32-acre Former School Site on Bowie Mill Road
How should it be used and who decides?
Overview
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.
A hearing was held on May 5, 2004 at the Executive Office Building
Lobby Auditorium in Rockville to determine if the property should be
disposed. Olney residents overflowed the room and it was standing
room only. Several Councilmembers (Mike Knapp, Marilyn
Praisner, and Steve Silverman) and several civic organizations (the Olney Coalition, the Upper
Rock Creek Coalition, and the Montgomery County Civic Federation)
requested that the disposition process for this site be suspended until
the Olney Master Plan is completed. The County executive has
not issued a recommendation as of March 2005.
Background
This 32-acre site, bounded by Bowie Mill Road, Daly Manor Place,
Darnell Drive and Ivy Lane, was originally designated to be Olney High
School. In 1996, the school board declared the property to be surplus
and transferred it to the county as part of a deal to pay for the
construction of Forest Oak Middle School in Gaithersburg. This decision
was made in a closed session of the Board of Education, with no
community input. The land use records maintained by Park and Planning
continued to list the site as a future school, even after the deed was
transferred to the county.
During the development of the Public Hearing Draft of the Olney
Master Plan, the community continued to believe the site would be set
aside for a school. In fact, serious consideration was given to a plan
to move Olney Elementary School to the site, and then use the current
Olney Elementary School as a civic center. Due to a large public outcry
from the Williamsburg Village community (where the current Olney
Elementary School is located, at the corner of Georgia Avenue and Queen
Mary Drive), the plan to move the school was taken off the table.
Shortly before the publication of the Public Hearing Draft in July
2003, it was “discovered” that the site had been transferred to the
county, and the plan was hastily revised to recommend using the site for
affordable housing. No other uses were considered for the land.
The existing zoning, R200, permits a maximum of 78 housing units on
the site which would require 15% (12) of these units be MPDUs. Up to 40%
of the homes could be townhouses, and the rest would be single-family
detached houses. Development that complies with the standards of this
R200 zone would be compatible with the existing neighborhoods that are
adjacent to this site. However, if the county develops the land, the
county may not be required to follow the R200 zone standards or to limit the
percent of affordable housing built on the site. Theoretically it could
be 100% affordable housing for any income level, although that is
unlikely because concentration of affordable housing is not consistent
with the county’s policy.
On March 15, 2005, the Council approved R200/PD3 zoning for this
property. This means the base zoning is R200. A developer of
the property may request rezoning to PD3 which takes 6-12 months.
The time and costs to rezone the property may or may not be worth the
number of extra units the PD3 zone allows. The number of units
will depend on the areas that can be developed which is determined by a
Natural Resources Inventory.
What Plans Are Being Discussed?
We have heard a number of different plans for this property:
- The "Swap" idea is how the Council would like to see this
property developed. This idea does not change the number of
units on the property, instead, it changes the ratio of market and
affordable. Since this property is county owned, the Council
wants to be sure a larger number of affordable units are created
when it is developed than are required by law. The
environmental constraints, traffic congestion on Bowie Mill Road,
and compatibility with the existing neighborhoods will limit the
final density of the property. Therefore, when this property
is disposed, there will be a request for proposals (RFP) that will
indicated a total of 58 affordable units must be built either on
this site or another site in Olney. Therefore, this site may
be developed as R200 (78 max units) and include a standard number of
MPDUs (12 units). Meanwhile, on another site in Olney (most
likely Golden Bear or Town Center), the developer will build the
remaining 46 affordable units. This does NOT mean an
additional 46 units will be built at the second location. This
means instead of 46 market rate units, the developer will build 46
affordable units. The swap idea is swapping market for
affordable units, NOT swapping density. The rationale for the
swap is twofold. First, the 32-acre property has several
environmental constraints which will most likely limit the yield.
Second, the 32-acre property is not near amenities (transit,
shopping, etc.) and therefore is not an ideal location for a high
concentration of affordable housing.
- The Planning Staff was asked to prepare design concepts
at two (R200),
three (PD3), and
four (PD4) units per
acre to help visualize the zoning. They did not do a Natural
Resources Inventory (this costs several thousand dollars and is
typically done by the developer of the land) and based their wetland
and stream buffers on the information they had = a GIS map of the
property. The Council voted for the R200/PD3 zoning.
- OBGC proposes a double gymnasium and 60-70 workforce
housing units (no market rate units). Olney Coalition supports
this concept but questions the implementation for three reasons.
First, the gymnasium and parking lots could raise the imperviousness
to a level that may damage the stream, but OBGC seems willing to
work on the design to improve this situation. Second, the
finances of the deal need to be worked out. Third, currently
there is no workforce housing legislation and Councilmembers' best
estimate of when it could be discussed is the end of 2005.
However, this plan could expedite the workforce housing legislation
and become the first workforce housing project for the county.
- The Department of Housing and Community Affair’s vision
for the 32 acres was discussed at the March 9, 2004 meeting of the Greater
Olney Civic Association (GOCA). Elizabeth Davison, head of DHCA, and
Lisa Rother, Manager of the Planning Implementation Section of the
County Executive’s Office were the guest speakers. Ms. Davison said
DHCA has workforce housing in mind for this site. Workforce housing
is a new, not-yet-well-defined program targeted to people earning
between 80-120% of the County median income (from $50,000 for a
small household up to about $100,000 for a family of four.) This
income range includes entry-level professionals, police officers,
teachers, social workers, nurses and other professionals who have
been squeezed out of the housing market in Montgomery County. To
date, there is no official Workforce Housing policy in the County
and it appears HOC has a different idea as to what kind of
affordable housing should be built on this site (see below).
- The Housing Opportunities Commission’s vision for the 32
acres was stated at the March 18, 2004 Planning Board meeting (Olney
Master Plan work session #6.) Scott Minton, the head of HOC, said
that HOC is very excited to have the opportunity to develop this
property for affordable housing. Mr. Minton indicated that HOC is
already working with local architecture students to design a “mixed
income affordable housing demonstration project with mixed uses
including retail.” Mr. Minton mentioned that the design team has
visited the site and is working on their development plans. He asked
the Planning Board for higher densities and greater design
flexibility than allowed within the existing R200 zoning standards.
After some debate the Planning Board tentatively agreed to keep the
R200 zoning in a split vote. However, the Council approved
R200/PD3 zoning.
Interestingly, we have discovered that during the 1980 Olney Master
Plan revision process, HOC submitted a proposal for the 32-acre site
that was based on PD5 zoning which would yield 160 housing units.
Ultimately, if HOC develops the property as a county project, they
may be able to design whatever they want without regard to the zoning
restrictions. What they decide to do is governed by politics, not
the legalities of the zoning ordinance. This is why the community
needs to stay involved.
What is Affordable Housing?
Affordable housing is a general term to describe housing made
available, either for sale or rent, below the current market rate.
County or Federal subsidies pick up the difference in price. Some of the
affordable housing programs include:
- Subsidized (Section 8), targeted to households earning
less than 20% of county median income (about $16,000)
- Moderately Priced Dwelling Units (MPDUs), targeted to
households earning up to 65% of county median income ($38,000 for a
single person; $56,000 for a family of five)
- Workforce Housing, targeted to households earning
80%-120% of county median income ($50,000 – $100,000). Currently
this is a defined need, not an official program.
Note: County median household income in 2002 is $78,647.
Olney is no stranger to affordable housing:
- Olney is home to two HOC-owned properties (Towne Centre Place on
Morningwood Drive and Pond Ridge in the Lake Hallowell community).
- Olney also has a large number of town homes and smaller
single-family homes that are more affordable to lower income
households.
- Olney ranks fourth among the twenty planning areas in terms of
the percentage of housing that is price-controlled MPDUs (2.8%).
- Olney is the location of 8.2% of the total number of
price-controlled MPDUs in the county.
What are the issues?
What is the highest public use of the land?
The Olney Coalition believes that, in the rush to find county-owned
sites for affordable housing, insufficient consideration has been given
to determining the highest public use of this land. After careful
consideration of the data and numerous meetings with county officials
and civic leaders, we believe the highest public uses (listed in
priority order) are:
1. Retain the property in reserve for future
use as a school site. We believe the highest public use
(i.e., most pressing public need) for the property on Bowie Mill Road is
to return it to the school system for future development as a public
school.
The current draft of the Olney Master Plan forecasts an increase of
2,500 housing units and 7,000 to 9,000 people. Yet the plan says “the
proposed growth [in school enrollment] is relatively small.” And despite
population and housing increases projected in both Olney and neighboring
areas, the current school budget projects a 6% decline in Olney school
enrollments by 2009!
This seems to be a case of “déjà vu all over again.” The 1980 Olney
Master Plan forecast a population increase of 50%, but predicted school
enrollments to “increase only slightly by 1996.” Boy, were they wrong!
In fact, between 1980 and 1996,
- enrollment at Olney area schools increased by 31%.
- two new schools, Brooke Grove Elementary School and Rosa Parks
Middle School, were built (Blake High School opened in 1998).
- additions were made to Olney Elementary and Sherwood High
School, with another addition to Sherwood planned for 2007.
- the Magruder cluster, which serves part of Olney, built an
elementary school and a middle school as well.
The plan identifies only one site within the Olney Master Plan area
(Oaks Middle School on Cashell Road) and references a site in the
Upper Rock Creek Plan (Sherwood #6 on Wickham Road). (The site on
Emory Lane is in the ICC right-of-way.) The Sandy Spring / Ashton
Plan does not even mention schools, and the Shady Grove plan admits
that its students will need to be accommodated in adjacent clusters.
Obviously, Olney needs additional school sites. However, the
school system stated again in a
letter to the County Council (see page 33 or circle 11) that
they still do not want this property as a future school site.
2. Designate the site as parkland.
Along with increases in
population and housing units comes an increased need for parkland. The
current forecasts of park and recreation needs used by the Planning
Board were done in 1998 and were based on a projected population of
37,137 in Olney by the year 2010. Recently released census data show the
current population is already 39,260. Olney’s population also has a
significantly higher percentage of children than was forecast.
By designating the site as parkland, the property is also preserved as
something that could potentially revert to a school site if the need
arises.
3. The need for a Civic Center. The Olney Coalition believes
another pressing issue in Olney is the creation of a Civic Center
complex to house such things as the Midcounty Regional Services Center,
a police substation, an expanded library, and a teen center, and to
provide a focal point for the Town Center. The problem is a lack of
publicly owned land within the Town Center. The property on Bowie Mill
Road is outside of the Town Center and would not be a suitable location
for a Civic Center complex. But the property does have value and is an
appealing site for a private developer to build housing.
In order to leverage the Bowie Mill property to create a Civic Center
complex, the property could be sold to a private developer, and the
proceeds of the sale could be used to purchase all or part of a piece of
property within the Town Center. If one of the larger shopping centers
were to redevelop, perhaps the owners would be willing to sell a portion
of the property to the county for a Civic Center.
With the new mixed-use zone that has been discussed by the Planning
Board, the first and second floors could house the public uses mentioned
above and affordable housing could be built on the floors above it. This
arrangement could potentially yield even more affordable housing units
than if the 32-acre site was developed alone.
Town Center is a more appropriate location for a high-density
affordable housing development due to the proximity to shopping and
public transportation. Additional affordable housing would be built on
the Bowie Mill Road property even if developed privately since the site
must include a minimum of 12.5% MPDUs under current regulation.
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