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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.
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Public Meeting: New AMP Design
The developer, Nichols Development, LLC, of Ashton
Meeting Place (AMP) is holding a public meeting to tell the community about
the new design for AMP that they plan to submit to Montgomery County Park
and Planning. The new plan is significantly different from the old plan.
While the details have not yet been developed and reviewed by SSARPC, the
layout and locations of buildings, parking, and open space are, in the
opinion of SSARPC design team, an improvement over the old plan.
Time: Tuesday,
August 7, 7 PM
Location: Ross Boddy
Community Center
18529 Brooke
Road, Sandy Spring
Community input is needed to insure that the developer
continues with the spirit of the new design. Come to make sure that your
voice is heard.
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Background Information
The Olney
Gazette’s July 18 article “Developer, Community Redraft
Plan” is about the new design process being implemented for Ashton
Meeting Place (AMP). After the Planning Board’s denial of the AMP plan
on June 28, the builder agreed to a one-day meeting (called a Charrette) on
July 12, with invited individuals, to discuss future plans for AMP.
Representatives of the SSARPC Steering Committee, as well as other community
members, were part of the discussions. The plan is based on the conceptual
design that the SSARPC developed and presented to the Planning Board as part
of its testimony on June 28. The SSARPC design was developed by architect
Miche Booz and landscape architect Brooke Farquhar.
The result of the discussions is a conceptual site plan
that conforms to the Sandy Spring Ashton Master Plan and meets the
restrictions on the use of the R-60 zoned land (residential instead of
commercial usage), two major problems with the previous AMP plan. The scale
of the design is better fitted to the space available. The size of the
commercial area will be no more than 74,000 square feet, about three-fourths
the size of the previous version. The anchor store, which may be a
specialized grocery store and is now relocated from Route 108 to the interior
of the site, will be about 18,000 square feet, reduced from 30,000 square
feet.
The following links provide more information from the
discussions, including some visual conceptual designs:
The meeting developed a concept plan. The actual site
plan is being created by the developer and contains more details than the
conceptual plan. It might have some changes to the concept plan.
Members of the community are encouraged to attend the
meeting on Tuesday to see what will be presented to the Planning Staff and to
participate in a discussion with the developer.
If you have comments that you want to submit in writing to
the Planning Staff, please address them to:
Joshua Sloan
Attn: Ashton Meeting Place
8787 Georgia Avenue
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Email: joshua.sloan@mncppc-mc.org
The AMP website indicates that comments to the developer
should be sent by email to rfuller@nicholsmanagementinc.com
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The SSARPC Steering Committee would like to receive copies
of letters and any other comments you may have. Please address them to:
SSARPC
Box 518
Ashton, MD 20861.
Email: ssarpc@preserveashton.net
You can let your views be known to the community by
sending a letter to the Gazette. The letter must be limited to 200 words,
and 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.net .
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