Mr. Christopher Conklin, Director, Department of Transportation of Montgomery County [email protected]
Ms Mitra Pedoeem, Director, Department of Permitting Services [email protected]
Dear Mr. Conklin and Ms.Pedoeem,
I am a resident of the Hillmead neighborhood in Bethesda, MD, 20817, and very respectfully solicit that the County allows the development of the lot at 8903 Fallen Oak Drive, Bethesda, MD, with vehicular access through Fallen Oak Dr and not through Ridge Rd.
A builder is currently processing a permit (No. 937448) to develop the lot at 8903 Fallen Oak Dr via the end of Ridge Rd (beyond the intersection with Melwood Rd), although the lot was originally intended to have vehicular access via Fallen Oak Dr. Nevertheless, for faster construction and lower costs, the builder is trying to use an easement that gives access to the lot via Ridge Rd only in the case that Fallen Oak Dr is not extended to that lot.
Such development would increase the vehicular traffic in our neighborhood unnecessarily, creating a safety issue, especially for families with children and the many people who walk on Ridge and Melwood, neither of which have sidewalks. Some of our streets are also frequently used by cars to cross between Greentree Rd and Bradley Blvd. We can’t keep increasing the number of cars that use our streets and make them even less safe for pedestrians.
The lot at 8903 Fallen Oak Drive was intended to be developed via Fallen Oak Dr. We request that the County enforces its original development plan.
I kindly ask that this petition be shared with the appropriate County offices for their consideration.
Sincerely,
15 Comments
This is reminiscent of the Oldchester Road debacle where a public walk-through was sold to a developer that was later found to be unusable - and returned to its original public use configuration. If someone approved this on paper - they likely didn't survey the property in person to see how untenable this is. The builder is essentially barreling through private property to build a house-behind-a-house on an unbuildable lot - that's too close to the culvert as is. If the county allows the house to be built - then the builder will need to develop the lot via the original Fallen Oak Drive plan. The existing homeowners on Ridge Road shouldn't be subject to bullying by the builder.
The streets proposed in the easement are much too narrow to support increased vehicular and truck traffic. For example, along this stretch it is often necessary to temporarily "tuck in" to a parking space to allow a car traveling in the opposite direction to pass. Furthermore, there are no sidewalks along this stretch of Ridge Road, and this road is used by the community and its children regularly for walking, biking, and generally accessing parts of the neighborhood. The proposed easement places both a burden and creates a safety issue unnecessarily as access via Fallen Oak is possible. Thank you for your consideration.
Thank you for bringing this to the attention of the neighborhood as it is a safety issue with too many cars on Melwood Road already. Note to Montgomery County DPS: Please do not approve any more permits for that property. The property is sloped and heavily wooded and sits in a floodplain right next to the Bulls Run culvert which often floods. The land is unbuildable and should not have been allowed to be subdivided many years ago because it can only be accessed over the Bulls Run Culvert from Fallen Oak Drive. Right now it is landlocked with no access...as a driveway would need to be constructed over the creek.
As a multi-decade resident of this neighborhood I strongly oppose granting a permit to add traffic to the roads in Hillmead. Builder short-term profit speculating on construction is NOT a justification for a lifetime of traffic burden put on the residents after the builder has run off with the profits. NO to this permit.
see no reason this lot needs to be accessed via Ridge Rd. Access via Fallen Oak is more direct and avoids increasing risk the traffic burden on Ridge, an (already too congested) neighborhood road that is too often used as a cut through between Bradley and Greentree. Ideally, traffic on Ridge should be reduced, but most definitely not increased.
You only have to LOOK at the situation to see that access on Fallen Oak is the ONLY reasonable place to provide access to the developer.
Please keep the access on Fallen Oak as originally planned!
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Mr. Christopher Conklin, Director, Department of Transportation of Montgomery County [email protected]
Ms Mitra Pedoeem, Director, Department of Permitting Services [email protected]
Dear Mr. Conklin and Ms.Pedoeem,
I am a resident of the Hillmead neighborhood in Bethesda, MD, 20817, and very respectfully solicit that the County allows the development of the lot at 8903 Fallen Oak Drive, Bethesda, MD, with vehicular access through Fallen Oak Dr and not through Ridge Rd.
A builder is currently processing a permit (No. 937448) to develop the lot at 8903 Fallen Oak Dr via the end of Ridge Rd (beyond the intersection with Melwood Rd), although the lot was originally intended to have vehicular access via Fallen Oak Dr. Nevertheless, for faster construction and lower costs, the builder is trying to use an easement that gives access to the lot via Ridge Rd only in the case that Fallen Oak Dr is not extended to that lot.
Such development would increase the vehicular traffic in our neighborhood unnecessarily, creating a safety issue, especially for families with children and the many people who walk on Ridge and Melwood, neither of which have sidewalks. Some of our streets are also frequently used by cars to cross between Greentree Rd and Bradley Blvd. We can’t keep increasing the number of cars that use our streets and make them even less safe for pedestrians.
The lot at 8903 Fallen Oak Drive was intended to be developed via Fallen Oak Dr. We request that the County enforces its original development plan.
I kindly ask that this petition be shared with the appropriate County offices for their consideration.
Sincerely,
15 Comments
1) The lot is in a flood zone. 2) Ridge Road and Melwood are too narrow and are not suitable to handle more traffic, including traffic caused by a new house from a builder who walks away pocketing short-term profit but has no stake in neighborhood or the safety of the residents. As it is pedestrians have to have their head on a swivel to avoid cars driving along Ridge Road and Melwood - especially cars driven by people looking at cell phones while cutting through our neighborhood. 3) Deny the building permit and deny access to Ridge Road.
This is reminiscent of the Oldchester Road debacle where a public walk-through was sold to a developer that was later found to be unusable - and returned to its original public use configuration. If someone approved this on paper - they likely didn't survey the property in person to see how untenable this is. The builder is essentially barreling through private property to build a house-behind-a-house on an unbuildable lot - that's too close to the culvert as is. If the county allows the house to be built - then the builder will need to develop the lot via the original Fallen Oak Drive plan. The existing homeowners on Ridge Road shouldn't be subject to bullying by the builder.
The streets proposed in the easement are much too narrow to support increased vehicular and truck traffic. For example, along this stretch it is often necessary to temporarily "tuck in" to a parking space to allow a car traveling in the opposite direction to pass. Furthermore, there are no sidewalks along this stretch of Ridge Road, and this road is used by the community and its children regularly for walking, biking, and generally accessing parts of the neighborhood. The proposed easement places both a burden and creates a safety issue unnecessarily as access via Fallen Oak is possible. Thank you for your consideration.
Thank you for bringing this to the attention of the neighborhood as it is a safety issue with too many cars on Melwood Road already. Note to Montgomery County DPS: Please do not approve any more permits for that property. The property is sloped and heavily wooded and sits in a floodplain right next to the Bulls Run culvert which often floods. The land is unbuildable and should not have been allowed to be subdivided many years ago because it can only be accessed over the Bulls Run Culvert from Fallen Oak Drive. Right now it is landlocked with no access...as a driveway would need to be constructed over the creek.
As a multi-decade resident of this neighborhood I strongly oppose granting a permit to add traffic to the roads in Hillmead. Builder short-term profit speculating on construction is NOT a justification for a lifetime of traffic burden put on the residents after the builder has run off with the profits. NO to this permit.
see no reason this lot needs to be accessed via Ridge Rd. Access via Fallen Oak is more direct and avoids increasing risk the traffic burden on Ridge, an (already too congested) neighborhood road that is too often used as a cut through between Bradley and Greentree. Ideally, traffic on Ridge should be reduced, but most definitely not increased.
You only have to LOOK at the situation to see that access on Fallen Oak is the ONLY reasonable place to provide access to the developer.
Please keep the access on Fallen Oak as originally planned!
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1) The lot is in a flood zone. 2) Ridge Road and Melwood are too narrow and are not suitable to handle more traffic, including traffic caused by a new house from a builder who walks away pocketing short-term profit but has no stake in neighborhood or the safety of the residents. As it is pedestrians have to have their head on a swivel to avoid cars driving along Ridge Road and Melwood - especially cars driven by people looking at cell phones while cutting through our neighborhood. 3) Deny the building permit and deny access to Ridge Road.