Ashton Meeting Place Hearing continued, page 2

The public hearing began with a presentation by the Planning Staff.

Richard Weaver, Park and Planning Staff, opened the meeting by giving a summary of the Preliminary Plan.  A major environmental aspect of the design is a green roof on the grocery store.  Also, water runoff from the roofs of the other buildings will be filtered and used to enhance the wetlands area.  Also, the storm water management pond is next to the wetlands.

Commissioner Cryor asked about the long term health of the large tree being kept in the green space area.  The Park and Planning staff will monitor the health of trees in the area for five years.  A modification to the agreement was made such that, if the large tree dies or substantially declines during construction, the developer will replace the tree with a mature native tree with a caliper of four to six inches, the species and size of the tree to be approved by the Park and Planning staff.  The staff will check the newly planted tree for two years.

There will be an eight foot wide bike path along New Hampshire Avenue from the corner of Route 108 and New Hampshire Avenue to the Crystal Drive intersection, where the development of Springlawn Farms is located.  This addition is dependent upon the State Highway Administration obtaining the property needed to build the bike path.

Joshua Sloan, Park and Planning Staff, presented the Site Plan.  His slides (available as a slideshow and a downloadable PDF file ) include drawings of the commercial area of the shopping area and a rendering of the landscape plan , showing the single family homes on the R-60 zone.  The site plan is consistent with the Sandy Spring-Ashton Master Plan, uses traditional architecture, and the design and uses are pedestrian oriented.  The Staff recommended approval with conditions that are described in detail in the Staff Report.

Nichols Development was given an opportunity to respond to questions and make comments prior to the Planning Board voting on the plans.  The single family homes will be a variety of types, there are seven in the proposal, and with those near Route 108 having attached garages.  There is a mixture of types of sidings that were determined while working with an architect who participates with SSARPC.  In terms of safety, the State Highway Administration has talked about restricting parallel parking during the rush hour and is very conscious about the safety issues around the crosswalks, in particular.  Nichols Development is dedicated to making a high quality rural village.

The Commissioners unanimously approved the Preliminary and Site Plans for Ashton Meeting Place.

The design presented to the Planning Board is based on the conceptual plan developed by the developer, SSARPC representatives and other citizens at a Charette (retreat) held in July, after the Planning Board had rejected the developer’s plan in a public hearing held in June.

This web site has more news and documents relating to the Ashton Meeting Place project.

Ashton Meeting Place News

Ashton Meeting Place Documents