‘TRUE CHAMPION OF EDUCATION’ Former MCPS superintendent Vance dies at 83. A-4
The Gazette
SPORTS: Downcounty schools host their own championship track and field meet. B-1
SILVER SPRING | TAKOMA PARK | WHEATON | BURTONSVILLE DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
25 cents
Costco appeals county decision on gas pumps
Council considers changes for renters Bill calls for new requirements for leases, notice, survey data
Case goes to Montgomery County Circuit Court
n
BY
NEWS: Public conceptual artist organizes “outdoor living room” project. A-5
n
KATE S. ALEXANDER
BY
STAFF WRITER
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
Five years after a Montgomery County work group recommended more than 50 changes to county laws for renters, the County Council is considering revisions. Councilman Marc B. Elrich introduced a bill in April that would make several changes that stem from the Tenants Work Group’s recommendations, made in 2010. His bill would: • Require the Department of Housing and Community Affairs to provide annual inspections of all rental units, with some exceptions. • Require the department to provide a standard lease upon request. • Require the department to publish, on the county’s website, the information collected in the county’s annual rental housing data survey, including a table listing all rental housing with two or more units and the average rent increase for each unit. • Require all rent increases greater than 100 percent of the applicable rent-increase guideline to be reviewed by the county. • Require landlords to give tenants at least three months’ written notice before increasing rent more than 100 percent of the applicable rent increase guideline. • Allow tenants facing a rent increase that exceeds the applicable guideline to continue renting for up to two months on a month-to-month basis at the pre-increase rate, provided the
See RENTERS, Page A-10
Costco Wholesale Corp. is appealing the Montgomery County Board of Appeals decision to deny a request to build a 16-pump gas station outside the Westfield Wheaton mall store. The appeal was filed Thursday in Montgomery County Circuit Court, said Rob Leuck, Costco’s vice president for operations in its Northeast region. Costco is basing its appeal on the county appeals board having “overstepped its authority by substituting its judgment for that of the federal and state
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
For veterinarian Jeff Zolkiewicz’s dog Ruby, a misaligned jaw is the only sign she was shot in the face with a shotgun a year ago. Zolkiewicz, of Kindness Animal Hospital, helped treat Ruby, then adopted her.
n
DOG’S BEST FRIEND
Wheaton animal hospital honored for treating shooting victim, community efforts BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
When Montgomery County police officers rushed Ruby into Kindness Animal Hospital last August, veterinarian Jeff Zolkiewicz didn’t think the boxer mix would survive. Ruby had been shot in the side of her face with a shotgun. She was bleeding profusely and having trouble breathing. A shot had exited from the base of her ear, and her jawbone was shattered. She had a large wound on her neck
Six-day trial for murder yields ‘not guilty’ verdict
See FRIEND, Page A-10
See COSTCO, Page A-10
Silver Spring man cleared in killing n
and shoulder. Zolkiewicz, who graduated from the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine in 1994, and technicians had treated animals hit by vehicles and in fights before. But this was their most extreme case. More than eight months and five surgeries later, Ruby was prancing around happily at the Wheaton veterinary practice on Friday. “It’s amazing she is alive,” said Zolkiewicz, who adopted her. Kindness Animal Hospital was among the honorees during the Wheaton & Kensington Chamber of Commerce’s 31st annual awards banquet on April 29, receiving the organiza-
agencies that determine what levels of emissions are safe,” Leuck said. Numerous area residents have opposed the station, saying the fumes from idling cars would be a health hazard to nearby residents, users of the Kenmont Swim & Tennis Club and students at Stephen Knolls School. The school teaches about 100 special-needs and disabled children with chronic lung disease, asthma, cerebral palsy and other conditions. In unanimously denying Costco’s request in March, the five-member Board of Appeals cited the impact of vehicle fumes on the students, residents and pool users. The proposed gas station
BY
DAN MORSE
THE WASHINGTON POST
A 21-year-old Montgomery County man accused of killing a onetime high school football star was acquitted on all charges Monday after a six-day trial. Jefferson Delgado “is home, happily having dinner with his parents,” his attorney, James Shalleck, said Monday evening. “He’s so relieved. He’s been in jail for 18 months and a jury took two hours to set him free.” The November 2013 shooting of Michael Kirby Alvarado, 25, was notable in part because
he had been so popular and successful at Gaithersburg High School. He earned a scholarship to the College of William and Mary before his life took a turn toward theft and drugrelated run-ins with the law. But he withdrew from the school in 2010 and later was convicted in Virginia of crimes including grand larceny and possession of cocaine. Shalleck told the jurors that Delgado, of Silver Spring, was near the scene of the slaying but that someone else killed Alvarado, and that the slaying was horrible and tragic. “Michael Alvarado didn’t deserve to die,” Shalleck said he told the jury in
See KILLING, Page A-10
County installing electric-vehicle charging stations in garages First ones in Bethesda; others in Silver Spring, Wheaton to follow
n
BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
To help fuel the use of electric cars, the county is installing electric-vehicle charging stations in 11 public parking garages and lots in Silver Spring, Wheaton and Bethesda over the next few months. The first three stations were placed recently in Capital Crescent garage 31 in Bethesda. That garage opened in January
INDEX A&E Automotive Business Calendar Classified Obituaries Opinion Sports
1952227
at the site of two former surface parking lots as part of a public-private, mixed-use development involving the county and developers StonebridgeCarras and PN Hoffman. The Montgomery County Department of Transportation will monitor usage trends and plans to expand the program to other area parking garages and lots, said Jeremy Souders, acting chief of the Management Services and Property Development Section, under the department’s Division of Parking Management. The stations operate like gasoline pumps, with users paying 13 cents per kilowatt hour. The total cost depends on the range of the vehicle and how charged
it already is, Souders said. “It usually costs a couple dollars at a time, per charge,” he said. Users also pay parking fees, although that can be avoided if they use a station after hours, when the garages don’t charge to park. Users are limited to four hours at a time and can pay through a ChargePoint network card and credit card that is radio frequency identification, or RFID, enabled. Besides Capital Crescent, the garages and lots in the first phase of implementation are:
See CHARGING, Page A-10
A&E B-4 B-12 A-11 A-2 B-8 A-12 A-13 B-1
HELLO, SHIRLEY Versatile actress headed for Music Center at Strathmore. B-4
Volume 28, No. 16, Two sections, 28 Pages Copyright © 2015 The Gazette Please
RECYCLE
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Montgomery County has installed electric-vehicle charging stations in 11 public parking garages, including this one in the new Capital Crescent Garage in Bethesda.