Kenwood sues M-NCPPC over Little Falls Parkway road diet

Kenwood, the Chevy Chase neighborhood that directly abuts Little Falls Parkway, has filed a lawsuit against the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission to block Montgomery Parks' plan to reduce the road to one lane in each direction. The lawsuit, filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court by the Kenwood Citizens Association, calls shrinkage of the road's capacity - at the same time M-NCPPC has approved massive growth on either end of the parkway in downtown Bethesda and Westbard - "arbitrary and detrimental." It specifically cites M-NCPPC's failure to receive approval for the reduction of the parkway's size from the National Capital Planning Commission.

The NCPC has held federal authority over the Little Falls Parkway right-of-way for almost a century, since it was one of several Maryland stream valleys identified by the federal government as future parks or highway facilities. Having received federal funds to cover the purchase of the land for Little Falls Stream Valley Park under the Capper-Cramton Act of 1930, M-NCPPC must receive permission from the NCPC to sell, redevelop or change the use of that land or parkway.

M-NCPPC in 2011 had to seek approval from the NCPC to sell part of Little Falls Stream Valley Park to a private developer building townhomes. The NCPC approved that sale.

The Kenwood Citizens Association suit is asking the court to affirm that Montgomery Parks violated federal law by closing half of the parkway without approval from the NCPC, and to immediately order the road diet removed, and the parkway fully reopened to traffic.

KCA says it's shocking that the Montgomery County Planning Board, the land-use authority arm of M-NCPPC for Montgomery County that oversees Montgomery Parks, would flout federal rules so soon after recent Board scandals ended in the forced resignation of all its commissioners. "The Parks Department acts under the authority of the Montgomery County Planning Board. Given recent County scandals, we are surprised that even under new leadership the Parks Department is willing to play fast and loose with such an important issue directly affecting safety in these communities,” KCA President Pete Rizik said yesterday. 

This is not the first time Kenwood has objected to County attempts to reduce vehicular capacity of the parkway through road diets. The community was initially successful in overturning the first effort by the Planning Board to deploy a road diet at the Capital Crescent Trail crossing of the parkway. But the Board immediately reversed its decision under heavy pressure from the Montgomery County Council. 

After the initial public process on the trail crossing question, Montgomery Parks has never followed the required public engagement protocols for any of the further changes, speed limit reductions, and escalating road diets on the parkway. Montgomery Parks also illegally used money from a trail maintenance fund for changes to the parkway, rather than go through the required capital budget process at the County Council.

Kenwood and other adjacent communities have suffered from cut-through traffic as Montgomery Parks has implemented a barrage of road diets, speed bumps, bollards, overwhelming signage, barricades and other obstacles on the parkway. County officials have continued to ignore those safety concerns for residential streets, while continuing to shrink the capacity of very parkway that was designed to keep that through-traffic out of those residential neighborhoods. The result has been increased speeds and cut-through traffic on residential streets, putting children and pedestrians in general at greater risk.

"We have asked the Parks Department to follow federal law and undergo NCPC review," KCA attorney Michele Rosenfeld said Thursday. "Having been ignored we have no choice but to seek judicial intervention."