EMAIL NOW: Support Needed for Willett Branch Park

Dear Neighbors,

As you know, the Westbard Sector Plan has a beautiful amenity that is central to the Plan - the Willett Branch Greenway.  This is a beautiful new park planned to naturalize the Willett Branch and create a linear park that will wind through the sector along side the new Equity One development.  It's the only meaningful green space in the plan.  

The Park is jeopardized by Equity One's plan in partnership with the Housing Opportunity Commission (HOC) to build a parking garage creek-side behind the Westwood Tower Building which is owned by the HOC.  We need public support of the park to convince the Planning staff to reject the plan.  We are asking people to please take a minute from your busy holiday season to send the following email to HOC and county planners opposing proposed building in the stream buffer, the flood plain or on top of the cemetery and asking for their support for the vision for the Willett Branch Stream Valley Park.

Send the email to  planning@springfield20816.com which delivers your message to the HOC leadership, the County planners and the County Council.

These letters need to go out ASAP. The HOC leadership and County officials may make a decision to build this garage as early as the end of the week when the Planning staff begins to draft their recommendations for the development for presentation to the Planning Board.  They need to hear that you and the entire community strongly opposes any new buildings in the 100 foot stream buffer and flood plain of the creek and strongly supports the creation of Willett Branch SV Park as envisioned in the Sector Plan and promised by all sides during the lengthy public review process.

You can visit the Little Falls Watershed Alliance website for more information or to send an email directly.  http://www.lfwa.org/email-now-willett-branch-westbard-sector   

Learn more about the cemetery that is along side the Westwood Tower at http://www.lfwa.org/westbards-forgotten-history-plantations-emancipation-and-jim-crow-era

Thank you,

Sarah

Sarah Morse

Executive Director

Little Falls Watershed Alliance

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Send to planning@springfield20816.com

Re: No HOC Garage in Stream Buffer of Willett Branch SV Park

Dear Commissioner Roman and County Planners,

Please don’t build any new buildings in stream buffer or flood plain or on top of the cemetery behind your Westwood Tower Apartments property which abuts the planned Willett Branch SV Park.

Montgomery Parks has a beautiful park planned for the Willett Branch in the Westbard Sector. The residents of HOC’s Westwood Tower Apartments will be big winners with this park, enjoying the benefits of nature, a sparkling creek, pedestrian trails that connect to the Capital Crescent Trail and lush green woods that will serve as their backyard and playground for their children.

Please join the community in supporting this new park. Specifically, I ask that HOC and its development partner, Equity One (merging with Regency Centers) not build a parking garage or any new structures behind the apartment building which is stream buffer for the Willett Branch. The garage would sit on the cemetery which is the final resting place of many of the area’s post emancipation African American residents and would be in violation of MD environmental guidelines that require a 100-foot stream buffer. 

Your support will ensure the creation of this park which will be a gem for the County and treasured by residents of Westbard most especially residents of your soon to be three building Westwood Tower Apartments complex.  Your support will help make the Park a reality.

As a resident, I ask HOC to please not build any new buildings in stream buffer or flood plain or on top of the cemetery behind your Westwood Tower Apartments property which abuts the planned Willett Branch SV Park.

Thank you for your leadership in doing the right thing,

Sincerely,

[INSERT YOUR NAME HERE]

[INSERT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD OR ADDRESS HERE] 

Uncovering a Forgotten History: A New Park for the Westbard Sector

Plantations, Slave Life, Civil War, Emancipation, and the Jim Crow Era in the Westbard Sector

Little Falls Watershed Alliance has started a history committee as part of our advocacy for the new Willett Branch Park in the Westbard Sector.  The Park would honor the local history and we were curious to learn more about the neighborhood.

What we found was that the area north of what is now Little Falls Parkway on either side of River Road was once a vibrant African American community settled by freed slaves.  The plantations were located south in the Green Acres and Brookdale areas and the slaves settled on land off of River Road after emancipation.  There was also a Rosenwald School (one of over 5,000 schools in the south funded by the CEO of Sears, Julius Rosenwald) which shut down in 1954 when schools were desegregated.  The students went to Somerset Elementary School, Western Junior High or BCC High School.  And there was a cemetery where the HOC parking lots are.  It was sold in 1958 when the area was redeveloped but oral history suggests that the graves are still there under the asphalt.  

The African American residents were displaced by development in the early 1960s, the houses bulldozed for apartments and commercial buildings.  The Rosenwald school was torn down and a communication tower built on it site.  All that remains to remind of us of this forgotten history is the Macedonia Baptist Church at 5119 River Road.  This historic church was built in 1932 on land deed to them by the Clipper Family and still hold services and Bible study every week.  

You can find more information about the history of the area in the Westbard Sector plan appendix.

Preserving History in a New Park for the Westbard Sector

Please write to the Planning Board and Staff and the County Executive expressing your support for a new Willett Branch Stream Valley Park which honors and highlights the rich and forgotten history of the area. Ask that no new buildings be allowed in the stream buffer and on top the cemetery - the heart of the park where early African American residents were buried.

John Marcolin, Project Manager 

Montgomery County Park and Planning

8787 Georgia Ave.

Silver Spring, MD 20910

john.marcolin@montgomeryplanning.org

Casey Anderson, Chair

Montgomery County Planning Board

8787 Georgia Ave.

Silver Spring, MD 20910 

MCP-Chair@mncppc-mc.org 

Ike Leggett, County Executive

Executive Office Building

101 Monroe St., 2nd Floor

Rockville, MD 20850

Ike.leggett@montgomerycountymd

Emerald Ash Borer Update

Emerald Ash Borer Update   

Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is in Maryland and it's attacking ash trees.  Unfortunately, it's has a 100 percent mortality rate for trees without treatment.  Worse than that, the trees look pretty healthy until they are about to die.  The borer makes little tunnels under the bark which weakens the tree.  We have a lot of Ash in the area and in the Parks.  Trees that are along trails and Parkway will be removed so that they do not cause any safety issues for Park users.  Trees deep in the forest will be left to decompose.

If you have an ash in your yard, you need to get it evaluated immediately.  It's possible to treat the tree and save it, but you must commit to treating the tree for the rest of its life.  Any certified arborist will be able to help you.

How to identify an Ash?- 

Ashes are canopy trees with compound leaves and opposite branching.  Very few trees have opposite branching so that's a good place to start.  This website has really good description of the tree.  http://treedoctor.msu.edu/ash/ashtree_id.html

Ash Trees in Little Falls Park

Patrick Harwood of Montgomery Parks is in charge of the Emerald Ash and writes:

I just wanted to give the folks in the Little Falls area a heads up about the Tree removal work we will be starting in the next couple of weeks. We will be removing approximately 60 Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) infested Ash tree along Little Falls Parkway and a portion Little Falls paved trail.

The areas we will be working in are;
Norwood local park, heading south from Norwood following the paved trail south to Hillandale Road then heading south on the paved trail to Dorset Ave.

We will also be removing ash trees at many points along Little Falls Parkway from Hillandale Road to Massachusetts Avenue.

Expect Delays on the Parkway:
There will be intermittent delays on both the Parkway and trails while the work is being done. The delays on the trails should be no longer than 15 minutes on the trails to allow for safe tree removal and trail user passage. The parkway will have rolling single lane closures and be flagged in the single lane portion. Our goal is to minimize disturbance to commuters and trail users. The work will be planned outside of rush hour as much as possible.

In advance of  the work beginning we will be placing educational and notice of work signs out for park users to get more info on EAB and the work. Electronic signage will stationed along the Parkway with notice of the work and possible delays.

More Information:
EAB do not harm humans or any other species of tree other than ash (Fraxinus sp.). EAB only feed on live ash trees.

For more information on the Emerald Ash Borer go to www.emeraldashborer.info and visit our website http://www.montgomeryparks.org/?s=Emerald+ash+borer for more information on EAB in Montgomery Parks.

Feel free to contact me if you have any comments questions or concerns.

Thanks,
Patrick Harwood
MNCPPC, Montgomery Parks
16641 Crabbs Branch Way
Rockville, MD 20855
301-258-4017

Emerald Ash Borer Alert

Below is from Montgomery Parks about the threat of Emerald Ash Borer.  They are currently NOT focusing on tree removal in the Little Falls Stream Valley Park, but we have Ash trees in the Little Falls watershed and we will see tree removal at some point.

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This is a follow-up email related to Montgomery Parks’ emerald ash borer work. As you may recall, the emerald ash borer is a non-native, invasive beetle that will cause all ash trees in the county to die within one to three years of infestation. Montgomery Parks’ arboriculture team has begun removing infested trees from the Rock Creek Stream Valley. Ash trees slated for removal have green dots painted on them. Signs with information about emerald ash borer are posted along trails where trees are being removed. We anticipate the removal of thousands of ash trees on parkland in the coming 3-5 years.  

To date, 85% of parks have been inventoried for ash trees and their condition and the following areas have been prioritized for ash tree removal:

·        Rock Creek Stream Valley

·        Sligo Creek Stream Valley

·        Paint Branch Stream Valley

·        Northwest Branch Stream Valley

The arboriculture team is continually monitoring tree conditions to update priorities. Additional information about the emerald ash borer and Montgomery Parks plan to address the issue is available at www.MontgomeryParks.org/EAB.

Please share this information with the members of your community and/or organizations.  Please contact Colter Burkes, Senior Urban Forester, with any questions or concerns. You may reach him by email at colter.burkes@montgomeryparks.org or by phone at 301-495-2469.

Thank you for your assistance in helping us inform the public about this issue.

Henry Coppola

Stream & Park Cleanup Coordinator│Volunteer Services Office

Public Affairs & Community Partnerships Division

Montgomery Parks│M-NCPPC

Birds in the Watershed

We've had two bird counting events in the past months - the Great Backyard Bird Count, Feb 12-15 and the Christmas Bird Count, December 14 - Jan 5.  We have some reports from both counts and I'm happy to say there are lots of birds in the watershed.  

The Christmas Count team identified 27 species of birds in various parks in the watershed.  The most of a single species was American Robins at 44, followed closely by Crows at 40.  I am really happy to learn about the Crows as it wasn't that long ago that they were threatened by West Nile disease.  Also spotted were a Fish Crow, a Pileated Woodpecker, a Red-tailed Hawk and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and two turkey vultures!  The complete count is below.

Backyard Counters sent in two reports:

From Mikel and her son - a copy of their submission

M**** Backyard feeder, Montgomery Co, Maryland, US

Feb 13, 2016 10:45 AM - 12:45 PM

Protocol: Stationary

14 species (+1 other taxa)

2       Mourning Dove

1       Red-bellied Woodpecker

2       Downy Woodpecker  male & female pair

3       Blue Jay

1       Carolina Chickadee

2       Carolina Wren

14     American Robin   - Flock swooped down in backyard for 10 minutes, then moved on.  

10     European Starling 

10     Dark-eyed Junco 

1       White-throated Sparrow   - yellow patches by eyes noted; heard song earlier in the week

2       Song Sparrow  -   striped breast & central spot noted

5       Northern Cardinal 

1       House Finch  - brick-red head noted, striped breast

18     House Sparrow

1       passerine sp.  - Purple finch: clean breast and raspberry coloring noted

And from Ann:

You can add to this list my front- and side-yard bird count:

A male and female flicker;

male and female cardinals;

a male and female downy woodpecker;

a bluejay (sex unknown);

and a mob of at least 40 (I photographed them all) roosting together in a line atop the wooden framework of a new McMansion going up next to my house).

All of the birds disappeared immediately when a large black and white hawk came and perched where the robins had been, and sat there waiting for the other birds to reappear. Per my birdbook, it looked like a juvenile RedTail Hawk. Have seen several hawks lately, just sitting near the birdfeeders in my front yard, watching for smaller birds or maybe squirrels. Snow on the ground must be making it hard for them to hunt elsewhere.

If you would like to participate in these counts next year, visit their websites for more information.

We're always interested in bird sightings, so please keep the reports coming!

Happy Birding,

Sarah

Christmas Bird Count List Area:  Sector 7 MD Neighborhood Parks** Fish Crow 1 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Red-tailed Hawk 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Song Sparrow 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1 American Goldfinch 2 Northern Mockingbird 2 Turkey Vulture 2 Cedar Waxwing 4 European Starling 4 Red-bellied Woodpecker 5 Blue Jay 7 Carolina Chickadee 7 Carolina Wren 7 Downy Woodpecker 7 White-breasted Nuthatch 7 House Sparrow 8 Mourning Dove 8 Rock Pigeon 8 House Finch 9 Tufted Titmouse 9 Dark-eyed Junco 12 Northern Cardinal 14 White-throated Sparrow 14 American Crow 40 American Robin 44

**  Parks- Sangamore, Glen Echo Heights, Wood Acres, Westland Middle School/Little Falls Library grounds, Capello, Vinton, Willard Av., Westbrook Elmentary School grounds, and trails between Capello, Vinton, and Willard Av. Parks

Full Funding for Parks

Tonight, I testified before the County Council to support full funding for the Parks Capital Improvement Program (CIP).  The County Budget hearings are underway and the County Executive's proposed budget calls for a $28 million below what the Parks Planning Board deemed necessary.  In fact, the County Executive’s recommended funding for parks is $12 million, or 7% less than approved two years ago in the prior CIP.  This recommended funding level takes the park system backward, not forward.

Funding was significantly cut for life cycle replacement of park amenities such as playgrounds and tennis courts, renovation and expansion of the trail network, athletic field improvements, restoration of historic structures, stream protection, pollution prevention, parkland acquisition, and the provision of new amenities in parks to meet emerging needs of our growing county.

Additionally, entire projects were eliminated including Wall Park which would provide a needed urban park in White Flint, Ovid Hazen Wells which would provide a new recreational park in Clarksburg, and the Little Bennet Regional Park Trail Connector.

The Planning Board requested that the Council restore the entire $28 million as it believes its requested funding level is necessary to maintain our great park system and move it forward to meet the needs of the future.

You can support the Parks budget need by letting the County Council know that Parks are important to you and requesting full funding of the Parks CIP. Email the Council at county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov.

The Little Falls Watershed Alliance's Testimony is below.

Testimony

Sarah Morse

Executive Director, Little Falls Watershed Alliance

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Montgomery County Council hearing on FY17 Capital Budget and FY17-22 CIP

I’m Sarah Morse, the Executive Director of the Little Falls Watershed Alliance, an environmental stewardship group for the Little Falls creek and watershed.  I’m here to advocate for the Park budget. 

In 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson started Earth Day, a day of environmental activism as recognition that humans have an obligation to be stewards of the planet.  Today, Montgomery County, along with 190 countries, celebrates this holiday by raising awareness of environmental issues.

The Park system in Montgomery County is an essential part of our stewardship to the environment.  As the county gets more and more developed, as trees and meadows give way to commercial and residential units, the parks become more and more important as the last green areas.

 The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission has won an unprecedented 6th National Gold Medal Award from the National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA) for excellence in Parks and Recreation.   This award can only be earned every 5 years – so this means, 30 years of Park excellence.

With all this in mind, the little Falls Watershed Alliance requests that the Council fully fund the Parks moving forward and restore the entire $28 million to their budget.  We need the Parks and we need them to be fully funded.

The Little Falls Watershed Alliance has a close partnership with Parks and we have seen how they get a lot of bang-for-the-buck from community volunteer efforts.   We work with Meghan Fellows and Carole Bergmann on the Weed Warriors Program hosting almost weekly events to restore native plants.  These two remarkable Park employees have developed a nationally recognized program that utilizes thousands of volunteers to combat non-native invasives. Volunteers in their program spent over 5,700 hours last year on behalf of the Parks – the equivalent of almost 3 full time employees.   Almost 80,000 volunteer hours have been logged since the program began in 1999.  Yet, the Weed Warrior program is just staffed part-time, with 1.25 employees.  Think of what could be leveraged if the staffing was doubled.  Think of what a loss it would be if this program was cut due to budget concerns.

The Park is already operating on a lean budget.  The trails in the Little Falls Stream Valley Park are in terrible shape.  They are buckling, sinking and crumbling.  Because we are located in a densely urban area, the park is well used by mothers pushing strollers, children playing in the creek, dog walkers, joggers, bird watchers and a surprising number of elderly residents out for fresh air. The Park is an important part of our lives.  But when we ask for trail renovation, we are told that there isn’t the money for it at this time.  In partnership with the Weed Warriors Program, we have restored a meadow in Norwood Park.  Native wildflowers grow where there was once a wasteland of dead trees and vines, but when we inquired about doing another meadow, the same response - no budget for it. 

Money is also needed for stormwater management in the Little Falls Stream Valley Park.  Every time it rains, we have considerable flooding making the trails impassible to anyone who is not able to wade through two or three inches of water.  Again, when we ask for this – we are told that there isn’t money at this time.

To cut the Park budget means that these and other projects will not come to fruition.  To cut the budget means that the infrastructures will suffer - not only park amenities like playgrounds and tennis courts, but projects like stream protection and pollution prevention that are key to our stewardship of the environment.   We cannot expect to continue to have a nationally recognized park system without the budget to maintain it.  We cannot meet our obligation to the environment that the County celebrates every Earth Day without the budget to maintain our Parks.

Montgomery County has long been a leader in environmental stewardship with one of the strongest stormwater management permits in the Country, the best park system in the Country.   Please help us maintain our standard of excellent and fully fund the Park.  

Letters Needed to Council NOW to Support Willett Branch in the Westbard Sector

The Planning Board has submitted its proposed plan for the Westbard Sector and includes strong support for naturalizing the Willett Branch and creating a new stream valley park - a ribbon of green cutting through the sector.  The plan is now in the hands of the County Council who are holding public hearings this week.  The plan then moves to their PHED committee who will make recommendations for the final vote.  

LFWA is busy advocating for the creek.  We have a working group for the project and have leafleted, petitioned, and are meeting with Council members to get their support not only for including the project but for getting it built.  We have information HERE about how you can help bring this vision to fruition.  Writing letters of support is very important at this time.  We have names, addresses and an easy email link with sample letter HERE.

LFWA testified before the Council on February 2 outlining our support for the plan and appeal for bringing it to fruition.  

The restoration is also very personal to me and below is the testimony that I gave before the Council at the February 2 meeting.  I appended pictures that were submitted with the written testimony.  If you haven't had a chance to look at the creek, I urge you to make some time.  It's only a short walk, but it will be eye opening.

While there is much opposition to the entire Westbard Plan, the one thing that people have agreed on is the need to restore the creek.  We are optimistic that it will pass the Council's scrutiny and make it into the new Master Plan.  The challenge will be getting it funded and built.

Please visit HERE to learn how you can help.

Thank you for your support,

Sarah Morse

Executive Director

Little Falls Watershed Alliance

Sarah Morse

Testimony on Westbard Sector Plan

County Council Public Hearing

Feb. 2, 2016

I’m Sarah Morse and I live in Somerset, adjacent to the Westbard sector.  I’m also the Executive Director of the Little Falls Watershed Alliance, but I am testifying as an individual.

I’m here to speak for the creek, to ask you to support the proposed Willett Branch Park and naturalization of the creek as outlined in the Westbard Master Plan re-write.  Lots of people don’t know that there is even a  creek in the sector, but I can see the Willett Branch from my house.  It’s in a big cement ditch – the proper term for it is concrete-lined creek.  It’s paved all the way through the Westbard Sector and you can walk the entire length in the creek on pavement.   In fact, I have.  It was a favorite place for my children to walk our dog, which sounds kind of idyllic - creek, dogs, kids.  However, the creek is anything but idyllic, the walls are covered in graffiti and the banks are used in many places as dumping grounds for local businesses.  You can find household appliances, shopping carts, newspaper stands as well as tires, landscaping debris, bottles and all kinds of other trash.  In some places, the banks have eroded into the creek and you can see that the trash is layers and layers deep.  Parking lots go right up to the edge and when it rains, run-off carrying a toxic mix of chemicals goes directly in the creek.   I have pictures in my printed testimony.

It was horrifying for me to discover this just a stone’s throw from my house.  This is the type of creek you see in blighted neighborhoods, not in established affluent areas.  It’s the kind of creek they restore when they do urban renewal projects; the creek goes from eye sore to major amenity in the area and it gets a lot of press.  There are dozens of examples of this type of transformation – Carroll Creek in Frederick is one of the best.  What was once an industrial blight is now beautiful urban park, a show case for the city and major amenity for the re-development of the area.  People crowd to it and there are restaurants on the banks and spaces for picnics and concerts.

So, when the first charrettes proposed making Willett Branch into a park, I was so excited.  Not only would it fix a major eyesore and have environmental benefits, it would be a major amenity for the area.  Imagine a new Westbard where the creek is the focus of the area, where businesses instead of turning their backs to the creek and using it as a dumping ground, embrace the creek.  Imagine restaurants and shops creek-side with outdoor seating.  Imagine people walking in this new naturalized area, pushing strollers enjoying nature.   Imagine how wonderful it would be to have this instead of a concrete ditch.

With the Westbard Sector Plan and the imminent re-development, we have a chance to have this for our neighborhood and for Montgomery County.  It would be show place for the entire area, a draw for new residents, a respite for the neighborhood.  Even the developers who would have something to crow about – a ribbon of green cutting through the sector. 

The County Planner and Park Department did a wonderful job of thinking this through and creating a vision that will serve the county for generations.  I can’t thank them enough for pushing for this and getting it into the master plan rewrite and  finally, approved by the Planning Board. 

I know that you’ve heard a lot of testimony about what people don’t like in the new plan, but this is something to support.  A naturalized creek and new park will be a legacy for the area, something everyone can be proud of.   We need this for the environment, for  a respite and for our grandchildren.  I hope you will vote to keep it in the plan and further - work to seeing it to fruition.

Thank you for your time.