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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.
On Wednesday, October 18th, Willard Derrick, Fred Nichols
and Phil Perrine held a public meeting concerning their plans for the northeast
intersection of New Hampshire Avenue (650) and Ashton Road
(108). The public meeting is required by Montgomery County Park and Planning before
the developers can submit their plans for consideration.
Willard Derrick provided information about the history of the
property. It was initially owned by Mr. Derrick’s father, who had
one-half acre to sell Ford cars. Mr. Derrick and his brother purchased the
land from their father and ran a gas station on the property. During the
development of the Sandy Spring-Ashton Master Plan the property
was zoned C2, for commercial development. The package of land is now about 2
acres, and about one-half acre will be dedicated to road improvements.
There will be two entrances to the property – one off 108 and the
other off 650. The 108 entrance, to be 35 feet wide, will be a decent distance
from the entrance to Ashton Meeting Place (AMP). The 650 entrance will be past
the entrance to Ashton Village Center, opposite Orion Club Drive.
When entering from 108, there will be 5 gas pumps, located off the
highway. Each pump can service 2 cars. This is the same number of pumps that the
Freestate station had, but the location will be further off of the highway.
At the corner of 108 and 650 there will be a triangle-shaped
convenience store, with two doorways – one inward towards the pumps and
the other towards 108. There will be a patio at the 108 entrance. The patio
will have steps to get down to the level of the pumps. The size of the
convenience store will be 80 feet along 650 and 50 feet along 108 (it narrows
to 15 feet deep). It will be a one story building that is about 24 feet high. There
will be a tower near the eastern end of the store, more than 35 feet high, with
a clock.
At the north end of the property, away from 650 and 108, there will be
another retail store and a car wash. The retail store will be 90 feet long and
70 feet deep. On the south side of the retail store will be an automatic car
wash; the entrance to the car wash will be from the back of the building (from the
650 entrance, but away from it). The building materials are stone and brick.
There are two stories of office space (maybe for an insurance company) and also
space at the north end for a retail store (yet to be determined). The building
is located and designed to block the view of the gas station for the houses in
Ashton Knolls.
There will be a 6 foot white fence around the property; people living
in Ashton Knolls asked for that type of fence. There will be a number of
plantings and trees along with sidewalks. Street lamps, 14 feet high, will be
between the curb and sidewalks.
The designers are creating a 3D model that will include both AMP and
the NE corner. Within a few weeks, the design will be put on the AMP web site (www.meetingplace.com).
Questions and Answers:
Q: Is the architecture the same as AMP? There were a number of
community concerns about AMP – were they remembered during the design of
the NE corner? What is the status of AMP? What happens at the other corners
should relate to AMP.
A: Part of the design was to make both areas relate to each other. There
have been a number of changes to the AMP design. The AMP designers have been
working with representatives of SSARPC to come up with a design that both
groups can live with. Some changes include: variety of materials being used
on the outside of the buildings, individual fronts for stores, towers removed, bank
is accentuated by being surrounded by a park area, parking along 108 and 650. The
same types of materials are being used in both areas.
An SSARPC representative pointed out that there was innovative,
collaborative work to make the AMP grocery store be less intrusive, and that
the same imagination should be used in the NE corner. There are some
interesting issues to deal with on the NE corner: pavement needed for trucks,
desire to have larger parking spaces, future tenants prefer to have parking
near the building and not near the street.
Q: There has been little feedback to the community on what has
happened with the AMP design. The community should hear about the general
focus and concepts.
A: The AMP designers said that it is difficult to guarantee what will
happen due to working through the details. SSARPC said that there will be a
public meeting soon to discuss the status.
Q: Traffic – what are the traffic pattern plans for both
developments? In particular, increased traffic from the Mount Airy
area will affect the intersection.
A: The Master Plan requires 108 to be two lanes to the intersection
where it then can be wider. The AMP developers have worked with SSARPC
representatives and the State Highway Administration (SHA) to determine the
best traffic flow patterns. The AMP team and SHA have both done traffic
studies and the people who did the studies have shared their results. The
entrances are separated from each other. There are deceleration lanes.
Acceleration lanes were removed. There is an intention to keep the pavement in
the intersection about the size as it is now, but redesign it to improve
traffic flow.
Q: Why is the entrance from 650 so far north? The vision for drivers
is not good in that area and there have been a number of accidents there.
A: The state determined where the entrances would be.
Q: Will the pumps be screened from the road?
A: The entrance from 108 to the pumps is 35 feet wide and people will
drive directly to the pumps. The pumps will be visible from the street.
Q: Do we really need the canopy over the gas pumps? Its looks take
away from the idea of a town center.
A: The canopy (which is 80 feet by 80 feet) will cover cars and people
when there is bad weather. Also, the lighting will be under the canopy to
reduce light pollution. The canopy will be designed to be similar to the roof
lines on the convenience building.
Q: Do we really need more gas stations? More gas stations are being
built three miles away, in Cloverly. Do we need a convenience store?
A: Gas stations are really used by people passing through. The gas
station in this area was very popular. Gas station operators say that a
convenience store is necessary today as it generate most of the profit.
Q: A number of us use Kimball’s car service. Why have a car
wash and get rid of the car service?
A: Kimball’s doesn’t want to sign a long term lease.
Q: The property is zoned C2 and there is a grandfather clause for the
gas station. How does this relate to the car wash?
A: The use of the land is the same as it has been in the past and
developers believe that since the services being designed are services that
historically have been part of the land, that the services are grandfathered as
well. When the Derricks had their gas station, they also washed cars. A car
wash is also considered part of a gas station. The developers’ lawyer is
preparing a brief for Park and Planning on this topic and will share it with
SSARPC.
Q: How is traffic going to flow through the area? There is a concern
that there will be traffic backups at the car wash and deadlocks during busy
car wash days.
A: There will be 15 stacking spaces for the car wash. There will be a
sign indicating that it is illegal to wait for the car wash on 650. The police
will give tickets to people who disobey the sign.
Q: What about water management?
A: The state has obtained land behind the property for a water
management site. The water from the development will be filtered and then
moved to the state water management site. The water for the car wash will be
recycled.
Q: What about signage?
A: There will be 5-foot high signs near entrances, identifying the
area. The price of the gas will probably also be on these signs. There will
be signage on the buildings, lit up letters, and they will all be the same
design.
Q: Are there bicycle lanes? What is the size of the green edge near
the road?
A: There are bicycle lanes on the main highways. The green space is
12 feet wide.
If you have thoughts you would like to share with others, there are
three different approaches:
(1)
To communicate with SSARPC, send email to ssarpc@preserveashton.net
(2)
To send your opinions to Montgomery County Park and
Planning, contact Mr. Michael Ma; Development Reviews; MNCPPC; 8787 Georgia
Avenue; Silver Spring, MD 20910; email: Michael.ma@mncpcc-mc.org
(3)
To send a letter the Gazette, send a letter to The
Gazette; Editorial Department; 1200 Quince Orchard Road; Gaithersburg, MD 20878;
email: gmacdonald@gazette.net .
The letter should be limited to 200 words. Letters received by Friday at noon will be considered for the following week.
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