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 5th 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
