Washington Post Discovers Rockville Neighborhoods

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Washington Post readers in Our Fair City of Rockville, MD were treated to a nice surprise this morning when they discovered a not-insignificant article all about some of the wonders to be seen around the Rockville and Twinbrook Metro stations.

To be fair, we do know that the Post knows we exist. Lori Aratani, a key local reporter, often links to Rockville Central and has even been to our Rockville Roundtable lunches. But today’s article spends more time on Rockville than the Post typically does.

We urge you to read the whole article by Alex Baldinger, but here’s a snippet:

[W]hen I decided to move to Rockville last year, traffic was something I knew I would find.

A neighborhood, though? A place to walk around, with hidden gems to discover and places to become a regular? I wasn’t optimistic.

But it’s out there. . . . It’s hidden a short walk from the Twinbrook Metro.

It’s also hidden among the chain stores of Rockville Town Center, which opened in 2007 across from the Rockville Metro. . . . Just like a good scavenger hunt, the gems are hidden among the ordinary.

The piece lists eleven picks. What are they? Read on . . . .

Come Enjoy Twinbrook's Day at the Park June 5!

The City of Rockville, local businesses, the Twinbrook Pool, and the Twinbrook Citizens Association are getting together to host a free community fair on Saturday, June 5, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. — it’s called “>Twinbrook Day at the Park.”

The event features kids’ activities (moon bounce and more), live music, a community yard sale, fitness classes, and more. It’ll be in tow locations at once: Rockcrest Park and Ballet Center (1331 Broadwood Drive) and Twinbrook Community Recreation Center (12920 Twinbrook Parkway).

Pick up a “passport” at the Rockcrest Ballet Center and then visit booths and try activities to earn passport stamps. People who earn four or more stamps are eligible for a free pool pass to the Twinbrook Pool! The pass may be used between 2 and 4 p.m., the day of the event.

Schedule

Rockcrest Center and Park

• Compost Station: 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Friends of the Library: 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
• Business Displays: 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
• Car Seat Check: 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
• Live Music – Steve Jones, Jazz Concert: 11:30 a.m.-noon
• and 12:30-1 p.m.
• Rodeo Bike: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Bike Safety Check: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Green Initiatives: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

Twinbrook Community Recreation Center

• Community Yard Sale: noon-2 p.m.
• Dog Training: noon-2 p.m.
• Twinbrook Organizations: noon-2 p.m.
• DJ: noon-2 p.m.
• Moon Bounce: noon-2 p.m.
• Children Activities: noon-2 p.m.
• Fitness Instruction: noon-2 p.m.
• Power Body Sculpting for Adults: noon-12:30 p.m.
• Computer Class for Adults: 12:30-1:30 p.m.
• UK Soccer League Workshop: 12:30-1:30 p.m.
• Cooking Classes: 12:30 -1:30 p.m.
• Fun Fit: 12:45-1:15 p.m.
• Cardio Dancing: 1:30-2 p.m.
• Free swimming at the Twinbrook Pool
• (four stamps or more required for a free pass): 2-4 p.m.

For more info, look here.

Twinbrook Station's 'Alaire' Apartments Open

>This from the PR firm handling the development of the new “Twinbrook Station” development:

Metro officials on Thursday morning joined the City of Rockville and developers and builders of Twinbrook Station to celebrate the project’s official opening during an Earth Day ribbon-cutting–a nod to the environmental benefits of transit-oriented development (TOD).

Steve Goldin, director of real estate for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, told those assembled for the ceremony that TODs like Twinbrook Station, located next to the Twinbrook Metro station in Rockville, are essential for three reasons: They are “a way to take cars off the road,” a way to “increase ridership for Metro,” and they allow “municipalities to maintain open space” by allow developers to build at higher densities near transit.

Twinbrook Station is a public-private partnership between WMATA and The JBG Companies that will transform 26 acres adjacent to the Red Line into a 2.2-million-square-foot, mixed-use community. Thursday’s ribbon-cutting was for The Alaire, the first phase of the project featuring 279 smoke-free apartments and 15,000 square feet of retail space. At full build-out, the project will include 1,595 residential units, 220,000 square feet of retail and 325,000 square feet of commercial space, along with a new park—all within walking distance to Twinbrook Metro.

“People are up to five times more likely to ride transit when they live within walking distance to it,” said Andrew J. Scott of the Maryland Department of Transportation who attended the opening. Transit-oriented developments like Twinbrook Station are key to the state’s transportation health, he said, noting that traffic is growing faster than the population.

Households within a half-mile of a transit station generate 40 percent fewer automobile trips, Scott said.

Bringing The Alaire and Twinbrook Station, which was 12 years in the making, to fruition took persistence and perseverance, said Rod Lawrence, principal of The JBG Companies. The development has been designated a Smart Growth project by the Washington Smart Growth Alliance and was the first project in the Washington region to be awarded gold certification as a LEED-Neighborhood Development.

Rockville Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio touted the environmentally friendly aspects of the project, saying “Rockville wants to be a green city” and needs more projects like Twinbrook Station. Thursday’s official opening for phase one is just the beginning of a new future, she said.

Help for Difficult Financial Times

Rich Gottfried has provided information about a free presentation on Saturday, January 31, 2009 offered by the >Twinbrook Citizens Association at the Twinbrook Community Church, 5906 Halpine Road, Rockville, MD 20851 (Off Twinbrook Parkway and Ardennes Avenue).

“Helping Residents Through Difficult Financial Times” will include helpful advice from several knowledgeable professionals. Here’s the schedule:

9:00 am to 9:30 am
Coffee And Donuts
Welcome and Meet the Presenters

9:30 am to 10:00 am
Foreclosure, Taxes and the IRS: Can Your Debt Be Forgiven?
Speaker: Richard Gottfried, CPA, M.S. in Taxation

10:00 am to 10:30 am
Reducing Your Insurance Costs
Speaker: Marian Healey, BB&T

10:30 am to 11:00 am
Understanding Current Mortgage Lending Conditions
Speaker: Steven Yegher, National City Mortgage

11:00 am to 11:30 am
Can Bankruptcy Save Your Home?
Speaker: Michael Wolff, Goren, Wolff & Orenstein, LLC

11:30 am to 12:00 pm
Panel Discussion: What Your Credit Score Means to You

12:00 pm to 12:30 pm
Moving Forward: Creating a Budget and Managing Expenses
Speaker: Richard Gottfried, CPA, M.S. in Taxation

12:30 pm to 12:45 pm
Questions and Wrap-up

If you need more information, call Rich at 301-717-9558 or email: richgott@erols.com.
RSVPs are appreciated but not necessary.

Planning Commission Worksession On Twinbrook Next Week

While there are many issues that seem to be sucking up oxygen at the moment, others are perking along and should not be lost sight of. It’s so easy to just look at what is in front of your nose and neglect other things.>

One issue in particular that should not be neglected is the recommendations of the Planning Commission to the Mayor and Council on the Twinbrook Neighborhood Plan. This was a significant issue in many of the candidate interviews I performed during last year’s City election.

The plan will be formally recommended by the Planning Commission to the Mayor and Council in May.

Next week, though, on April 23 at 7:00 pm, in City Hall, the Planning Commission will hold its final discussion on the draft plan, and give direction to staff on final changes that must be made before recommendation. (You can watch this meeting on The Rockville Channel).

The public record for comments on the draft plan has closed (it closed last Friday). You can go here to read a summary of the comments that had been received up to January of this year. Here is the actual Draft Plan. Many of the comments focus on retaining the unique neighborhood elements that make up Twinbrook in the face of pressure to redevelop to absorb projected population growth. There’s concern that there are plans for a vast mixed-use development reminiscent of Town Square — an approach which may stress this neighborhood more than it can easily accommodate. The Twinbrook Citizens Association has been following this issue closely and issued a set of recommendations for changes to the Plan, many of which make a lot of sense.

Twinbrook Plan Hearings Set

The controversial Twinbrook >Neighborhood Plan will be going to the public for two more “input” sessions, slated for October 10 and November 14, according to the City. Both meetings will be at City Hall, both at 7:00 pm.

In February, the Planning Commission considered the Twinbrook Plan and decided they needed to hear more from the affected residents. There were meetings in April and May. In June the Planning Commission chair opined that one of the residents who had been vocal on the issue was “a bit of a whine.” Nevertheless, the Planning Commission plans to steel itself to hear from the people twice more.

According to the City:

The Plan reflects the community’s desire to maintain and enhance the historic residential character of Twinbrook, while also guiding the future of land currently zoned for commercial and industrial uses. The Plan covers Planning Areas 7 (Twinbrook Forest and Northeast Rockville) and 8 (Twinbrook). The two planning areas are located in the southeastern section of the City and are bounded by the CSX and Metro railroad tracks to the southwest, First Street/Norbeck Road to the northwest and the City’s eastern boundary along Rock Creek Park and Twinbrook.

Planning Chair Frowns on Whining

The Gazette >tells us that Steven Johnson, Rockville Planning Commission chair, is irked at the “tiresome” complaints about the a-borning Twinbrook Neighborhood Plan lodged by Twinbrook Citizens Association President Christina Ginsberg, Saying of them that they are “a bit of a whine.”

Comments such as that by city officials (even volunteers) about citizens are unfortunate. But there is a larger issue at work here, too.

At issue appears to be a classic staff/citizen rift. The Planning Commisssion, says Ginsberg, does not provide information timely and slants its questionnaires so that they will result in positive assessments of the current draft plans. Meanwhile, the Commission seems to believe, citizens are not giving them enough room and flexibility in which to make plans — demanding answers about zoning that would come out later in the process.

Each side has an understandable interest: planning in a way that is most beneficial to Rockville as a whole (on the one hand); and really knowing what is going to happen in the neighborhood moving forward (on the other).

It’s too bad that the very mechansim that is supposed to minimize such friction — commuity outreach , that is — appears to be the very thing that is causing it.

Who knows how this process will move forward. But, in the future, people who are designing such mechanisms would do well to really ask, as they go about this important work, just what is it we are after? “Input” that we will then do with as we will? Or a real understanding of the concerns and aspirations of the community?

While we all might quickly say it’s the latter we are after, we need to make sure our plans and actions don’t send the message that we really just want the former (and that only grudgingly).

One way to approach this is to ask: What would it really look like if we went about planning in partnership with the community, rather than just seeking “input?”

What do you think?