SCARCE DOLLARS Schools seek more money from dwindling pot. A-6
NEWS: For second winter, Silver Spring church to open homeless shelter. A-4
The Gazette SOUTHERN MONTGOMERY COUNT Y
SPORTS: Whitman looks to rebound with a very different roster from last season. B-1
DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
25 cents
Gas station at Costco gets thumbs down n
Official: Proposal is ‘incompatible’ with neighborhood
BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Spencer Kelly, an animal care attendant supervisor at the county’s new shelter in Derwood, provides a handy perch for Rene, a brown female tabby, who has been spayed but has not received a microchip.
Nonprofit goal: Free pet spaying, neutering Partner of county’s shelter in Derwood raising money for program n
BY
KATE S. ALEXANDER STAFF WRITER
With growing colonies of feral cats and a new animal shelter in Montgomery County that’s already almost full, a local nonprofit is trying to reduce the number of
unwanted animals by increasing access to spaying and neutering. Spay it Forward, a new program being piloted by Montgomery County Partners for Animal Well-Being, or MCPAW, aims to reduce pet overpopulation by providing free spaying, neutering and microchips, regardless of the owner’s income. “We looked at the cause of pet overpopulation and found it is a lack of spay/neuter,” Ellie Trueman of MCPAW said. “Why
not go to the root cause and really help reduce the input of animals into the shelter?” MCPAW supports the county shelter with programs and additional funding. Trueman, who was on the board and now is a contractor working on Spay it Forward, said the nonprofit is raising money for its program in two phases: first, spaying and neutering feral cats; and second, a free
See PET, Page A-15
A Montgomery County zoning hearing examiner has recommended that the Board of Appeals deny Costco Wholesale Corp.’s request to build a 16-pump gas station outside its store at Westfield Wheaton mall. In a 492-page report released Friday, Martin L. Grossman, hearing examiner for the Office of Zoning and Administrative Hearings, wrote that Costco had not “met its burden of proving, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the automobile filling station use it proposes would meet all of the specific and general requirements for the special [zoning] exception.” Erich Brann Jr., director of real estate development for Costco Wholesale, said Monday that the company did not have a comment on Grossman’s report. “The next step is going before the Board of Appeals,” Brann said. “As far as I know, there has not been a date set yet.”
The Costco case was not on the board’s Dec. 17 agenda. Karen Cordry, president of the Kensington Heights Civic Association, one of the groups opposing the gas station, said she is confident that the Board of Appeals will affirm Grossman’s recommendation if the case gets there. “Costco has now presented its case to the [Montgomery County] Planning Department, the Planning Board and the hearing examiner, and has struck out each time,” Cordry said. “In baseball, three strikes and you are out.” Grossman found that Costco met many of the requirements for the special exception, including that the proposed gas station would not produce objectionable noises or odors, though he thought there would be “objectionable fumes.” Grossman concluded that the “unusual size” of the proposed gas station — as near as 118 feet from a single-family home, 375 feet from the Kenmont Swim & Tennis Club and 874 feet from the Stephen Knolls School — would “render the proposal incompatible.”
See STATION, Page A-15
Downtown Bethesda In 60th year, church brings Nativity to life Living Nativity a family in 2034? Speak now tradition in Olney n
n
BY
Planners welcome online comments through Friday
ELIZABETH WAIBEL STAFF WRITER
Downtown Bethesda is changing, but people have an opportunity to weigh in on what those changes, as outlined in the forthcoming Bethesda Downtown Plan, should involve. Sector plans such as the Bethesda Downtown Plan detail what officials and residents want a neighborhood to look like in 20 years. They can have a tremendous influence over whether development and road projects get approved and funded. When finished, the Bethesda Downtown Plan will tell property owners how many apartments they can build, how many parking spaces they must have and how tall buildings can be. It also will include where planners want to see new parks, bike lanes and sidewalks.
1932815
See COMMENTS, Page A-15
BY
B-15 A-2 B-11 B-8 A-12 A-16 B-1
TERRI HOGAN STAFF WRITER
PHOTO FROM ANNE JORDAN
Members of the Oakdale Emory United Methodist Church community take part in last year’s living Nativity. This weekend marks the 60th anniversary of this Olney holiday tradition.
This weekend, the brightly lit star shining above the manger at Oakdale Emory United Methodist Church will welcome visitors to a living Nativity, an Olney tradition for 60 years. In the midst of the frenzy of the holiday season, the church offers visitors the opportunity to step back in time to imagine Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. Each year since 1954, sometimes in rain, snow or bitter
See STORY, Page A-15
Rockville planning board and council clash Dispute is over development and schools n
BY
RYAN MARSHALL STAFF WRITER
The question of how Rockville determines the impact of
new building development has fueled concerns about overcrowded schools and sparked debate over whether the mayor and City Council even have the authority to change the city’s standard in the first place. Councilman Tom Moore has proposed changing the
A&E
INDEX Automotive Calendar Classified Entertainment Obituaries Opinion Sports
Through Friday, people can weigh in on early ideas for downtown Bethesda to let planners know if they are on the right track via an online survey. The “feedback loop” allows people to click through a neighborhood-by-neighborhood briefing of downtown Bethesda and comment on whether Veterans Park should be expanded or Woodmont Avenue needs a cycle track. For those who are less-than-enthused about scrutinizing the whole document, the survey allows people to select individual neighborhoods or topics to view. The feedback loop and other ways to share opinions are at montgomeryplanning. org/bethesda_downtown. Planners also will consider a retail study they commissioned from marketing and branding company Streetsense of Bethesda. That study said that some areas — around the Bethesda Metro station, south of that along Wisconsin Avenue and the Woodmont
winds, the congregation has presented a free, 20-minute biblical narrative of the Christmas story, with actors, live animals and music. The late David Brigham began the tradition. Paul Kolanowski, 44, of Brinklow is Brigham’s grandson. “My mother, aunts and uncles were in it, I have been in it as a child and an adult, and my girls have been in it — that’s four generations,” Kolanowski said. “It’s always been a great thing, and there are a lot of families who have had multiple generations take part in it.”
COLORS OF CHRISTMAS
Bryson, Studdard highlight holiday concert at Strathmore.
B-8
Volume 27, No. 30, Two sections, 36 Pages Copyright © 2014 The Gazette Please
RECYCLE
city’s adequate public facilities standards — which lays out its policies for controlling how development affects school enrollment, along with other issues such as traffic, and water, sewer, fire and emergency services — to bring the school policy in line with that followed by Montgom-
ery County. A public hearing on the issue is scheduled for Jan. 5 at City Hall. The county’s standards allow development that would allow enrollment to hit 120 percent of a school’s programmed
See CLASH, Page A-15