WECA Response to Councilmember Moore's APFO E-Mail

Hello West End Neighbors,

               This message is posted (and has been sent to the WECA listserv) because we are aware that neighbors in the West End have received an e-mail message from Councilmember Moore regarding the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance/Standards.  We are concerned for two reasons.  First there are inaccuracies and misleading information contained therein.  Second, we do not know how Mr. Moore obtained the e-mail addresses, but it appears that the source is some of our WECA mailings.  Mr. Moore has been asked to refrain from using email addresses from WECA communications.  In accordance with WECA By-Laws, these addresses were provided for WECA business only.  In the future we will modify our communications to provide greater protections of your email addresses.

 However, given that this has occurred, it is important to correct misleading and inaccurate information provided by Mr. Moore. This was discussed at the Executive Board meeting on December 4, 2014 and a copy of the point paper prepared for that meeting follows.  

 

Point Paper for WECA Board Meeting of December 4, 2014 re:  Councilmember Moore's message to West End Neighbors

In the message from Councilmember Moore sent to West End Neighbors on December 2, 2014, he states:  “Your WECA leadership has given you quite an unbalanced look at what the Mayor and Council is doing with Rockville’s school standards …”   Mr.  Moore’s message then presents information that he claims to be the “facts.” 

 In this point paper prepared for the Executive Board meeting on December 4, 2014, we address Mr. Moore’s “facts” and show the deficiencies and errors therein.

 

First, Mr. Moore alleges,  “Your WECA leadership has given you quite an unbalanced look, …”  NOT TRUE 

Here are the Facts:

·       WECA has provided balanced and accurate information on Rockville’s APFO based on information provided by past Mayor Giammo and past Councilmember Hall, who are the authors of Rockville’s APFO, and materials from Dennis Cain who was a participant in the APFO Task Force reporting to the Planning Commission.

·       WECA’s Executive Board and West End neighbors have been consistently opposed to efforts to dilute or dismember the APFO.  The facts have not changed.   

Mr. Moore states, “Put simply, Rockville’s APFO has failed to keep our schools from becoming more overcrowded.  It is hurting our schools and hurting our City.”   NOT TRUE

 

Here are the Facts:

·       Rockville’s APFO HAS and DOES prevent the addition of more children to an already overcrowded school, by preventing construction of new residential developments that would feed into it.  Lower enrollment helps not “hurts” our schools. 

·       By contrast, the county standard FAILS to prevent new residential construction in the majority of the cases because of the 120% threshold, cluster “averaging” and the five-year test.

·       Rockville’s APFO was not designed to prevent people with children from moving into existing housing units, nor could it prevent construction of projects that were already approved prior to enactment of the ordinance/standards.  It could not, nor was it designed to, eliminate all sources of additional children in our schools.   It is characteristic of good parents to seek to live in communities with good schools, a feature of the schools in Rockville.

Rockville’s APFO/APFS has done exactly what it was intended to do, i.e. hold down additional overcrowding of schools until classroom space is constructed by the Montgomery County Public Schools.  This will not be the case if the County’s standards are adopted.

Mr. Moore states, “Rockville Town Center has been in moratorium as to new projects since the APFO was enacted, and the entire Richard Montgomery High School cluster – which includes all of Town Center and most of Rockville Pike – will be at a standstill until at least 2029 if we fail to fix our standards.” 

NOT TRUE 

 

Here are the Facts:

·       Town Center residential development is complete-either built or approved and will be built soon.   Rockville’s APFO has not hindered this redevelopment.

·       The APFO did not stop or hinder the construction of Town Square, OR the Duball buildings which are going up opposite the movie theater OR the Kettler project on the site of the pink bank.  All of these projects are mixed use with residential over retail and have school allowances that predate the APFO.

·       The APFO did not prevent or impact the development of 275 N. Washington St., future home of the Bank of America, retail stores at street level and offices above. 

·       The APFO did not prevent or impact the senior housing project at 285 N. Washington Street, which was approved by the Planning Commission in July 2014. 

·       The APFO did not prevent or impact the construction of Walgreens, which was a rehabilitation of an existing building. 

·       Only two sites remain for potential redevelopment in Town Center- 414 and 416 Hungerford Avenue.  Per the Rockville Town Center Master Plan these sites are designated as preferred mixed-use office with retail at street level. In summary, Town Center residential redevelopment is complete and the APFO did not hinder or prevent its redevelopment. 

 

 Mr. Moore states, “Likewise, Rockville’s standards have failed to bring school-construction funds to the City any sooner.”  ILLOGICAL and MISLEADING 

 Here are the Facts:

·       Rockville’s APFO was not designed to increase the speed with which the county constructs schools in Rockville. 

·       More importantly, it has not hindered construction of new school facilities in Rockville.  The whole county has a severe problem that has been neglected for too long.  Other areas are in worse shape than Rockville.

·       We know from a former Rockville representative on the Montgomery County School Board that Rockville’s APFO/APFS did not delay building of schools in Rockville.

 

Mr. Moore states, “Worse, The City’s standards do not prevent development just across the city limits in the County, where there is no moratorium.”  ILLOGICAL and MISLEADING

 Here are the Facts:

·       While it is true that Rockville’s APFO cannot prevent new residential construction outside of its borders and some additional county children can increase enrollment in some Rockville schools, that is no reason to get rid of Rockville’s APFO and allow even greater overcrowding of our schools.  Just because there is a leak in the dike, that is not a good reason for tearing down the whole dike and letting a flood occur. 

 

Mr. Moore substantiates his position by relying on recommendations of the Summit Task Force.   He fails to tell you about the other in-depth reviews that have consistently supported preservation of Rockville’s APFO/APFS.   MISLEADING AND INCOMPLETE INFORMATION

 

Here are the Facts:

·       In the last three years Rockville’s APFO has been evaluated extensively by Rockville’s Planning Commission and a task force under its auspices. 
·       In 2011 the Task Force, created by the Planning Commission, evaluated the APFO.   The task force was composed of citizens, representatives of developers and chaired by Councilmember Julie Palakovich Carr.  The Task Force recommended that Rockville’s APFO be preserved. 
·       In 2012 the Planning Commission performed its own evaluation of the APFO.  They recommended by a unanimous vote to keep the school standards of the APFO/APFS unchanged.
·       In 2013 the Planning Commission addressed the APFO again and unanimously voted against weakening the APFO school standards. 

Mr. Moore states,  “Our law [if the same as the county’s] will better reflect and predict what the County’s school-construction plans will be.”   NOT TRUE

 

Here are the Facts:

·       Under the County’s APFO the schedule for school construction regularly fails to meet its original construction schedule and slips further into the future.    Indeed, the County includes “paper schools” in its budget planning to avoid having to put areas in construction moratorium.  Schools that were predicted to occur in 3 to 5 years slip out to 5 to 7 years or longer.  This means that the schools are not there when the children arrive.  

 

Some history of the Overcrowding Problem- Missing from Mr. Moore’s message

 Historical factors are relevant to the current discussion of overcrowding of the Rockville schools.  The MCPS decided to economize during the 1980’s and closed and disposed of 8 public schools.   Over time the enrollment has increased and the need for classrooms has been met by addition of portable trailers placed on school playgrounds, eliminating playground space and providing questionably adequate classroom space to avoid the cost of building new buildings.  Some schools have as many as 14 trailers. There is currently a total of 350 trailers on MCPS school grounds. The trailers do not add to the core facilities such as lunch rooms , libraries, computer labs, etc.  Hence we now have some children who must take their lunches as early as 10 am or as late as 2 pm – a grossly unfair, doubtlessly unhealthy system imposed on the children.

 

Here are the facts today for the Richard Montgomery cluster.  Beall elementary has a core capacity of 641children and is presently teaching 831 children. That is 130 % of rated capacity - 190 children extra in that school.  One must wonder what is the consequent impact on their education?? College Gardens, a school just recently rebuilt already has125% of core capacity; for Ritchie Park elementary enrollment is 141% of core capacity; and Twinbrook Elementary is 104% of capacity.  At the middle school, Julius West Middle is presently at 110% of capacity with projections of 132 % of capacity in the next few years.  The new high school (Richard Montgomery) is presently at 98% of capacity.  After years of public pressure, the Board of Education has finally allocated funds for the construction of the 5^th elementary school in the cluster – ironically on the same site as the Hungerford School it disposed of in the 80’s.

 

Summary:  Don’t be fooled by Councilmember Moore’s message.  Protecting our schools from more overcrowding depends on preserving Rockville’s APFO.  Adopting the County’s standards would lead to more residential development and bring new children to schools that are way beyond capacity.

 

If you support Rockville's APFO, please testify at the Public Hearing on January 5, 2015 and sign the petition at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/keep-the-city-of-rockville-apfoapfs.html