UPDATE:
There has been a room change for tonight’s meeting at Grace Episcopal Day School at 9411 Connecticut Ave. Instead of using the Multipurpose Room, we will be meeting in the Library.
Dear neighbors,
At the April 12th RCHCA meeting, there was support for convening another meeting in the near future, in order to address concerns regarding plans by the State Highway Administration (SHA) to build a creekside salt barn (see below) at the Connecticut Avenue cloverleaf of the Capital Beltway, as well as concerns regarding ongoing utility work and its impacts on homes & yards. Accordingly, we have scheduled a RCHCA meeting for 7:30 PM on Thursday, June 2nd, at Grace Episcopal Day School on Connecticut Avenue.
A proposed agenda for this meeting is:
I. Hydrology of Rock Creek Hills
1. Silver Creek & Rock Creek
2. Middle school: Environmental impact
3. Salt barn project: Environmental impact
4. Rain gardens & tax credits
II. Construction Disruptions in Rock Creek Hills
1. Middle school construction
2. Gas line replacement
3. Sewer line replacement
4. Possible replacement of water mains
5. Possible installation of sidewalks
6. Salt barn project
Regarding SHA’s proposed salt barn:
• Two weeks ago, RCHCA member Jim Chambers (a retired federal fisheries biologist) and I wrote and submitted an Op-Ed to the Washington Post. It was not accepted or published, but you can read it here: <https://www.scribd.com/doc/
• Analysis by John Robinson, RCHCA past-president and former Associate Director of the Montgomery County Planning Board, indicates that RCH residents & RCHCA lack standing to take legal action to block the project. We plan to review this finding with a land-use attorney.
• Analysis by Chris Muffels, RCHCA member and professional hydrologist/hydrogeologist, indicates that SHA’s plans provide for state-of-the-art protection of Rock Creek, enabled by the relatively large size of the site, and that alternative sites considered by SHA are located near homes that appear to draw their drinking water from wells (and thus would presumably be worse places to locate such a facility).
Thanks to the many of you who devoted a recent rainy Saturday morning to cleaning up Silver Creek! Thanks to Laura Dennis, who worked with the Rock Creek Conservancy to have our community “adopt” Silver Creek, for organizing the cleanup!
I hope to see you on June 2nd.
With best regards,
Jim Pekar
President, RCHCA