News Archive — April - August 2004
07/01/2004
Letter from Steve Silverman
County Council President Steve Silverman recently wrote to Olney
Coalition President Nancy Wendt about the 32 acre site on Bowie
Mill Road. more...06/01/2004
Planning Board Final Vote on Olney Master Plan
On 5/27/04 the Planning Board had a final work session and voted
to approve the Olney Master Plan. The work session was spent
discussing points raised in a
letter Olney Coalition sent to the Planning Board. As a
result of the discussion of the Olney Coalition letter, several
changes were made in the master plan. See our analysis of how the recommendation is different than the Public Hearing Draft
and how this new plan will change Olney as we approach full
build out. more...05/26/2004
Montgomery County Civic Federation to Host Presentation on
CITISTAT
Baltimore Mayor Martin J. O'Malley is coming to the June meeting
of the Montgomery County Civic Federation to talk about his
nationally-renowned Citistat program and the equally important
3-1-1 call system. more...05/26/2004
Planning Board Final Vote on Olney Master Plan
Tomorrow (Thursday, May 27), the Planning Board will vote to
transmit the Olney Master Plan to the County Council. We are the
first item on the
agenda for the afternoon session, scheduled to begin at
1:30. The location is the
Planning Offices headquarters, located at 8787 Georgia
Avenue in Silver Spring. This will most likely be a very brief
session. Please plan to attend — your presence tells our
officials that we care about what happens to Olney.05/26/2004
Gazette Article on Public Hearing
In case you missed it, here is a
link to the Gazette article about the public hearing for the
32-acre site on Bowie Mill Road.05/11/2004
Public Record Open Until May 26
The public record for written testimony regarding the
disposition of the 32-acre site (see below) will be held open
until May 26. Address your letters to:Scott W. Reilly,
Hearing Officer
101 Monroe St., 2nd Floor
Rockville, MD 20850
Fax: 240-777-2517
E-mail:
scott.reilly@montgomerycountymd.gov
For ideas on what to write, see our page on
letter-writing hints about the
32-acre site.
05/06/2004
Public Hearing re: 32 Acre Site Well Attended
About 200 people, mainly Olney residents, attended a public
hearing last night regarding the disposition of the 32-acre site
on Bowie Mill Road. Despite assurances from the hearing examiner
that this hearing was not about any particular development plan,
and that the community would have the opportunity for input when
the property goes to site plan review, the Olney community
understands that a major decision is about to be made: will the
site be used for affordable housing, or will consideration be
given to Olney's needs for schools, parks, recreation, and a
Civic Center. The hearing examiner will make a
recommendation to County Executive Doug Duncan, and if he
decides to transfer control of the property to DHCA to be
developed as affordable housing (as has been requested), Olney's
opportunity to find the highest public use of this land will be
lost. Click here to see the Olney
Coalition testimony (and others as we collect them)04/30/2004
Additional Work Session for Olney Master Plan
An additional Work Session has been added for the Olney Master Plan.
The Planning Board will consider the Silo Inn property this
Thursday, May 6.
Click here for the agenda.4/30/2004
Public Hearing on Strategic Plan for Economic Development
The County Council held a hearing on the County Executive's proposed
Strategic Plan for Economic Development. The Plan proposed 2% growth
in the county, when even the Planning Board says our infrastructure
cannot keep up with that rate of growth.
Read more...04/28/2004
Letter Writing Ideas
Write to Doug Duncan and let him know that Olney cares about what
happens to the 32-acre site on Bowie Mill Road!
Click here for ideas...04/28/2004
32-acre Former School Site on Bowie Mill Road ... How Should It
Be Used and Who Decides?
A 32 acre property on Bowie Mill Road, between Ivy Lane and
Darnell Drive, may soon be developed by the Housing Opportunities
Commission (HOC) for subsidized housing (frequently referred to as
“affordable housing”). During the development of the Olney Master
Plan, which is still under review, the MPAG (master plan advisory
group) and the community believed this property was owned by the
school system and was reserved for future school needs. Shortly
before publication of the master plan draft, it was discovered that
the county owns the site, and now the county wants to develop
subsidized housing. read more...04/22/2004
Why Do We Think We Need More School Sites in Olney?
The 1980 Master Plan forecast the population of Olney would
double by 1996, yet the number of school age children would
"increase only slightly." Surprise, surprise, they were wrong.
The number of school age children increased by 31% in that time
frame. The new master plan once again forecasts a significant
jump in population, yet anticipates little growth in school
population, and provides minimal space for new schools.
read more...
04/21/2004
Gazette article on 32-acre property on Bowie Mill Road
Today's
Gazette has a good article about the 32-acre property on
Bowie Mill Road.04/21/2004
Presentation on Silo Inn property made to GOCAA
developer made a presentation to GOCA on April 13 about plans
for the old Silo Inn property ...more04/20/2004
What's Wrong with the 1980 Master Plan Forecast?The
1980 Olney Master Plan said "the maximum theoretical capacity of
land in Olney ... is 10,800 units." So how come we have 12,662
housing units existing now? And lots more on the way?
Read all about it...04/20/2004
Olney Coalition Meets with Councilmember Mike KnappOn
April 1 the Olney Coalition met with Councilmember Mike Knapp to
discuss the staff draft of the Olney master plan. The objective
of this meeting was to brief Councilmember Knapp about the
consequences of flawed forecast data in the Olney master plan
staff draft and to enlist his support to bring future
development in line with the capacity of area roads, schools and
emergency services.
more...04/20/2004
Olney Coalition Meets with University of Maryland Professor
Dr. Jim CohenMembers of the Olney Coalition met with
Dr. Jim Cohen, a Professor in the Urban Studies & Planning
Program at University of Maryland, on April 9th. The objectives
of this meeting were to open a dialog with the University’s
planning experts and to increase our understanding of the social
equity issues associated with some land use programs.
more...04/20/2004
Write-up of the Montgomery County Civic Federation
Transportation Plan
See our Transportation section
for a write-up of a presentation made at the April 12 Montgomery
County Civic Federation.04/20/2004
Our Notes from Planning Board Work Session 6Members of
the Olney Coalition attended the sixth Planning Board work
session on the Olney Master Plan on March 18. See the
Planning Board Work Sessions
page for details.04/17/2004
Major
News Update is On Its Way!
 Thank
you for your patience as we have not added much news in the last
two weeks. But it's not because things aren't happening! Olney
Coalition members have spent every spare moment the last two
weeks meeting with council members and other government decision
makers, attending Planning Board hearings, reading miles of
microfilm, talking with experts in various fields, going to
civic association meetings, etc. And now we are finally getting
a chance to write it all up. Please come back soon for a major
update! (Sign up for the news service and we'll send you an
e-mail as soon as the update is posted on this website!)
News Archive for March 2004
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