Sandy Spring-Ashton Rural Preservation Consortium

The SSARPC (PreserveAshton.net)

supports development in Ashton that conforms to the Master Plan.

We are pro-Master Plan, not anti-development.

Town Meeting

A Town Meeting will be scheduled for sometime in March – time and location to be announced soon.  The meeting will cover the current status of a number of SSARPC projects. 

Ashton Meeting Place and Derrick’s Addition plans will be presented by the developer to the Planning Board in joint public hearings towards the end of March or early April.   The SSARPC Steering Committee wants to give you information to help you voice your opinions about these plans prior to and/or during the hearings.  We will let you know when the public hearings have been scheduled.  Written comments should arrive at the Planning Board ten days prior to the hearing.

Ashton Meeting Place and Derrick’s Addition

The plans for Ashton Meeting Place (southeast corner of the New Hampshire Avenue and Route 108 intersection, where the Sandy Spring Bank is located) and Derrick’s Corner (northeast corner, directly across Route 108 from the bank) will have their public hearings before the Montgomery County Park and Planning Board at the same time, most likely towards the end of March or in April (we will notify the mailing list when the hearings are scheduled).  Each project will have a separate time slot, with an opportunity for citizen input on each design.  Written comments received prior to the hearings will also be considered.  The Planning Board wants to hear testimony about both corners at the same meeting before making its final decisions.

Ashton Meeting Place

In October the SSARPC Steering Committee relayed two concerns concerning the AMP design to the Planning Staff and the developer:

(1)   The design showed no entrance from the street into Building 1, the first building encountered when coming from the east along Route 108.  Thus the building had no active store front on the street, as called for in the Sandy Spring-Ashton Master Plan.  An entrance from the street has now been added to the design.  

(2)   The SSARPC Steering Committee believes that people will walk diagonally across the corner green, creating an unslightly dirt path.   The SSARPC Steering Committee has submitted a proposal to make a diagonal path part of the design.  Prior to designing the path, members of the Steering Committee and the Planning Staff met with an arborist from Montgomery County’s Environmental Planning group to evaluate the health of the existing trees and to discuss methods of creating a path that would not harm the trees.

The Planning Staff has requested that the wall adjoining the steps at the edge of the corner green be removed so that the steps can be used as a place to sit, with a small open patio at the end of the steps.

The new Ashton Meeting Place design now features a greatly improved configuration with a friendly rustic design, based on the Sandy Spring-Ashton Master Plan, that we believe will be inviting to pedestrians and a credit to our neighborhood.  The design, in a large part, addresses the concerns expressed by the SSARPC and other citizens.

Derrick’s Addition

Derrick’s Addition is planned for the lot on the northeast corner of the intersection of Route 108 and New Hampshire Avenue, where the Freestate gas station and Kimball’s Servicenter were.  The original design included a gas station, a car wash, convenience store and a commercial building.  The car wash has been eliminated since the zoning does not allow for it.

The gas station design now has five gas pumps (reduced from six), two cars per pump.  The convenience store will be attached with a roof to the gas pump area.  The convenience store will now have an entrance from New Hampshire Avenue, making it an active store front on the street, as called for in the Sandy Spring-Ashton Master Plan.  The lighting will be low intensity will use cutoff fixtures which are the types that cause less light pollution than other types.  There will be landscaping partially blocking the view of the gas pumps from Route 108.

The design has a commercial building north of the gas station located in the middle of the parking lot.  This is not an active store front on the street and so is not in conformance with the Sandy Spring-Ashton Master Plan.   The SSARPC Steering Committee has proposed an alternative design that brings the building to the street so that it is in conformance with the Master Plan, but the developer has rejected it.

Chevy Chase Bank Building

The plans for the Chevy Chase Bank building have been submitted to the Park and Planning Staff.  The public hearing before the Planning Board has not yet been scheduled.   We will let you know the time of the hearing when we it is scheduled.

Resurrection Baptist Church

The Resurrection Baptist Church is being built at the intersection of Ednor Road and New Hampshire Avenue.  The builder removed all the trees and vegetation adjoining New Hampshire Avenue from the lot, in direct conflict with the Sandy Spring-Ashton Master Plan (pages 43 through 45).  This action was not in conflict with the church’s approved Forestation Plan but was in violation of the Church’s Landscape Plan (approved on January 12, 2006).

On October 8, the SSARPC Steering Committee sent a letter to the Planning Board requesting an order to halt construction until a plan to restore the trees was developed.

On November 17, members of the Church planted some replacement trees.  The diameter of most of the tree trunks is no more than one-half inch.  This size tree will not bring the site into conformance with the Master Plan for 20 years or more.

On November 27, the Park and Planning Staff sent a letter to the Resurrection Baptist Church requiring them to submit a new landscaping plan that conforms to the Sandy Spring-Ashton Master Plan.  So far, this has not been done.

Changes in the Steering Committee

Paul Mannina, who was co-chair of the SSARPC Steering Committee since it began three years ago, has stepped down.  Paul’s excellent guidance and leadership helped provide the basic infrastructure for the group to proceed, his analytical ability helped the group use a systematic approach in understanding and learning about the issues related to a rural neighborhood and the county rules and regulations, and his energy was contagious to the entire group.  Michelle Layton said that “Paul was instrumental in making sure that the SSARPC Steering Committee provided a professional approach to working with the community to keep Ashton the way people want to see the community remain.  Making sure that we continually used the Sandy Spring-Ashton Master Plan as a guideline was one of Paul’s focuses.”  We all thank Paul for years of service and support and know that he now has more time to spend with his family and new dog.  Thanks Paul!

Let Your Voice Be Heard!

The following information can be used to send your comments to the Park and Planning Staff, your delegates, The Gazette and SSARPC.

Park and Planning Staff

Joshua Sloan is the Park and Planning Staff contact for Ashton Meeting Place, Derrick’s Addition and Chevy Chase Bank.  Joshua Sloan’s contact information is:

Joshua Sloan

8787 Georgia Avenue

Silver Spring, MD 20910

Email:  joshua.sloan@mncppc-mc.org

Robert Kronenberg is the Park and Planning Staff contact for Resurrection Baptist Church.  His contact information is:

Robert Kronenberg

8787 Georgia Avenue

Silver Spring, MD 20910

Email:  robert.kronenberg@mncppc-mc.org

The Gazette

You can also let your views be known to the community by sending a letter to The Gazette.  The letter must be limited to 200 words, and you should include your name and address.  Letters received by Friday noon will be considered for the following week’s paper.  Letters should be sent to:

The Gazette

Editorial Department

1200 Quince Orchard Road

Gaithersburg, MD 20878

Email:  letters@gazette.org or to gmacdonald@gazette.org

SSARPC

The SSARPC Steering Committee would like to receive copies of letters and other comments you may have.  Please address them to:

SSARPC

Box 518

Ashton, MD 20861

Email:  ssarpc@preserveashton.net