Community Liaison Council Meeting Minutes

May 21, 2009; 4:00 to 6:00 PM
Visitor Information Center, Building 45 (Natcher Building)
Conference Room D
National Institutes of Health

ANNOUNCEMENTS—Dennis Coleman, OCL Director, CLC Co-Chair; and Ginny Miller, CLC Co-Chair

• Ron Wilson reported that NIH has received economic stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of which ORF has received $500 million for main campus projects.  The CLC will be briefed on how, when and where this money would be spent. Spending will be guided by the Master Plan, and Mr. Wilson will report specifics later this summer.

• In view of past CLC interest and participation in various design and safety issues for Building 33 (the C.W. Bill Young Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases), Mr. Wilson also reported that the building had experienced two power outages during the afternoon of May 11.  These were of short duration and occurred during periodic testing of primary and backup power systems.  Consistent with standard procedures for any campus facility, the building was temporarily evacuated until power was restored, after which staff returned to work.  As a result, the power outages had no safety impact and posed no risk to either NIH staff or the public.  Staff has analyzed the outage, identified its cause, and will implement remedies expected to address the source of the problem. 

• Mr. Coleman reported that some complaints had been received in early May about bicycles being chained to the handrail on the steps between Building 31 and 33.  Since the incidents have apparently ceased, the matter is regarded as a one time issue that has been resolved.

• On May 22, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for transporting potentially exposed staff from Fort Detrick to a special unit of the NIH Clinical Research Center is scheduled for release.  The DEIS package will include announcement of public hearings and a comment period of 30 to 60 days.  Public Scoping Sessions on this proposal were held last summer in both Frederick and Bethesda, and two CLC members provided some input and questions on transportation and containment reliability issues.

• Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) developments include DoD support of the Navy’s application to DAR (Defense Access Roads Program) to improve Metro access from the east side of Wisconsin Avenue.  DoD has now requested $20M in its FY2010 budget for this purpose, which brings improvements a step closer to being implemented.

• Bike-to-Work Day was celebrated May 15.  Results are not yat official, but it appears that for the fourth year in a row, NIH has won the title as the DC area federal agency with the most participants (>500).

• The pool at the nearby Montgomery County Aquatic Center on Executive Blvd. will be closed for remodeling May 18 until the end of September.  Doing this during summer months may not be the best timing for swimmers, but funding is available now, and remodeling is overdue.

• NIH traffic circulation changes for gates on Old Georgetown Road (OGR) continue to be rumored but are not true. The only change envisioned at OGR gates will be signage improvements at Lincoln Dr.  It was rumored that an NIH bus facility would be established at South Drive and OGR.  This rumor is also unfounded.  Buses will continue to enter the campus at the Commercial Vehicle Inspection Facility (CVIF), which is a new facility, already equipped to handle buses.

• Congress has established a National Moment of Remembrance to mark Memorial Day with a moment of silence at 3:00 PM eastern time on Monday.

• The next CLC meeting (June 18) occurs on the last day of the Federal Environmental Symposium (June 16–18).  This is a large gathering of environmental staff from many federal agencies, so traffic may be heavier than usual, but the Gateway Center visitor entrance and garage facility can handle such events.

• Representatives from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) will attend the June CLC meeting to discuss their study of options to improve access to the Medical Center Metro station.  That station now serves about 6500 NIH staff and a lesser number of Navy staff, but Navy use is expected to increase when about 4500 additional staff and patients arrive in Sept. 2011 as a result of relocating Walter Reed operations to Bethesda. Preliminary (Feb. 2009) results of this study indicated that options ranged from $1 million (improve existing Wisconsin Ave. crosswalk facility) to $60 million (east side elevators to station and pedestrian tunnel to separate people from traffic).

• On May 30, the NIH Orchestra will give a concert at Georgetown Preparatory School.  It is free and open to the public.  Any donations will go to the NIH Children’s Inn.  Mr. Coleman circulated a brochure on this event.

TRANSPORTATION
Local Intersection Improvement Plans—Barbara Solberg, Jay Lin Tian, and Mark MacDonald, State Highway Administration (SHA)
By Act of Congress (the Base Realignment and Closure or BRAC Act), Walter Reed Army Medical Center will be moved from 16th Street in Washington, DC, to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda by Sept.  Such a relocation will obviously increase local traffic.  SHA is trying to accommodate this top-down planning decision with limited resources.  

In 2005, SHA began studying intersections around the Naval Medical Center area, many of which already operate at congested levels of service "E" and "F".  SHA traffic modeling indicated that 4 intersections would experience the worst congestion increases.  Expanding all 4 intersections is expected to cost between $160M and 215M, but SHA actually has only about $30 million in state funding to work with.  They are now trying to determine what if anything can be done with this amount.  The 4 intersections are:  Rockville Pike (Route 355) & Cedar Lane, Jones Bridge Road & Rockville Pike, Old Georgetown Road (Route 187) & Center Lane, and Connecticut Avenue (Route 185) & Jones Bridge Road.  

Problems occurred while trying to load SHA's slides onto the meeting room projection system.  In the interest of time, Mr. Coleman recommended that today's presentation focus on the 3 intersections nearest the Navy and NIH campuses.

SHA staff (Ms. Tian) showed a detailed, color-coded, aerial maps of each intersection (yellow = added lane; purple = sidewalk and hike/bike; blue = existing right of way; orange = proposed right of way and easement; pink = proposed retaining wall) and explained SHA’s proposals for each.  However, these designs are preliminary (30% state of completion), and SHA is still receiving and reviewing public input and their own options, so many decisions have not been finalized.  

The typical planning horizon for highway projects is 20 years, but that does not apply to BRAC, which is seen as a national response to military medical care issues.  Beyond the time and resource constraints, the Maryland Secretary of Transportation just accepted an appointment with the US Dept. of Transportation, and the Naval Hospital frontage area includes historic resources to be preserved.

Rockville Pike (Route 355) & Cedar Lane
This intersection is the highest priority. On Route 355, SHA proposes to add another through-lane southbound and northbound from Northwood Road to beyond Cedar, going from 2 to 3 lanes each way. On north side of Cedar Lane, SHA proposes no change. On the south side of Cedar, they will add 2 lanes, a double left and one through-lane, increasing from 3 to 5 lanes. This will accommodate the huge left-turn volume into the Naval Hospital in the morning. They will also install a “half-signal” that will operate at morning peak time and otherwise will be a flashing yellow. South of Wilson Drive, traffic will return to the usual number of lanes.

Mr. Schofer thought that the "pedestrian refuge" islands, which are required to be 40 square feet and painted for visibility, are too small to actually protect pedestrians.  Furthermore, he reported the difficulty people who live on Cedar Lane will have when they want to leave their neighborhood.  SHA seems not to be interested in local traffic—only through-traffic.  Residents who can’t get out of their neighborhood will have to cut through other residential areas.  Mr. Lemke pointed out that the Parkview neighborhood on Cedar Lane has 2 egresses with a stop sign, but no light.  Ms. Solberg agreed that this could be a problem, but their immediate concern is the BRAC requirements.

Brad Moss noted that NIH’s Master Plan has 250-foot buffer zone, which SHA plans apparently impact.  Ms. Solberg said SHA is aware of this and they are trying to resolve issues with NIH.  A meeting with NIH staff is scheduled for June 10.  Ms. Solberg did not recall which NIH staff SHA would be meeting with.

The hiker/biker path will be upgraded from 8 feet wide to a standard 10 feet wide from Cedar to Wilson. Mr.  Mueller asked about preserving the screening plants already in place.  Ms. Solberg assured him they can work around this issue.  The ideal is to have 5-foot-wide sidewalks and 10-foot-wide hiker/biker trails.  SHA will move curb lines in to have more buffer between pedestrians and traffic.  Mr. Myers suggested moving the sidewalk at the southwest side of the intersection so it makes a triangular cut across the corner.  Mr. Mueller added his concern about snow removal since the proposed changes would further reduce the already limited space to put snow after it has been shoveled off the walks.  Ms. Solberg said SHA has not yet advanced to this point in planning.  However, SHA will improve compliance with the Americans for Disabilities Act on the east side of Route 355.

Three storm water management ponds are proposed:  a bioretention pond (which will dry 24 hours after a rain) on the southeast side of Route 355, south of North Wood Road; a wet pond on Cedar on the Stoneridge School property, southeast of the intersection; and a wet pond at the northeast side of the intersection.  Roadwork stops north of Route 355 near the end of the existing median.

Mr. Schofer expressed concern that the changes do not appear enough to mitigate "normal" development along the Wisconsin and Old Georgetown corridors, let alone BRAC.  For example, turning left to go north on 355 when exiting NIH at the Visitors’ Center is not possible now.  It necessitates making a U-turn or going through the residential areas.  He cannot imagine that Wisconsin can accommodate existing problems like that in addition to BRAC traffic increases.  SHA hopes adding a second left-turn lane will help.

Jones Bridge Road & Rockville Pike
On Jones Bridge Road, SHA proposes to provide an additional left-turn lane. No additional lane is needed, although lane configuration would change to a double-left, one through-lane, and one exclusive right. Center Drive would be enlarged to accommodate an exclusive left, one through, and one right.

The sidewalk would be upgraded to 5-foot-wide concrete (from 2-foot-wide asphalt). West of Route 355, the hike/bike trail will be enlarged from 8 to 10 feet wide and will be connected to the Metro stop entrance and to the sidewalk along Woodmont Avenue.  They would like to sharpen the curve onto Woodmont to slow the traffic and for that, there are 2 alternatives:  getting a waver so they do not have to put a storm water management pond at Route 355 & Woodmont, or making the new NIH pond (to be built near the Library of Medicine) a shared-use pond.  The pond issue is another item for discussion between SHA and NIH.

Old Georgetown Road & Center Lane
SHA had considered 2 options, but they settled on the one presented because of the fire department, whose property boundaries cannot be changed without compromising use of the limited space they now have.  Southbound, there will be an exclusive-right lane on OGR.  The 3 existing lanes on the northbound side will remain the same, but they will widen the road on the southbound side.  Oakmont Avenue will also be widened. The rationale for involving a residential street (owned by the town of Oakmont, as noted by Ms. Mazazan) is that if all corners do not work together as a system, the intersection fails.  The southeast corner has a retention pond.  Mr. Mueller said there already is a retention pond near the NIH fire station, which they have looked at over the years as a dry pond.

Mr. Schofer suggested rethinking a direct connection between the Navy base and the Beltway.  This would require a connection between Connecticut and Wisconsin Avenues to return people to the Beltway.  An SHA report previously said that a Beltway connection is not feasible, but Mr. Schofer doesn't think that this option was fully evaluated.  Mr. Coleman suggested that Mr. Schofer contact SHA directly since today's agenda concerns the 4 intersections.

FACILITIES
MLP-E—Lynn Mueller, Landscape Architect, ORF
MLP-E is a proposed 60-foot-tall garage that will be built on a parking lot against the buffer, but not for some years.  CLC members have suggested that NIH plant trees and shrubs between MLP-E and adjacent residences, so when the building is built, the plants will have grown tall enough to effectively screen it.  Given the extended time for today's SHA presentation, this "prescreening" discussion will be postponed until the June 18 meeting.

ENVIRONMENT
No topic this month

SPECIAL PROJECTS
Not topic this month

INFORMATION FORUM—Dennis Coleman, OCL Director, CLC Co-Chair
Ms. Miller had requested that more attention be given to the Information Forum highlights since the content was useful but sometimes overwhelming, so Mr. Coleman simplified the report.  Details of the following highlights, as well as other items are provided in the handout.

• $2.7M of ARRA money will apparently be spent to resurface a local portion of Old Georgetown Road.
• The calendar for the June Bethesda–Chevy Chase neighborhood activities was shown.  Summer brings more entertainment to the downtown area, such as film, art, farmers' market and music events.
• A map and brochure announcing that the Bethesda Trolley Trail is now continuous for 6 miles.
• Several regional transportation projects are now underway, and a map of their locations is provided.

• State legislature accomplishments resulting from the recently ended 2009 session were listed.
• Substantial federal, state and county subsidies (thousands of dollars) are available to homeowners who invest in conservation measures like solar energy collectors and hot water heaters.
• The Maryland congressional delegation (2 senators and 8 representatives) is listed with contact information and the committees on which each serves.
• The Federal Citizen Information Center has an improved web site offering free information in numerous areas such as consumer protection, identity theft and new banking rules.

ROUND ROBIN—Ginny Miller, CLC Co-Chair

• Dr. Ozarin reported 2 potential areas on campus where water gathers and mosquito could be breeding.  She asked that these areas be eliminated or treated.  She will contact Sharon Robinson with details of these locations.
• Randy Schools announced that the Montgomery County Council (specifically Councilmember Trachtenberg) recognized the NIH Bike Club as being among the County's most effective proponents of alternatives to vehicle commuting.
• Deborah Michaels thanked Mr. Coleman on behalf of the medical/military neighbors coalition, who has found his summaries of area developments and traffic conditions quite informative.

ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 PM.  The next meeting will be on June 18, 2009

PARTICIPANTS
CLC Members
Willie Antman, West Bethesda Park
Marian Bradford, Camelot Mews
Lesley Hildebrand, Huntington Terrace
Darrell Lemke, Parkview
Deborah Michaels, Glenbrook Village
Ginny Miller, Wyngate
Marilyn Mazuzan, Oakmont
George Oberlander, Huntington Parkway
Lucy Ozarin, MD, Whitehall
Ralph Schofer, Maplewood
Beth Volz, Locust Hill

NIH Staff
Amy Blackburn, ORF
Dennis Coleman, OCL
Susan Hinton, ORF
Brad Moss, ORS
Susan Peterson, DFP
Sharon Robinson, OCL
Randy Schools
Ron Wilson, ORF
Lynn Mueller, ORF
Officer John Ritch, ORS

Guests
Sally Kaplan, Western Montgomery Citizens Advisory Cmte
Mark MacDonald, SHA
Allan Myers, Maplewood
Barbara Solberg, SHA
Jay Lin Tian, SHA
Winfield Swanson, Audio Associates

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