for other traffic-calming and pedestrian-safety improvements that we would like to see throughout the community. If you are interested in being a part of this effort, please contact us.

Transportation

On May 22, 2012, a task force appointed by Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett issued a report providing a comprehensive proposal for a 160-mile County-wide bus rapid transit network. The system is estimated to cost about $1.8 billion to build and $180 million a year to maintain. This proposed network includes a route that will run down Connecticut Avenue (from the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Connecticut Avenue in Aspen Hill) to the proposed development at Chevy Chase Lake, with a "spur" that travels west on Jones Bridge Road to Walter Reed/Bethesda Naval. The task force proposes paying for the network by creating special tax districts.

For more information about the proposed County-wide bus rapid transit network, please click on the links to the articles listed below:

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