Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Wheaton Redevelopment Update

Some very long hours at work have kept me from posting about this sooner, but input to the county council from residents regarding Wheaton redevelopment is still needed this week.  The council and the county executive office are in the process of hammering out a compromise for what the $55 million in Wheaton redevelopment can be spent oc.  For those of you in favor of the platform over the metro, you should email the council to tell them that they should include the bus bay platform in the list of projects that the $55m can be used to fund.  It's sounding like the negotiations are moving towards listing a number possible projects the $55m could be used for - i.e. the parks and planning office building, town square, etc.  At the last WRAC meeting, a DGS representative basically said that B.F. Saul will most likely walk away from their project if the platform funding doesn't happen.

Getting the platform added to that list for the $55m is an important first step in making the construction of the platform a reality.  Once (and IF) that happens, there will still be a struggle down the line to make sure the money actually goes to the platform and doesn't get diverted to one of the other potential projects that will be listed (everyone seems to acknowledge that the $55m won't be enough to do everything that will be listed).  So, please, email the council again to let them know you want the platform to be included in the funding that they're voting on April 10th.

According to a Patch article, all comments should be submitted by end of day this Wednesday.  Here's the link with contact info for council members.