PUBLIC HEARING TESTIMONY
MARC Rail Communities Sector Plan – Boyds and Germantown | Marilyn Balcombe, President & CEO
February 13, 2019
The Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber has actively engaged in the development of Germantown for most of our 70 years. When the 1989 Master Plan was updated with the 2009 Germantown Employment Area Sector Plan, the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber commissioned a study by the Urban Land Institute as a precursor to the master plan review. We are invested in the Germantown reaching its full potential and welcome the MARC Rail Communities Sector Plan.
With seven MARC train stations between Points of Rock and the City of Rockville, MARC Rail is a critical asset in the Upcounty. Not only do we have small, rural stations like the Boyds station, we also have the busiest station on the entire Brunswick Line in Germantown. We appreciate the Planning Department taking on this important area and updating the Master Plan accordingly. I also thank the planning staff for their diligence in understanding our wonderfully unique community in Germantown.
We support the purpose of this plan to help create better connections between residents and the Boyds and Germantown stations, while at the same time maintaining the historic nature of the stations and their surroundings. As historic railroad towns, both Germantown and Boyds have a rich history in Montgomery County and in the Agricultural Reserve and it is important to respect and preserve their place in our history.
Boyds Plan
We support the vision and recommendations outline for the Boyds station. Although, the timing is not specified, the possible relocation of the Boyds station is intriguing and would certainly provide a more efficient ingress and egress to the station if it were moved to the Anderson property. Given that relocation is not recommended at this time, we do support additional parking at the Anderson property. However, this is a very rough stretch of road and there would need to be significant pedestrian improvement to make this a viable option for commuters.
We strongly support the replacement of the railroad bridge and the underpass at Clopper and Clarksburg Road. The current configuration, built in 1920’s was not planned for the current level of traffic. Regardless of its original intent, this is a critical north-south commuter intersection that needs significant improvement.
Germantown Plan
We support the recommendations for the Germantown MARC station. That area of Germantown is in dire need of a new streamlined street grid. We need connectivity between the new Seneca Valley High School, Germantown Town Center, the MARC station and the Historic District.
(Fig 29). The completion of Century Boulevard to Waterford Hills Boulevard makes sense but brings up the fact that Century Boulevard from Middlebrook Road to Wisteria has never been completed as proposed in the 2009 plan. Right now the “road” goes right through a series of strip malls and is not a meaningful thoroughfare. We would also need a traffic light at the Wisteria intersection. It is already a dangerous T-intersection without traffic crossing Wisteria.
We support the road diet on Middlebrook Road from Rt. 118 to Great Seneca Highway given the new Seneca Valley High School and the significant number of pedestrians along that stretch of road. Middlebrook Road is only 4 lanes from Father Hurley to Rt. 118, this would be an extension of that footprint. Not covered in this plan is the area of Middlebrook Road from Great Seneca Highway to I-270 which is very dangerous, unattractive and not integrated into the Town Center in anyway.
We support the increased parking at the Germantown MARC station with the caveat that when the time comes to actually building the parking structures, we need to make sure we increase capacity at for MARC overall. It will not serve the Upcounty to increase parking at the Germantown station to the detriment of stations further south – specifically Metropolitan Grove and Gaithersburg. One of the arguments in favor of the Watkins Mill Interchange (WMI) was an east-west access to the Metropolitan Grove MARC station. Once the WMI is completed, we would expect increased ridership at Metropolitan Grove. If we significantly increase parking at Germantown without increasing capacity on MARC, we run the risk of not being able to service commuters further south.
We also support the recommended location of triple-tracking of the railway lines and encourage the County to work towards making this happen. Expanded MARC service would be a great relief to the Upcounty.
We support the relocation of the Germantown Square Urban Park to a site by the Upcounty Regional Services Center which is in desperate need of revitalization. It may be the largest regional services center, but it is also underutilized.
We appreciate the recommendation to “Celebrate, interpret and highlight Boyds and Germantown historic resources through programming, interpretive elements and improvements to wayfinding” which are all desperately needed. Having local events, walking tours, signage and artwork to celebrate our history all sound great, but where is the money coming from. There is no funding mechanism to bring any type of cultural / community activity to Germantown. As with the 2009 Plan, this plan confirms the creation of an Urban Service District. The plan suggests the creation of a parking district with an assumption of a funding source. The current density in Germantown doesn’t warrant a parking district at this time, but will at some point in the future. In the meantime, an Urban District could be established and funded through the General Fund as other urban districts were when they were initially established.
While the MARC Rail Communities Sector Plan is a great addition to the overall Germantown Master Plan, what we really need is help and support in achieving the overall vision of Germantown established in the 1989 Master Plan and the 2009 Town Center Sector Plan. Germantown has existing commercial density available to create a major job center. My motto continues to be “for every job in Germantown, there’s one less car at the spur”. We need your help to achieve our full potential.
Please contact Marilyn Balcombe at mbalcombe@ggchamber.org with any questions.