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Wednesday, July 31, 2013
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Outlet plan takes next step: hearing examiner Lawyers for competing Clarksburg outlet center proposal object to increase in retail space
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VIRGINIA TERHUNE STAFF WRITER
The competition between proposed fashion outlet complexes straddling Interstate 270 in Clarksburg shifted from public relations campaigns and planning board hearings to a quasi-judicial hearing room in Rockville on Monday. County Hearing Examiner Lynn Robeson began her review of a plan by Streetscape Partners, which wants to build a mixeduse center with Premium fashion
From left, Jim McKenna, owner of Sugarloaf Mountain Winery, Kevin Atticks with Maryland Wineries Association, and Sen. Benjamin Cardin chat after a roundtable discussion with small business owners at Sugarloaf Mountain Winery on Friday.
MARYLAND’ Visit was part of tour to highlight Maryland manufacturing n
Slinging his suit jacket over the back of a chair, Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D) turned to address the small group of small business owners and political supporters who had gathered in rural northern Montgomery County Friday. As he spoke to the crowd of about 15 people at Sugarloaf Mountain Winery in Dickerson, Cardin talked about the need to help small businesses survive and thrive in still shaky economic times. The visit was part of Cardin’s “Made in Maryland” tour, meant to highlight
CARDIN TALKS SMALL BUSINESS AT DICKERSON WINERY BY
RYAN MARSHALL |
products that were manufactured in the state. Jim McKenna, one of the owners of the winery, introduced Cardin and praised him as a longtime friend of small business. The tour is a chance to disprove the idea that nobody makes anything in Maryland anymore, said Cardin aide Sue Walitsky. Since June, Cardin has been to the Paul Reed Smith guitar factory in Stevensville; a Volvo plant near Hagerstown; the Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick and the Heavy Seas Brewery in Baltimore to bring attention to Maryland companies. “The truth is, people are making
See OUTLET, Page A-7
Residents and officials prepare for hearing on Midcounty Highway
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
‘MADE IN
outlet stores on the west side of Interstate 270 in the developing Cabin Branch area. The hearing examiner’s role is to decide if the development plan conforms to the Clarksburg Master Plan, which provides development guidelines. The Planning Board — which makes recommendations to the County Council — approved the Streetscape development plan on July 18, agreeing to its request to increase retail space from 120,000 square feet to a maximum of 484,000 square feet to make room for stores instead of offices. Robeson continued Monday’s hearing to Aug. 12, after one of Streetscape’s attorneys
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Meeting to be held Aug. 7
BY SYLVIA CARIGNAN AND VIRGINIA TERHUNE STAFF WRITERS
STAFF WRITER
things in Maryland,” Walitsky said. Cardin said Congress needs to do a better job of helping businesses create jobs. He is cosponsoring several Senate bills aimed at helping small businesses. One would raise the amount of money available for the Small Business Investment Company program run by the government’s Small Business Administration from $3 billion to $4 billion, according to a summary provided by Cardin’s office. Another bill would help provide more long-term, fixed-rate loans under the SBA’s local development business loan program to help small businesses buy
Upcounty residents were briefed last week on plans for Midcounty Highway’s northern extension ahead of a public hearing planned for next week. Montgomery County staff talked to residents at Rocky Hill Middle School in Clarksburg on July 24. The highway, which is partially complete, will stretch from Gaithersburg to Ridge Road in Clarksburg. According to county documents, M-83, or the Midcounty Highway, was first listed in the county’s master plan in the
See CARDIN, Page A-10
1960s. Three miles of the highway have been built between Shady Grove Road in Gaithersburg and Montgomery Village Avenue. “This is a major milestone. [Officials] are about ready to make a decision after nine years of talking,” said Bruce Johnston, chief of the county’s Transportation Engineering Division, who briefed about 20 people at the meeting on the status of the project. Residents may give their opinions about preferred routes at a formal hearing held by the Maryland Department of the Environment and the Army Corps of Engineers on Aug. 7. “We’ll have large plans for each route so you can find your
See HIGHWAY, Page A-10
County police lab puts crime under microscope n
Scientists, analysts break down cases in Gaithersburg facility BY
ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH STAFF WRITER
With tweezers, Leah King takes a pinch out of a small, leafy bud. She drops it in a vial and adds a few drops of chemicals. “It’s going to turn a nice, dark purple,” she predicts, giving the vial a couple of swirls. Sure enough, in just a few seconds, the solution fizzes deep purple, showing that the sample is likely strong, high-quality marijuana. “If you were looking to smoke, this would be the stuff,” joked King, the techni-
cal leader of the Forensic Chemistry Unit in Montgomery County Police’s Crime Laboratory. The lab processes evidence connected to the thousands of arrests police officers make and the hundreds of cases they investigate every year. The nationally certified lab takes up a swath of the fifth floor of Montgomery County’s new public safety headquarters, tucked away next to a bucolic lake on Edison Park Drive in Gaithersburg. The lab — which moved, along with the rest of the department, earlier this year from the department’s old home in Rockville — looks like a cross between a suburban office and a high school lab on steroids. Five units — Firearms Examinations, Latent Prints, Forensic Biology, Forensic
Chemistry, and Crimes Scenes — operate in the lab, which takes up about 20,000 square feet, according to lab director Ray Wickenheiser. A sixth unit, Electronic Crimes, also falls under the lab’s authority, but operates under Montgomery County Police’s Financial Crimes section, said Jackie Raskin-Burns, the lab’s quality manager. Thirty scientists work in the lab. An additional eight, all sworn police officers, make up the Electronic Crimes unit. Security at the lab is tight. “Each lab is programmed to know who has access to that particular room,” RaskinBurns said. Only scientists authorized to work in that specific unit can access labs
See CRIME, Page A-10
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Germantown woman accused of trying to vote as her dead mother.
Screaming Eagles adjust after second star player transfers out in consecutive seasons.
MD. CHARGES TWO WITH VOTER FRAUD
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Leah King, technical leader of the Forensic Chemistry Unit, works in the Montgomery County Crime Lab in Gaithersburg.
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