Phyllis Capellman
301 949-4431
saveglenmont.org
GLENMONT CIVIC ASSOCIATION OPPOSES GARAGE IN NEIGHBORHOOD
January 28, 2007,Glenmont, Maryland….. Michael McAteer, Vice President of the Glenmont Civic Association (GCA), today
announced that his neighborhood group opposes the 1200 space parking garage Montgomery County plans to build in Glenmont. He
said the county’s Department of Public Works and Transportation (DPWT) plans to build a $24 million dollar garage in the
residential west side of Georgia Avenue near the Glenmont Metro entrance. The area is currently an open green space.
McAteer said that if built, the garage will be surrounded on three sides by single family homes. He said, “It will be a stand alone
concrete structure – longer than a football field, and 186 feet in width. It will have six floors with towers and lights.”
Speaking for the Glenmont Civic Association, he said that Metro already parks 1700 cars in a garage on the east side of
Georgia Avenue plus 200 on surface lots. In addition, Metro riders park on neighborhood streets and private lots. “Montgomery
County is doing the opposite of smart growth. Instead of encouraging the building of apartments, condominiums, and townhouses
within walking distance of Metro, they are covering this valuable land with parking lots and parking garages,” he said.
The Glenmont Civic Association says there are three reasons not to build the garage in the residential green space west of
Georgia Avenue:
- The area is zoned residential.
- The Glenmont Sector Plan calls for most of the area to be used for townhouses near Metro, plus a community facility such
as a small building. The remainder, an environmentally sensitive wetlands and tree save area, is to remain undeveloped and
enhanced for community use. - GCA fears a parking garage will attract cars that will drive through the neighborhood. This will endanger many hundreds of
school children who walk to schools and buses.
McAteer said many government officials, plus individuals and groups, oppose the west side garage. This includes the
Montgomery County Planning Board, which in April, 2006 voted 5 – 0 to locate the garage on the east side of Georgia Avenue. Also,
both the former and current chairmen of the Planning Board have written strongly against a free standing garage on the west side.
They said if a west side garage is built, it must be surrounded and masked by townhouses that would be an integral part of the
structure.
He said the west side garage is also opposed by: the Washington Regional Network of Livable Communities, the Georgia
Avenue Baptist Church, the Montgomery County Civic Federation, and the Coalition for Smarter Growth. In addition, 37 concerned
citizens either spoke or wrote against it at a public hearing on April 26, 2006.
Several solutions to the Glenmont parking situation are recommended by the GCA. For example, since many commuters come
from the area around Olney, a parking garage could be built there. This would be practical because the county has already approved
an express bus line between Olney and the Glenmont Metro station.
Another solution would be to end the practice of allowing drivers to reserve spaces in the east side garage until 10:00 a.m. He
said hundreds of reserved spaces are vacant in the morning when the garage is said to be “full.” Also, the county needs to increase
and streamline bus service from the Metro station to nearby neighborhoods so people won’t feel the need to drive. He said the
county should encourage more people to use Metro by making sidewalks and streets safer for walking.
In summation, McAteer said, the GCA position is that Montgomery County must follow the smart growth policies it has
already adopted. Glenmont should be allowed to develop into the transit oriented community described in the sector plan where
residents walk to jobs, stores, restaurants, schools, transit and churches. It should not be covered by parking lots and huge garages.
More information is available from the Glenmont Civic Association website, which is saveglenmont.org
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