Wheaton Safeway Preview Party!

Like a zombie rising from the grave, I am resurrecting my long-dormant blog.  What better inspiration to start blogging again than the preview party I just attended at the brand-new Wheaton Safeway!  I live within a few minutes' walk of the store, so I've been anxiously watching the construction progress and waiting for the store to open.  I was happy to get a surprise email invite to the preview party at the store tonite (probably because I'm involved in a county committee).  It was a pretty sweet party, especially considering it was held in a grocery store - complimentary drinks and appetizers spread out around the store, live music (a steel drum band?!), and....(drumroll please)...free samples of whatever you wanted from their prepared food sections!

As you can see from the photos below, the store is beautiful!  They also were giving away a free bag of groceries to everyone as they left; the last photo below is the swag we got in our bag.  (Apologies for the blurry photos thanks to my iphone camera!)

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.

Council Postpones Vote

It appears that the council has indeed decided to postpone its vote on the parking lot 13 schedule, originally scheduled to be voted on this Tuesday.  Here is the email response I received from George Levanthal's office:

Thank you for your messages. We just learned that the Wheaton revitalization discussion has been postponed and will not take place on Tuesday the 20th. Feel free to keep in touch with my office to find out when it will be rescheduled.



Best regards,

George Leventhal

Montgomery County Councilmember

Reminder to contact county council

This is just a reminder to contact the county council members regarding their plans for parking lot 13.  I'm hearing that the most effective message to send right now is to simply tell them to postpone their vote on the Wheaton parking lot 13 proposal (the vote is currently scheduled in 5 short days on the 20th).  They should not vote on this issue until they have had a dialogue with the community, explained what they feel are the benefits of their plan, and hear input from local Wheaton residents on their vision for the downtown area.

I've been told that all emails should be sent by end of day tomorrow (Friday) to have a shot at getting the council to take this item off their agenda for Tuesday.

Here's the link with email contact information.

County Council throws wrench into Wheaton redevelopement

In a decision that was expected by many to pit funding for a Bethesda elevator against funding for the Wheaton bus bay platform (an essential element to redevelopment plans by BF Saul), the county council on Monday instead decided to throw out months (maybe even years?) of planning by the county and extensive input from local residents and business owners by recommending a totally different vision of redevelopment for Wheaton.

Instead of providing the $42 million in funding to construct the platform over the metro bus bays, a key first step in BF Sauls redevelopment plans, they instead voted to pay $55 million to build an office building for the planning department and county services, a garage and a town square.  The office, below-grade garage, and town square would all be located on the parking lot 13 site.
The BF Saul project would have injected more evening foot traffic into the area through the opening of a hotel on top of the bus bay platform, mid-rise apartment building in parking lot 13 with ground floor retail and restaurants, and a new town square in parking lot 13.  It would have also substantially increased daytime use of the area through the construction of a large, two-tower office building on top of the bus bay platform.  In the process of many meetings and discussions about these projects, the planning department expressed interest in building a new headquarters in the bus bay area at the "tip" of the triangle where Viers Mill and Georgia split.

The county council's version that they sprung on everyone Monday would ditch the planned development over the bus bays completely and instead put their building on parking lot 13 and their own version of a town square in the parking 13.  No funding would be provided for the bus bay platform.

Safeway Demolition Update

The Gazette has posted an update on the anticipated schedule for demolition to start on Safeway.  It sounds like they want to get all of their building permits approved before they start demolition, and right now it's looking like those will come through in April.  So, we're looking at an April or May start for demolition.  So much for my guess of March 7th!

Washington City Paper article on Wheaton Redevelopment

I was surprised to see an article on Washington City Paper's website today about the Wheaton Redevelopment project being headed up by B.F. Saul.  I wouldn't say there was any earth-shattering revelations in it, but I was disappointed to read that there really aren't any provisions to support existing small businesses in our neighborhood once the redevelopment is under way.  While I understand that a private developer isn't obligated to provide assistance to existing small businesses affected by their project, I am disappointed that the county has not assumed more of a leadership role in this.

So, what's up, Montgomery County?  Where's your leadership in this project?  A major part of the feedback during the community meeting the other week was directly related to maintaining the small business community that makes Wheaton unique.  How are any of those concerns going to be addressed if B.F. Saul doesn't plan on doing anything about it?  The county needs to step up now and make sure a framework is in place for maintaining the uniqueness of our neighborhood amidst the redevelopment process.  Don't get me wrong, the development is Silver Spring is a success in many ways.  But other than the restoration of the AFI, the rest of the redeveloped area of Silver Spring along Ellsworth (edited 12-14-10) is a pretty generic place that could have been plopped down in just about any town in America.  I think Wheaton will be worse in the long run if we lose the unique businesses that define our community.

Oh, and I was offended about article writer's  jab about restaurants here needing to hire English speaking waiters to attempt to lure 'gringos' into their businesses.  I have eaten at many ethnic restaurants in Wheaton and have never had the slightest problem communicating with the waiters in English.  Also, while I know that Wheaton has its share of crime, I've never heard about the prostitution rings that the writer claims some restaurants are using to boost their income. Geez.

I will also put a plug in for Sergio's, which was featured pretty prominently in the article.  They're serving my favorite hispanic food in Wheaton right now, and I have been surprised at how empty it always seems to be.  Check it out sometime!

Safeway's New Year Resolution - Demolition!

The Gazette has reported that demolition of the existing Safeway building will start in January or February.  Hurray!  The same article also reports the anticipated opening of the new Safeway happening in mid-2012.  For a project of this size, a year and a half for demo and construction seems pretty quick, but if they can stick to that schedule, I'll be thrilled.

Recap of B.F. Saul Meeting

I just got back from the B.F. Saul meeting for community input on the Wheaton redevelopment project.  Overall, I came away from it with a good impression of both the redevelopment team and the Wheaton residents who participated in the meeting.  There was a great turnout - I would estimate about 125 people (but I reserve the right to be completely wrong on that).  After an initial intro, which included much patting on the back by county people and WMATA reps, the B.F. Saul team took the stage to give a brief presentation about their plans for public input on the process and they gave a recap of what past redevelopment meetings in Wheaton have shown residents are looking for.  I had to laugh at the chart they showed for what community groups they are getting input from.  The list included several local blogs, including Just Up the Pike, Good Eatin in Wheaton, and the Talk of Wheaton, but NO mention of Wheaton Calling.  Where's the love, B.F. Saul???

***Sidenote:  Mr. WC just reminded me that perhaps this omission was due to some not-so-kind words I had about the portfolio of work shown on B.F. Saul's website.  Fair enough!***

Anyways, after the initial intro, the audience broke into smaller groups at 8 different tables, which were centered around different themes for the revelopment:  Desired Land Uses and Small Business Impact, Streets & Sidewalks, Town Square & Open Space, and Overall Vision for Wheaton's New Downtown.  Each table had an architect (from Torti Galls) or developer rep(from B.F. Saul) acting as a facilitator and taking down suggestions from the residents on each topic.  After two 30-minute sessions, the development team pulled together common themes that they had heard and presented them to the group.  I was nicely surprised at how cohesive all of us residents were in what we asked for.  I came into this expecting much more of a strong NIMBY presence, but instead I found that people were passionately dedicated to preserving Wheaton's diversity and creating a lively, diverse town center that welcomes all residents and visitors to Wheaton.  The facilitators were also patient, taking down pretty much every suggestion and comment, even if they got a little wacky (my table jokingly asked for jugglers, to which the facilatator replies, "Okay!  We're putting jugglers on the list!").

The next steps in the process include B.F. Saul working out a deal on the land in question with the county and WMATA.  Once that is resolved, the team will work on putting together a concept plan of the project and will present it for further input from the community in March or April.  If you go to the project map on the team's website, the areas in red are the areas that B.F. Saul is currently working on purchasing from the county and WMATA.


Two members of the architectural team summarizing the input they heard from residents

 Here is an abridged summary of the input they heard from residents at the meeting (apparently scans of all the notes from the meeting will be posted to their website):

Desired Land Uses and Small Business Impact
-Avoid chain restaurants
-Provide retailers that benefit the community, i.e. a hardware store or pet shop
-Keep parking on the perimeter of the project
-Don't lose the unique small town feel of Wheaton
-Bring more office space and office workers to the downtown
-Facilitate loans for small business to improve their storefronts
-Attract more people to existing businesses
-Add a hotel to the downtown
-Leverage the anticipated crowds for Costco into opportunities for downtown Wheaton

Streets & Sidewalks
-Improve sight lines for drivers
-Tame (or even periodically close?) Reedie Drive
-Provide buffers between cars, pedestrians, and bikes
-Provide wider sidewalks with more plantings and trees
-Include flexible seating
-Improve access to the metro station
-Possibly partner with Brookside Gardens for plantings/streetscapes (I like this idea!)
-Design a signature lighting theme that includes banners, hanging flower baskets, etc.
-Improved bike lanes (how about any bike lanes?) and secure bike storage
-Less concrete, more green

Town Square
-Provide space for a farmers market and flea market; space should also work for the Taste of Wheaton and outdoor concerts
-Design a public space that welcomes all people
-Make sustainability a priority, especially stormwater management
-Better signage for metro entrances

Overall Vision
-More public art
-Pedestrian and bike access
-'Safety in Design' - through architectural design, lighting, and accessibility
-Celebrate Wheaton's diversity.  We don't want to be Bethesda, Silver Spring, or Rockville!

Your chance to weigh in on Wheaton's redevelopment

Tomorrow evening (Wednesday the 17th), B.F. Saul, the developer selected by the county to develop the 'triangle' of land between Viers Mill and Georgia, is holding a community workshop to get input on what Wheaton residents want to see happen in this area.  This is a very important meeting for us Wheaton residents to really make our voices heard.

Based on my experiences with these types of meetings so far, there's always a very strong showing by long-time Wheaton residents, many of whom have pretty strong NIMBY leanings.  I'd like to see a more balanced cross-section of our community at these meetings, both homeowners and renters.  I've heard stories of developers avoiding Wheaton in the past for redevelopment efforts simply because they got the impression that residents really don't want anything to change.  While it's perfectly understandable that some residents don't want any redevelopment to happen in Wheaton, I know that there are also alot of other residents out there who are in support of it.

The meeting is on Wednesday, the 17th (tomorrow), from 7pm to 9pm at the Crossway Community Center in Kensington (guess there aren't any large meeting spaces in downtown Wheaton?).  The address is 3015 Upton Drive, Kensington.  It sounds like they're going to have break-out sessions on different topics, so it will be more of a workshop than a public meeting, which I think is a good thing.  The county has a press release with a few more details.  B.F. Saul has also started a website to keep the community updated on the project of their redevelopment effort.  This looks like a good place to go for updates on community meetings.  Hope to see lots of residents at the meeting tomorrow!

New Safeway is on the way

Good news for all of you who have been waiting for-ev-er for the new Safeway project to get underway.  On October 28th, the planning board gave their final approval for the project to move forward.  Click here for the Gazette article, which includes an artist's rendering of the project.  Courtesy of Eatin' In Wheaton, there's also a good post on DCMud with lots of info on the project.

On a side note, did you know that video links are available on the planning board's website for all of their hearings?  Out of curiosity, I watched the portion of the meeting dealing with the Safeway approval.  The new building sounds pretty sweet - there will be a 5th floor open-air terrace level with a lawn, pool, lounge area, and fire pit.  Inside the building, there will be a fitness center, play room, and lounge.  There will be an outdoor seating area at street level along the Safeway facade.  The public art they have planned sounds kind of dull (little mini-figures showing people going about their businesss), but it was amusing to hear the developer and artist try to sell the idea to the planning board during the meeting...People will end up naming the statues!  They'll dress them up for holidays!  Eh, I don't know about that.  But still, I'd rather have something small and innocuous than some sort of big, ugly public art monstrosity.

Now that the project has the planning board's approval, they'll still have to get all of their building permits for the demolition and new construction work.  So, it will be a number of months before any progress is seen, but things seem to be on the right track!

Possible Community Garden in Wheaton

I'm on the email list for updates on community gardens in Montgomery County, and the email update that I received today had some promising news for gardeners in Wheaton.  There is a community garden being proposed near Wheaton Regional Park along Kemp Mill Road.  A meeting is scheduled on October 21st, 7:00-8:30pm at 11721 Kemp Mill Rd (Silver Spring Center/Randolph Academy) to share a powerpoint presentation about the proposed plans and gather input from the community.  The meeting will be held in the large meeting room in the school at that location.

I would have to drive to this garden since it's not quite close enough to walk to from my house, but it's still encouraging to see a possible community garden coming to the Wheaton area.  Information about existing community gardens in the county is available here.

Safeway Update

It's seemed like the whole Safeway project is taking for-ev-er.  Why don't they just tear the old building down already!?!?!  Well, I've recently heard an update about the status of the project.  Plans are still moving forward, and the developer has a hearing on October 28th with the planning board (I'll post more info when I have it) for their final site approval. Once that approval is reached, their site plan will be approved, which I *think* means that they can begin demolition and prepare the site for the new building.  All the rest of the building permits will still have to be approved, but it will be great to see some progress.  I didn't get any information about when the demo work might actually start, but it's encouraging to know that things are moving forward.

I also got some info about the planned design of the project.  The Safeway store itself will be more than twice as big as the existing store and will have either a Starbucks or some sort of coffee stand inside of  it.  On my recent vacation to Washington, there were Safeways all over the place, and they all seemed newly renovated.  If we get anything close to the new stores I saw in Washington, I'll be happy.  There will be about 150 spaces for shoppers in the parking garage on site.  This isn't alot of parking, but I think that the store will get alot of foot traffic from people leaving the metro, apartment dwellers, and local homeowners (like me).  The apartment building will have just under 500 units, and it sounds like there will about an even mix between studios, 1 bedrooms, and 2 bedrooms.  It also sounds like they are planning lots of nice amenities for their residents, like a roof deck pool, outdoor space on the top floor, fitness center, washer/dryers in units, etc.  This could all change as project moves forward, but it's good to see that they're aiming high. 


Rendering from a Gazette article about the project



We got the power

After hearing on the PEPCO hotline yesterday afternoon that it would be Friday before our power was restored, it was a pleasant surprise when our electricity came back on yesterday around 6pm.  How did you survive the power outage?  Are you still waiting for PEPCO to restore yours?

I got out for a bike ride last night while my house was cooling down for the night.  I saw a higher-than-average number of people out enjoying the nice weather, especially in Sligo Creek Park.  Personally, I didn't mind the power outage, other than the loss of power to our refrigerator, which was a bummer.  The PEPCO outage map is showing just over 1000 Wheaton residents without power, down from over 7000 yesterday when I checked.

In other news and notes, I saw an article today about the new library that has opened in Shaw.  I think this is an example of the sort of community hub that we could have had with a new library in Wheaton's downtown.  Regardless of your opinion on what Wheaton should have, I think you can agree that the residents of Shaw are getting a beautiful addition to their neighborhood.

The Gazette had a few Wheaton-related postings today.  A local developer, B.F. Saul, was awarded a contract by the county to redevelop the 12 acres of land around the metro.  I work in the architectural field and I have never heard of this developer before.  I checked out their website, and all I can say is...barf.  And apparently all they can say is, "We love to build large boring buildlings without any distinguishing characteristics.  Yay.  Go us."  They better get one hell of an architect to work with them on this, because I don't see anything in their portfolio of work that would indicate they can pull off a major redevelopment effort in Wheaton.

Also, the planning board is holding a public meeting tomorrow to discuss the Wheaton Sector Plan.  I've been working really long hours lately, so I'm a little doubtful that I'll get to attend, but I should really try to get over there for it.  Here's the info from the Gazette article, including directions on how to sign up to speak.  I saw a blurb a while ago saying that the redevelopment in Wheaton was going to focus on residential growth without any growth in commerical office space.  That seemed like a weird strategy to me (can you think of any bustling local areas that don't have any office space?).  The article on this hearing doesn't mention anything about that strategy, but I'll be interested to see if that resurfaces.  Here is a link to the county's website with information about the current sector plan.

Wheaton Whish List - A Community Garden

I have a little bit of a green thumb.  Don't worry, it's not a medical condition.  I just like to garden.  I lived in apartment for several years and now own a house with no yard to garden in, so I've turned to community gardens as a way to garden and raise my own food without having a yard.

I first tried out a community garden in College Park near the Home Depot on Cherry Hill Road.  It didn't work out well for me - I had to drive there from Silver Spring and they didn't have a water source so I had to carry in jugs of water (not fun).  This year, I'm in my second season of gardening in a community garden near Fort Totten.  It's kind of a long drive from Wheaton, but I can hop off the metro at Fort Totten on my way home from work and walk to the garden, so that's nice.

What would be even nicer is a community garden in Wheaton.  I emailed two people with the county parks and recreation department that are working on new community gardens (David Vismara and Ursula Sabia Sukinik) to ask if any plans are in the works.  According to David, there is a lack of unused open space in the neighborhood, especially land owned by the county.  He did also say that suggestions for locations are welcome.  In the meantime, if you want to be added to the waiting list of a community garden elsewhere in the county, email Ursula, who is the coordination for the community garden program.  Her email address is Ursula dot SabinaSukinik at mncppc-mc.org.  If you have any ideas for possible community garden locations, let me know!

Some cherry tomatoes starting to grow on one of my plants.

Encouraging Redevelopment News

A newly posted article in the Gazette covers some encouraging news about the county's redevelopment efforts for Wheaton.  The county has received multiple bids by developers for both the metro bus bays and the surface parking lot #13 in the triangle retail area.

Planning Board Update - Costco

Last week, the planning board unanimously disapproved the proposed ZTA 10-04, which would have allowed Costco to bypass the standard county process for installing a 16-pump gas station.  The Gazette has an article discussing the latest planning board decision.  The county council has the ultimate say in whether or not this goes through, and as I've mentioned before, the hearing for this decision is on May 20th.

In addition to giving me a bad opinion of Westfield management, this whole ZTA issue has also given me a fairly bad opinion of Ike Leggett.  The ZTA was originally proposed by him, in addition to the $4 million that he wants to give Costco to further sweeten the deal.

Planning Board meeting on Thursday

This is just a reminder that the planning board is meeting tomorrow (Thursday) to vote on the zoning text amendment that would allow Costco to bypass the required environmental study for their proposed gas station.  See my earlier post on information about attending the meeting or sending the board an email about this issue.

Costco Updates

The Gazette posted an article on their website yesterday quoting Westfield Wheaton management saying that the Costco project will probably not move forward unless the county council waives the environmental study requirements currently in place for new gas stations at shopping centers.  I was totally scooped on this by Good Eatin in Wheaton and What's Up Wheaton, so check them out for some great coverage.

I have a big deadline at work this week, so I'm going to keep this short.  These demands by Westfield and Costco are complete crap, and I'm going to be really pissed if the county council actually passes the ZTA (zoning text amendment) that would allow the environmental study to be bypassed.  The Gazette article states that right now, a majority of council members say they will vote against the ZTA and I just hope they stand their ground as Westfield attempts to add pressure to their decision.  I also think this says alot about how Westfield views its 'neighbors' in Wheaton if its strategy for bringing in a new tenant is to try to bulldoze over any concerns that the community has.

I know the county would love to get the added tax revenue and jobs that Costco will apparently bring in, and that's why I'm still a little nervous that the council members won't hold their ground about denying the ZTA.  If something like this was going down in Bethesda, I think the council would have a much stronger reaction to it, but unfortunately, I'm just not sure if the council will stand up as strongly to defend Wheaton.

I'm posting the relevant meetings noted in the Gazette article if anyone wants to attend and have their voice heard:
1.  The Planning Board will discuss the ZTA at their meeting on May 13, 8787 Georgia Ave, Time TBD.  Right now, it's the last item listed on the board's agenda for a session that starts at 1:30pm.  Also, you can send an email to the board, and if you reference the issue you're emailing about (ZTA 10-04) and they receive it at least 24 hours before their meeting, your email message will be provided 'for the consideration of the board'.  Send your emails to MCP-Chair at mncppc-mc.org. My understanding is that after this meeting, the planning board will their recommendation to the county council, which will make the ultimate decision in whether to pass the ZTA.

2.  The County Council will have a public meeting at 7:30pm on May 20, 100 Maryland Ave, 7th Floor (Stella B. Warner Council Building).  I checked the county council website, and they don't post meeting agendas as far in advance as the planning board does, so right now, you can't view an agenda for the meeting on the 20th.  Their website does note that as an alternative to participating in a council meeting in person, they will accept written material either in person before the meeting starts or by mail.  It sounds like you may want to include 15 copies so that each council member can have a copy.  I would keep letters short, since in-person testimony is limited to 3 mintues, and reference ZTA 10-04 and the May 20th meeting in the letter.  The address is:
Council's Office of Legislative Information Services
5th Floor
Council Office Building
100 Maryland Ave.
Rockville, MD 20850

Between these two meetings and the Wheaton Sector Plan meeting on the 19th, there are lots of opportunities to have a say in what direction Wheaton's development heads in.  Even if you don't have time to attend one of the meetings, at least send an email to the planning board or a letter to the council.

Forum on Wheaton Sector Plan

I got an email from an employee of the county planning department about an upcoming forum to discuss the Wheaton Sector Plan.  It's being held on Wednesday, May 19th starting at 6:30pm at the Gilchrist Center on 11319 Elkin.  For more information, including a good summary of the goals for the Sector Plan, click here. 

I put it on my calendar and will try to make it.  This forum will be good opportunity to have your voice heard by the planning department as they work to finalize the plan that will guide Wheaton's development over the next 20 years.