IT’S IN THE DETAILS Silver Spring shop owner part of presidential jet project. A-3
The Gazette
A&E: Popular alternative metal band brings new music to Fillmore Silver Spring. B-4
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, August 20, 2014
25 cents
County zoning stirs concerns
Seeking savings
Takoma Park competes for energy prize
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City selected as quarterfinalist in Georgetown University competition n
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Free annual Community Pig Roast is Saturday at Grace Episcopal BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
John Mahler was the kind of person who tried to do something to help others — particularly the less fortunate — and not just talk about it. At Grace Episcopal Church in Silver Spring, Mahler organized a homeless ministry, regularly distributing food that he and other volunteers prepared to the homeless in
See ENERGY, Page A-11
See ZONING, Page A-11
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
as one with the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. It helps apartment residents reduce their bills through tips like adjusting the thermostat when they leave and unplugging electronic items when not in use. Other projects involve helping homeowners purchase solar panels at reduced bulk rates through a cooperative arrangement and creating a sustainability website. “Takoma Park is way ahead of the pack in many regards,” Mathias said. “But I think we are just at the tip of the iceberg as far as our sustainability efforts.”
Automotive Calendar Classified Entertainment Opinion Sports
Teachers to get new leadership positions
It’s a wrap
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COMMUNITY PIG ROAST n When: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday
See VOLUNTEER, Page A-11
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Passengers spin above the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair on Friday evening in Gaithersburg. See fair wrap-up story, page A-10.
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LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
n More information: 301-585-3515 or gracepigroast.com
Washington, D.C. “For John, it was more than giving out food,” said
Will work in high-needs schools, run projects
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n Where: Grace Episcopal Church, 1607 Grace Church Road, Silver Spring
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Four places in Virginia were chosen for the Georgetown competition, including Arlington County. Others nationwide include Berkeley, Calif., Knoxville, Tenn., Madison, Wis., Aspen, Colo., Atlantic City, N.J., and Jackson Hole, Wyo. Cities had to have between 5,000 and 250,000 residents. None in some well-populated states, including New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Texas, made the cut. Competitors will be whittled down to semi-
The latest shelving by Wal-Mart Stores of plans to open a store in Aspen Hill touched off a few more questions over whether Montgomery County’s planning and regulatory processes are too complex and overbearing. Wal-Mart expressed interest in opening a 118,000-square-foot, 300-employee store at the northwest corner of Aspen Hill Road and Connecticut Avenue more than two years ago but recently withdrew those plans, citing uncertainty in the county’s zoning processes. Two years ago, Wal-Mart pulled out of plans to open a store in Rockville along Rockville Pike near Twinbrook Parkway after opposition arose. “They gave it more than two years,” said Bruce H. Lee, president of Silver Spring-based Lee Development Group, the developer of that site. The land has had a vacant 263,000-square-foot building built in 1968 since defense and aerospace contractor BAE Systems moved out in 2010. “Most retailers won’t stick it out even that long. Retailers like certainty.” It typically takes 15 months to get a new preliminary plan approved in the county and a year for a new site plan, according to a July 29 report by Montgomery County’s Office of Legislative Oversight. A record plat can consume nine to ten months, with approvals for all three taking more than three years, the report says. Efforts to streamline the county’s development approval processes “are not new” and include implementing electronic plan reviews, the report says. The office recommended increased County Council oversight, such as setting approval time frames for each step of the process and holding “performance improvement” work sessions every six months with planning staff and industry representatives. Responding to the report, county Chief Administrative Officer Timothy Firestine said many recommendations of previous reports have been implemented. For instance, a zoning rewrite has further
Gina Mathias, Takoma Park’s sustainability manager, is shown with solar panels on the roof of the Takoma Park Recreation Center.
Silver Spring event honors late volunteer n
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
KEVIN JAMES SHAY
akoma Park was the lone city in Maryland c hosen as a quarterfinalist in a $5 million energy-saving competition run by Georgetown University. The city is now putting together a more detailed two-year action plan on what it will do to reduce energy consumption, said Gina Mathias, who became Takoma Park’s first sustainability manager a few months ago. The deadline to submit the plan is Nov. 10. “This will include more of the nuts and bolts about what we intend to do,” Mathias said. The Washington, D.C., university’s firsttime Energy Prize hopes to encourage the 52 quarterfinalist cities to save more than $1 billion in total energy costs and cut millions of tons in carbon dioxide emissions. They have to go through more qualifying rounds before the $5 million winner is announced in 2017. Despite many energy-efficiency initiatives, the adoption rate for such programs remains at about 5 percent, said Francis Slakey, a Georgetown physics professor and executive director of the competition. “We need radical thinking, starting at the community level, to fix this ‘stuck’ problem,” Slakey said in a statement. “And that’s what the prize is all about.” Takoma Park’s plan involves not just what the city is doing, such as installing solar panels on buildings, but homeowners, business representatives and others. The city recently offered residents a chance to borrow a Belkin meter from the library that helps customers identify what appliances and gadgets use the most electricity. Mathias is working on projects such
Efforts to streamline rules continue, Montgomery officials say BY
STAFF WRITER
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FALL SPORTS PREVIEW: Blake field hockey looks for goals to pair with stellar defense. B-1
PRIVATE SCHOOLS How private schools support diversity, promote tradition and create global citizens; plus: a complete directory of private schools in Montgomery County
INSIDE TODAY
About 100 Montgomery County teachers have applied to participate in a new program to help direct the county’s best educators to school and project leadership roles. The Career Lattice program is kicking off this academic year with a focus on the county’s high-needs schools. Teachers apply for a status called “lead teacher.” They
would then enter a “pool of highly effective teachers,” said Susan Marks, acting associate superintendent for human resources and development for Montgomery County Public Schools. Doug Prouty, president of the Montgomery County Education Association, said the first round of lead teachers will be announced this fall. A panel of teachers, principals and an associate superintendent is evaluating applications, he said. For the 2014-15 school
See LEADERSHIP, Page A-11