Media Center

Thousands Expected at Black Hill Regional Park April 6 for Annual Persian American Festival (Sizdah Bedar)

BOYDS, MD—The IrAmerican Civic Society (ICS) in cooperation with the Montgomery County Department of Parks will host its annual Sizdah Bedar festival at Black Hill Regional Park in Boyds this Sunday, April 6 from 8:00 am – 5:00 pm.

“Last year, nearly 6,000 gathered to celebrate Sizdah Bedar at Black Hill,” said Department of Parks Black Hill Regional Park Manager Jim McMahon. “However as a public park open to all users, we are mindful of the effect increased park use can have on park neighbors.” 

To manage traffic and control crowds for this event, Department of Parks managers have informed park neighbors that it may become necessary to close the Black Hill Regional Park entrance at West Old Baltimore Road for a period of time, Sunday, April 6. However, West Old Baltimore Road will not be closed at any point for the event and no parking or pedestrian traffic will be allowed on West Old Baltimore Road. Park Police have established a hotline number for any questions or concerns on Sunday. Residents, park neighbors and patrons may call 301-601-2988 on Sunday, April 6 with questions or concerns related to this event.

“We are working very closely with event planners, our Park Police and county police officers to ease traffic congestion and reduce overcrowding disturbances for the day’s festival,” added McMahon.

Event planners are also encouraging celebrants planning to attend Sunday to carpool.

Sizdah Bedar is the Persian festival of springs. Iranian Americans and others will celebrate this age-old spring event in parks and various outdoor settings across the nation Sunday, the thirteenth day of the Persian Year—Norouz. The celebration at Black Hill will include Persian music, cultural activities, and freshly grilled food and sweets.

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Contact:
Kelli Holsendolph
Media Relations Manager
Montgomery County Department of Parks
301-650-2866

Planning Department Mapmaker Wins Award for GIS-Generated Map of Agricultural Reserve

SILVER SPRING, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Department won a prestigious academic award earlier this month for generating a wall-sized, intricately detailed color map of the county’s nationally known Agricultural Reserve. The map was deemed best in the “professional” category at Towson University’s recent Geographic Information Systems (GIS) conference, which draws scores of submissions and is attended by hundreds of mapping professionals and cartography students.

The 93,000-acre Ag Reserve, which runs along the county’s northern and western borders, protects farming in one of the nation’s best examples of agricultural protection so close to a metropolitan area.

Jay Mukherjee, a researcher and specialist in the use of GIS to produce planning maps, created the map to display in the Planning Board auditorium at its Silver Spring headquarters. The 5-feet- tall by 5-feet-wide map graphically depicts the Ag Reserve in an attractive, high-quality image.

Montgomery County has used GIS, a computer-based mapping technology that analyzes spatial data by location, for more than 15 years. The Planning Department’s Research and Technology Center routinely generates maps depicting planning-related geographic boundaries and areas.

Mukherjee’s map differs from traditional county map because of its detail – topographic features, labeling, graphics, and its sheer size. At a glance, one can see the significant acreage of the Ag Reserve in proportion to the rest of Montgomery County.

The award at Towson’s 2008 Map Design Competition, determined by conference participant votes, recognizes the Ag Reserve map as a marriage of good design and “visual display of cartographic data.” The map will be exhibited in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore until June 28.

More info:  http://www.mcparkandplanning.org/gis/

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MEDIA ADVISORY: Department of Parks Auditions Teens to Find TV Show Host for Summer as Part of First-Ever ParkStar Search Competition

WHEATON, MD—This Saturday, the Montgomery County Department of Parks will audition area teens for their chance this summer to host The Parks Show, the department’s award-winning 15-minute monthly television program on County Cable Montgomery (CCM).

This is the first of two open auditions the Department of Parks is holding as part of this first-ever ParkStar Search competition.  The second is scheduled for next Saturday, April 5.

During the audition, talented area teens, ages 14 - 17, will be screen-tested in front of CCM television cameras reading a preselected script from the teleprompter and responding freely to one question: “Why do you like parks?” As the teens wait for their chance to try-out, they’ll enjoy previous episodes of The Parks Show in the holding room and participate in behind-the-scenes video footage of the competition, which will appear in the May and June episodes of The Parks Show.

After both auditions, the competition will be narrowed to at most 5 finalists and the public will have an opportunity to vote online, May 1 through May 15, 2008, for the winner, which will be announced in June. The winning ParkStar will join the show as host for both the August and September episodes, taped respectively in July and August, and can earn up to 100 Student Service Learning (SSL) hours for their work on the show this summer.

WHO:     
Montgomery County Department of Parks
County Cable Montgomery

WHAT:   
ParkStar Search Audition

WHEN:
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Registration: 9:30 am
Auditions: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

WHERE:
Brookside Gardens
Visitor’s Center Auditorium
1800 Glenallan Avenue
Wheaton, Maryland 20902

For more on ParkStar Search and The Parks Show, see www.ParkStarSearch.com.

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Contact:    
Kelli Holsendolph
Media Relations Manager
Montgomery County Department of Parks
Office: 301-650-2866
Cell: 240-638-6793

CALENDAR LISTING: Montgomery Parks Arbor Day Celebration

DERWOOD, MD—Celebrate Arbor Day with the Montgomery County Department of Parks. Enjoy live music from Grammy® award-winning children’s musicians Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, Oh Susannah and the Cider Press Boys bluegrass band. Montgomery Parks Arbor Day also features area environmental groups, demonstrations by Masters of the Chainsaw wood sculptors, tree planting, spading and climbing demonstrations, food and giveaways. The kids will enjoy FREE hayrides and face painting, treasure hunts and games with prizes, children’s story times and crafts and live performances by Feathers the Clown and Jenny Henry the Clown. Montgomery Parks Arbor Day is a FREE event, including FREE parking, celebrating our commitment to Montgomery County’s trees and forests.

Sunday, April 27, 2008
11:00 am – 4:00 pm
Agricultural History Farm Park
18400 Muncaster Road, Derwood, Maryland

For more information on Arbor Day, visit www.MontgomeryParks.org.

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Contact:   
Kelli Holsendolph
Media Relations Manager
Montgomery County Department of Parks
301-650-2866

Montgomery Planners, Parks Staff Plant New Forest with Environment Fund

SILVER SPRING, MD – Last week, staff from the Planning Department and Department of Parks translated cash into a new streamside forest at Reddy Branch Stream Valley Park as part of a mitigation program that requires property owners to contribute to a forest replacement fund.

The Reddy Branch stream feeds into the Rocky Gorge Reservoir, one of two drinking water lakes on the northern border of Montgomery County. Restoring streamside forest will help improve Reddy Branch, long identified as having marginal water quality, as well as create valuable habitat.

The planting was paid for from a forest mitigation fund established when the Forest Conservation Law went into effect in 1992. When Montgomery County property owners request approval to subdivide or develop 1 acre or more, the Planning Board requires them to protect or plant forests on site, in keeping with the conservation law. 

Property owners who can neither save nor plant forests because they are limited by density and location pay into the fund, which has grown steadily. The Reddy Branch planting demonstrates how the fund will be used in other environmentally sensitive areas around the county.

The one-acre forest created last week was planted with native trees and eventually will total 6 acres. High school students will be enlisted as part of the Department of Parks Weed Warriors program to remove invasive vines and other plants that threaten tree survival. Members of the nonprofit group Patuxent River Keepers plan to continue maintaining the site with volunteers to ensure the forest will survive and thrive. The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission helped coordinate the volunteer groups.

Where's Woody? Department of Parks Searches County for Tree Mascot While Preparing for Annual Arbor Day Celebration, Sunday, April 27

DERWOOD, MD—As the annual Montgomery Parks Arbor Day celebration quickly approaches, the Montgomery County Department of Parks announces today that its signature tree mascot, Woody, is on the loose.

“Have you seen Woody?” asks Montgomery County Director of Parks Mary Bradford. “We can’t have an Arbor Day celebration without Woody the Tree!”

That’s right! The Department of Parks’ most recognizable costumed tree character, affectionately known as Woody, is hiding out in the county and the department is launching a countywide “Where’s Woody?” search to find him in time for the annual Montgomery Parks Arbor Day celebration, Sunday, April 27, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm at the Agricultural History Farm Park in Derwood. 

“Our best intelligence suggests that county residents might help us find Woody at the following park events in April,” added Bradford.

• Maryland Arbor Day Celebration, Wednesday, April 2, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm, Black Hill Visitor Center, 20926 Lake Ridge Drive, Boyds. The first Wednesday in April is Maryland’s Arbor Day.  The visitor center will celebrate with activities, crafts and a FREE tree to take home and plant. This is Woody’s kind of party. (Registration fee is $4 per person, register at www.ParkPASS.org, course numbers 51199 and 51211.)

• Montgomery Parks Arbor Day Tree Planting Ceremony, Thursday, April 10, approximately, 11:30 am – 12:00 noon, Fairview Road Urban Park, 8900 Fairview Road, Silver Spring. The Montgomery County Planning Board takes a break from business to celebrate trees. Woody will certainly be there, golden shovel in limbed-hand.

• Tree Climbing Championship & Trade Show, Saturday, April 12, 8:00 am – 6:00 pm, Johnson’s Local Park, 18000 Washington Grove Lane, Gaithersburg. Woody will be cheering the Department of Parks professional tree climbers on as they compete against other area experts for the Mid-Atlantic Chapter International Society of Arboriculture title.

• Demonstration: Watch Us Work, Thursday, April 17, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm, Brookside Gardens (Azalea Garden), 1800 Glenallan Avenue, Wheaton. What should you be doing in your own garden this spring? Woody will join other gardens visitors to find out from Brookside’s professional gardening staff. This FREE gardening demonstration is on transplanting shrubs.

• Earth Day Invasive Plant Pull, Tuesday, April 22, 3:30 pm – 6:00 pm, Brookside Nature Center, 1400 Glenallan Avenue, Wheaton. Woody will definitely join the park naturalists and visitors to do something good for the Earth on Earth Day.

• Garlic Mustard Challenge, Saturday, April 26, 12:00 noon – 4:00 pm, Locust Grove Nature Center, 7777 Democracy Boulevard, Bethesda. Woody loves a challenge; and couldn’t refuse the chance to help weed out garlic mustard plants that are crowding out native plants and trees in the parks.

Also look for Woody at the Wheaton Ice Arena, Cabin John Ice Rink, Cabin John Indoor Tennis facility and throughout Montgomery County in April. Tell the Department of Parks where you’ve spotted Woody by emailing MCP-Parks@mncppc-mc.org. Woody loves a crowd and he just might show up anywhere! 

For more on the Montgomery Parks Arbor Day Celebration, visit www.aghistoryfarm.org.

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Contact:
Kelli Holsendolph
Media Relations Manager
Montgomery County Department of Parks
301-650-2866

 

Fair Housing Advocate to Address Montgomery Planning Board as Part of Expert Speaker Series

SILVER SPRING, MD – As part of the Montgomery County Planning Board’s review of housing policy this spring, a nationally known consultant on urban and suburban sprawl and social equity will speak about housing issues at approximately 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 20 at the end of the board’s regularly scheduled meeting. The public is welcome.

David Rusk, an independent consultant, has worked with more than 120 communities to analyze urban problems such as housing inequities. His presentation will look at how Montgomery County’s housing policies, considered among the most advanced in the country, could better meet the challenges that lie ahead as the county continues to grow and become more diverse.

The event is one in a series of public presentations and work sessions sponsored by the Planning Board to engage the public in a discussion of housing issues. The work sessions will inform the board as it considers updates to the housing section of the General Plan, which provides direction on planning decisions that affect housing. The housing policy update will be the board's first since 1993. 

At a work session in February, the Planning Board received a staff report on a new and more comprehensive inventory of the county’s housing stock. Understanding the county’s existing houses – what’s affordable and where – will help the board determine how to both preserve and create more moderately priced homes.

A former mayor of Albuquerque and a New Mexico state legislator who recently relocated to Washington, D.C., Rusk has written books on urban growth strategies and a report examining how Baltimore’s suburbs affects the city’s growth patterns and housing policy. A University of California at Berkeley graduate, Rusk is affiliated with the Gamaliel Foundation, a national foundation of faith-based coalitions.

Rusk is the latest to speak as part of the board’s Excellence in Planning Speaker Series, an effort to broaden perspectives on planning challenges in Montgomery County. Learn more about the speaker series at www.mcparkandplanning.org/development/agp/speaker_series.shtm.

 

WHO:
Montgomery County Planning Board

WHAT:
Growth and housing presentation by guest speaker David Rusk

WHEN:
Thursday, March 20, approximately 7:30 p.m.

WHERE:
Park and Planning Headquarters
8787 Georgia Ave.
Silver Spring, MD

Montgomery Planners Launch Seminar Series Focusing on Great Community Design

SILVER SPRING, MD – Montgomery County planners, looking to create more thriving, diverse communities like downtown Bethesda, are poised to begin a seminar series exploring how to encourage high-quality design. Two of the seminars – on March 12 and June 25 – are open to the public.

Led by noted architect Roger K. Lewis, a retired local professor who was instrumental in founding the University of Maryland’s School of Architecture, and John Carter, the Planning Department’s new chief of urban design and special projects, the seminars will provide opportunities for planners, urban designers, architects, landscape architects and interested residents to learn more about urban design, landscape architecture and the shape of buildings in Montgomery County. Lewis is well-known locally for his weekly columns on urban design for The Washington Post.

The March 12 public seminar will kick off an educational series for planning staff that will run through spring. Planners will work with Lewis and Carter to create visions of urban neighborhoods such as Fenton Street Village in Silver Spring and Woodmont Triangle in Bethesda as well as emerging suburban centers such as Shady Grove, White Flint and Germantown.

Lewis will guide the staff in ways to improve design of the publicly accessible areas – known to planners as the public realm. Planners will develop case studies illustrating the best of their ideas using real-life examples. Throughout the process, they will post their work on www.MontgomeryPlanning.org.

To learn the shape of things to come, mark your calendar for the final public seminar on June 25, which will feature planners’ case studies and offer an opportunity for a public dialogue about planning for vibrant urban design.

WHO:
The Montgomery County Planning Department

WHAT:
“Design Montgomery County” public seminars

WHEN:
3-5 p.m. Wednesday, March 12
3-5 p.m. Wednesday, June 25

WHERE:
Park and Planning Headquarters
8787 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring

MEDIA ADVISORY: Department of Parks Invites Ideas on Future of Battery Lane Urban Park During Public Meeting, March 12

BETHESDA, MD—The Montgomery County Department of Parks invites the public to share their ideas about future plans for Battery Lane Urban Park in Bethesda. Some topics to be considered during this public meeting include: making the park a focal point of the Bethesda Arts district; redesigning the park with flexible open areas for community gathering and informal recreation; keeping the park’s current layout of single-use recreation facilities—tennis and basketball courts, play area, trails and benches; and creating a rest stop along trails.

WHO:    
Montgomery County Department of Parks

WHAT:    
Public Meeting on Battery Lane Urban Park

WHEN:
Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at 7:00 pm

WHERE:
Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center
4805 Edgemoor Lane, 2nd Floor
Bethesda, MD 20814   

For more information, contact Department of Parks Project Manager Brooke Farquhar at Brooke.Farquhar@mncppc-mc.org or 301-650-4388.

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Contact:   
Kelli Holsendolph
Media Relations Manager
Montgomery County Department of Parks
301-650-2866

MEDIA ADVISORY: Montgomery County’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin Recipient of Shoppers Food & Pharmacy Black History Month Donation

BETHESDA, MD—This Friday the Montgomery County Department of Parks will receive a $3,000 donation from Shoppers Food and Pharmacy as part of the company’s day-long “Charity Bus Tour” in honor of Black History Month. This bus tour has been re-scheduled from Friday, February 22.

Other area stops on Friday’s tour for the Shoppers executives include, Gwynns Falls Academy,Hilton Elementary School, Aunt Hatties Place and Bethel A.M.E. Church Outreach Center all in Baltimore and Faces of Our Children in Landover, Maryland.

WHO:   
Montgomery County Department of Parks
Shoppers Food and Pharmacy

WHAT:    
Uncle Tom’s Cabin Black History Month Donation

WHEN: 
Friday, March 7, 2008
9:30 am – 10:00 am

WHERE:
The Riley Farm/”Uncle Tom’s Cabin”
11420 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, Maryland

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY:
Shoppers Food and Pharmacy executives present “big check” to Department of Parks at historic “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

INTERESTED MEDIA PLEASE NOTE: Parking is available at Wall Local Park, 11501 Nicholson Lane, at the intersection of Old Georgetown Road and Nicholson Lane behind Montgomery County's Aquatic Center.

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Contact:   
Kelli Holsendolph
Media Relations Manager
Montgomery County Department of Parks
301-650-2866

ICC Parkland Transfer, Historic Designations on March 6 Montgomery Planning Board Agenda

SILVER SPRING, MD – Among the items scheduled to be heard by the Montgomery County Planning Board on March 6 are a proposed transfer of parkland in the path of the Intercounty Connector (ICC) and historic designations for seven properties in Germantown, Burtonsville, Chevy Chase and other areas.

The proposed parkland transfer, which would be the fifth request to the board since the State Highway Administration (SHA) began acquiring land in the path of the highway, will follow an ICC public hearing beginning at approximately 1:30 p.m. The ICC is a proposed 18-mile highway connecting I-370 near Shady Grove to U.S. 1 between Beltsville and Laurel.

The board will consider transferring approximately 44 acres of parkland from Northwest Branch Stream Valley Park, Upper Paint Branch Stream Valley Park and Layhill Local Park to SHA. In exchange, state highway officials have committed to giving the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), the agency that owns the parkland and of which the board is a part, 8.5 acres for every acre transferred.

That mitigation agreement, included in the ICC Record of Decision, SHA’s official guide for building the highway, calls for all replacement land to have important natural resources, such as sensitive watersheds and mature forests. If the board OKs the transfer, a proposed resolution authorizing the land swap will go to the full M-NCPPC commission for a final vote later this month.

Learn more about the ICC through Montgomery County.

Also on Thursday, the board will hold a public hearing at approximately 4:30 p.m. about seven sites proposed for historic designation, two brought forward by county planners as part of the development of a new Germantown Master Plan and five proposed by property owners or citizen groups.

The county Historic Preservation Commission has recommended historic status for five of the seven properties. The board’s decisions will go to the County Council for final consideration and potential approval to become part of the county’s historic preservation list. See a list of the proposed properties.

The board also will hear a plan for a 225-room hotel, 250 apartments or condominiums, office and retail space in downtown Bethesda at approximately 9:45 a.m. The Planning Board rejected an earlier iteration of the Woodmont East project last November, partly because of public concern about access to the popular Georgetown Branch bike trail and residents’ concerns about open space in the busy downtown area. The plan has since been revised to include open space on Woodmont Avenue.

WHO:
The Montgomery County Planning Board

WHAT:
Public hearing agenda items

WHEN:
Thursday, March 6

WHERE:
Park and Planning Headquarters
8787 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring