A Montgomery County Circuit Court judge has postponed a hearing in the Westbard sector plan lawsuit that had been scheduled for this morning. The suit, filed by Bethesda residents against the County,
challenges the passage of the plan by the County Council and Planning Board on three grounds. A new hearing date is expected to be set by the judge before the end of the summer.
19 comments:
Such a waste of taxpayer dollars. Sad!
5:22: Based on that logic, prosecuting murderers would be "a waste of taxpayer dollars." The County Council and Planning Board are not above the law, even if it often seems that way. They need to be interrogated by Burt Macklin, FBI.
@5:22 Why do you think there are lawyers working in the county attorney office? Should those lawyers simply sit around all day and collect TAXPAYERS' money; or should they get busy working and helping the county conform to its very own laws? When residents, or any other entity or person, challenge the county legally, it's done for a reason, not for fun. Who undertakes a legal case as a lark? Tell us ... do you think that the county should follow its own laws? Because they didn't in the case of Westbard.
If you actually cared about wasted taxpayer dollars, then I would expect you to start sniffing around the education budget for fat, or looking into the Purple Line fiasco, or any other myriad of projects undertaken by the county. I'm sure you won't have to look too hard to find some real opportunities to save taxpayers' money.
5:40AM Why do you assume they don't care about those things?
You're showing an awful lot of speculation and aggression over a simple line.
Don't try to analyze it too much. Look for the superficial meaning.
are we still doing justice tuesdays?
@7:03 Justice Tuesdays are on-hold right now.
Thanks, Robert.
Robert is not in charge of SaveWestbard, the community itself is in charge of that.
hi i'm community. can i use the SaveWestbard account or is it just for the community of shills that live in Robert's head?
Comments get deleted at the same time Rugby posts.
Coincidence????????????????????????
Dyer------------------------------------------------------>reality
How do I donate to the develop westbard fund?
Robert is not Rugby. He always posts using his name unlike you anonymous troll. But we all know who you are :)
12:43: I invite you to visit the SaveWestbard website at www.savewestbard.org. SaveWestbard is a group of Westbard area residents that supports the redevelopment of Westbard, but rejects the excessive height and density embodied in the Westbard sector plan. We have challenged the sector plan in the above-referenced lawsuit.
Five community opinion surveys conducted by three different civic groups confirm that large majorities of Westbard area residents oppose the Westbard project as it is now configured, and oppose the 2016 sector plan.
SaveWestbard is not controlled by Robert Dyer or any media or political organization. It is an independent citizens group. Seven area civic associations have given financial support to our legal activities.
We welcome the support of anyone concerned about height and density of the proposed Westbard development.
12:55-- the develop Westbard fund is supported by the "donations" of a mammoth retail REIT. But thanks for the offer! ;)
As a matter of record, a petition mounted by the developer to support the Westbard sector plan attracted fewer than 200 signatures. By contrast, a petition opposing the Westbard sector plan got roughly 1500 signatures. Both petitions were circulated in early 2016.
Every available metric on public opinion shows that most people who live in the Westbard area think that the project is oversized and want it scaled back. So I'm sure that the developer, Regency Centers, appreciates your support.
When it comes to Westbard, Regency needs everything it can get in the court of public opinion. So far, the efforts of a PR firm (Maier Warner) and "Westbard Wednesdays" haven't helped much.
We seem to have some aspiring oligarchs, or their familiars, in this sector of cyberspace. Whatever the merits of the citizen arguments that the county has violated its own rules, to rail against their exercise of legal rights--at considerable expense, supported from household funds rather than corporate accounts or campaign contributions--is to rail against the most fundamental principles of equality before the law. Others have described the reality of popular sentiments on this project, that the council has repeatedly disregarded. The county could certainly have conducted its own
independent survey to determine where its constituents stood, but determined not to. Can the trolling commenters even grasp why the county doesn't want to 'waste' funds
to determine where voters stand? This is not a representative body, by any stretch, and has not been for some years.
9:03PM Your assumption that readers here are idiots is ridiculous.
Your comment "This is not a representative body, by any stretch, and has not been for some years." You'll get no argument on that. Most of the county feels it.
The attitude that you know best, that your issue is the most important, that your assessment of their motivations is 100, that "Westbard is the center of the Bethesda universe" attitude. THAT is what readers snipe at.
As a downtown Bethesda resident I hope they develop Westbard thanks to people like Robert.
@3:56 AM: I live near Westbard. I don't believe that "my issue is most important" nor that Westbard is "the center of the Bethesda universe." Not do I believe that my neighbors and I are right 100% of the time.
What I do know is that Westbard area residents (including me) and civic associations engaged in the County's Westbard planning process, played by the County's rules and were ignored.
Instead of meaningfully scaling back the plans of developers Equity One (now Regency Centers) and Capital Properties, the final plans were *upsized* along Westbard Avenue relative to what the Planning Department had originally proposed. The much-vaunted Berliner Compromise was pretty much a shell game because it did not affect any sites for which private development had been proposed. Even worse, the County violated its own rules in passing the sector plan.
I think that any community would be angry in these circumstances. If the Westbard lawsuit is successful, I hope that the sector plan is revised in a way that the community can support.
I am for a modernized Westbard, a profitable investment for the developers and 15% affordable housing, goals that the County supports. But I am against 2.3 million square feet of development shoe-horned into a neighborhood with no Metro access and infrequent bus service.
I hope that meaningful compromise on Westbard happens. That's how government policy is supposed to be made.
4:01PM - 3:56 here. Thanks for a factual succinct comment without derision or hyperbole. A refreshing change from the usual. I think most people understand the issue and are worried that it could happen to them. What they don't like is being chastised for having doubts or for thinking there are other issues just as important to them that also need attention.
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