Metropolitan Branch Trail
A rumor has been spreading that Montgomery Preservation Inc. has denied access to the Metropolitan Branch Trail through our property, the Historic Silver Spring B&O Station at 8100 Georgia Avenue. Fortunately, these rumors are not true. We were told that the project was eliminated from the proposed CIP (Capital Improvements) temporarily for fiscal reasons. There are issues to be worked out and some of them are very expensive – tunnels and bridges. Let us set the record straight.
MPI Backs Successful Reversal of Illegal Rezoning in the City of Gaithersburg
On January 12, 2012 Maryland’s Court of Special Appeals issued a decision that declared the rezoning and associated site plan for the “Wilson property” in Gaithersburg to be illegal. The Court of Special Appeals said that the City “disregarded the express mandatory language” of the City Code and the governing master plan, and “erred as a matter of law.” The property is located at the corner of South Frederick and DeSellum Avenues in the Observatory Heights neighborhood.| View Larger Map |
The City nonetheless rezoned three residential parcels to the City’s Corridor Development zone and simultaneously approved a concept site plan that contemplated more than 20,000 square feet of medical office space and a 116-space surface parking lot that would result in the demolition of a single-family home more than 100 years old and worthy of historic protection. MPI joined adjoining property owner Suzanne Shayt and nearby property owner Scott Henry in the first appeal, but was dismissed for lack of standing. MPI continued to fund the case out of its Wayne M. Goldstein Preservation Action Fund in the belief that the City acted in derogation of its own zoning code and master plan and that this community and its resources should be protected. MPI takes great pride in the fact that the Court of Special Appeals ultimately agreed.
