Ashton Meeting Place Update

June 18, 2007

Question:  What is the purpose of the meeting?

Answer:  The AMP developers have recently submitted a new plan for the Planning Board to consider.  SSARPC believes that the Ashton community needs to be briefed on the implications of the new design.  The next public hearing on AMP is scheduled for June 28, 2007, time to be announced.

Question:  What is SSARPC’s opinion of AMP’s plan?

Answer:  SSARPC is opposed to the new plan for a variety of reasons, including failure to adhere to the Sandy Spring-Ashton Master Plan, failure to adhere to the parking zoning requirements, and failure to address some of the concerns raised at the April 12th hearing. 

Question: What are the recommendations in the Master Plan with which the plan must be consistent, and how is the Ashton Meeting Place proposal inconsistent?

Answer:  There are several recommendations that the proposal is not following, including:

1. Master Plan on  Density

The 1998 Master Plan states, subject to minor changes of no relevance here, that the “1980 plan recommendations for limited commercial use and moderate to low-density residential use are confirmed.”   The recommendations from the 1980 Master Plan include limiting the commercial development in the village center, and characterize possible 60,000 square feet of development on 6 acres at the NW corner of New Hampshire and MD Route 108 (7-Eleven shopping center) as “appropriate in more urbanized areas but …inconsistent with the scale of uses envisioned for a village center.” Ashton Meeting Place as currently proposed (97,000 square feet on 7.4 acres on another corner of the same intersection) is considerably higher in density than what the 1980 Plan stated was inconsistent with the village center concept.

2. Master Plan on Scale 

The 1998 Master Plan seeks to “encourage development and revitalization of the village centers,” but it cautions that any increases in density “need to be balanced with the Plan intent to maintain the small scale of the existing centers.”