White Flint was once known as a suburban mall, but today it’s evolving into Montgomery County’s newest walkable district. How did we get from suburban sprawl to such a bright future?
Category: Resources
Testimony to Alexandria City Council on demolition of Ramsey Homes
I am a also a strong historic preservationist, which is what attracted me to Alexandria in 1988. The rich African-American history Parker-Gray and our city, and the bravery of the residents who fought for freedom and equality resonates deeply with me and should continue to be documented, promoted and honored — as is done so well by the Alexandria Black History Museum.
Montgomery County Planning Board testimony re: White Flint West Transportation, Phase 2, CIP No. 501116 Mandatory Referral No. MR2015029
Montgomery County and other jurisdictions in the Washington DC region are in the midst of a transformation from wholly auto-dependent development to the creation of networks of walkable, bikeable, transit-oriented centers and neighborhoods. County Executive Leggett, the Montgomery County Council, and the Planning Board have committed to this vision and the market is responding with nearly unlimited demand to live and work in walkable, mixed-use, transit accessible locations. The CEO of Marriott recently created a stir when he unequivocally stated that the company would be moving to a Metro station location within the next five years. Not only do his young employees want to live and work near Metro, but according to a recent article, he too appreciates the convenience of walkable, mixed-use and transit.
Fact sheet: Benefits of Rapid Transit for Montgomery’s Veirs Mill Rd corridor
RESIDENTS ALONG VEIRS MILL ROAD NEED THE RTS AS A TRANSIT OPTION
• More than 6,000 (15.4%) of commuters along the Veirs Mill Road corridor have commutes longer than 60 minutes.
• Since 1990, the number of residents in this corridor with these mega-commutes has nearly doubled.
• 22.7% of corridor residents take transit to work: nearly twice as many as in 1990. Almost half of these transit riders
take the bus to work.
• The median income of Veirs Mill Corridor residents is nearly $20,000 less than the median income in Montgomery
County overall. Almost 44% of Veirs Mill Road corridor residents are foreign-born.
Fact sheet: Benefits of Rapid Transit for Montgomery’s US-29 corridor
RESIDENTS ALONG THE US 29 CORRIDOR NEED THE RTS AS A TRANSIT OPTION
• Almost 9,500 (17.2%) of commuters in the US 29 corridor have commutes longer than 60 minutes.
• Since 1990, the number of residents in this corridor with these mega-commutes has nearly doubled.
• 17.5% of corridor residents take transit to work: nearly twice as many as in 1990. Almost half of these transit riders
take the bus to work
Fact sheet: Benefits of Rapid Transit for Montgomery’s 355 corridor
Today, transit access is more important than ever. Residents along the 355 corridor need the RTS as a transit option.
• Nearly 12,000 (14.5%) of commuters along the 355 corridor have commutes longer than 60 minutes.
• Since 1990, the number of residents in this corridor with these mega-commutes has more than doubled.
• 18.1% of corridor residents take transit to work: nearly twice as many as in 1990.
• The median income of 355 corridor residents is over $8,000 less than the median income in Montgomery County overall. Nearly one t…
Fairfax board votes to move forward on Seven Corners redevelopment
After hours of discussion and debate Tuesday that stretched toward midnight, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted 8-1, with one member absent, to move forward with an ambitious redevelopment plan for the traffic-choked Seven Corners area.
The plan would create three villages and add several thousand homes to the area, along with restaurants, shops and a street grid that could draw local traffic away from the confusing Seven Corners intersection.
The board argued over affordable housing and density before the vote on proposed changes to county planning guidelines, changes that would allow the redevelopment to take place.
“I do not think that there is value in deferring this any longer,” said Supervisor Penelope A. Gross (D-Mason), who represents the area and was referring to a nearly three-year-long community discussion marked by intense debate.
Residents of the neighborhoods of single-family homes that surround Seven Corners have opposed some aspects of the plan, saying it would lead to increased density and worsen traffic in the area, home to the Seven Corners Shopping Center.
This month, the county’s Planning Commission adopted an amended version of the original plan in an attempt to address community concerns. Although the revised plan reduced the number of new houses and apartments by several hundred units — bringing the total closer to 5,000 — it still generated worries.
During the hearing, about 40 people lined up inside the Fairfax County Government Center to express both support and concerns about the plan.
“Density, particularly residential density, must not be so high that the accompanying people overwhelm the support-services system, particularly schools and transportation,” James Kilbourne, president of the Lake Barcroft homeowners association, said to applause.
County officials say the plan’s latest version makes several compromises in response to community concerns, including worries about school crowding that would result from adding more residents.
The site of the former Willston Elementary School would also feature a second building that would house a day-care center, social services for school families and the multicultural center, Gross said.
“That is going to be many years in the future, because there is no money right now,” Gross said, referring to the idea of a new “urban-style school” inside a high-rise building. “But we are committed.”
Gross said the overall redevelopment plan is an attempt to bring new life to an area of Fairfax that has become worn in the years since the Seven Corners Shopping Center was a regional draw in the 1950s and 1960s. She called it a road map for what the county will look like in the next 50 years.
“We need to make sure that whole area is ready for all the newcomers who are going to be coming here,” Gross said. “We need to make sure that the community that is being developed is what they would like to live in.”
Urban-planning groups say the kind of walkable, transit-friendly communities envisioned for Seven Corners are needed in aging suburbs that have become homes to mostly vacant office buildings and discount stores with little commercial traffic.
“The future of Fairfax lies in these aging commercial corridors,” said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “It certainly can be a win-win and enhance Fairfax’s competitiveness.”
Read original article here.