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I am thrilled to share that on Tuesday, the County Council voted on and passed the FAITH ZTA (24-01).
I introduced the FAITH ZTA with my colleague Council President Friedson after months of careful work with congregations, affordable housing builders, and housing advocates. Upon introduction, there was unanimous support from our colleagues who all signed on as cosponsors. While houses of worship and private schools in our community find themselves with more land than they need, these institutions face too many barriers to easily put their land to use to support their mission, address the housing crisis, and benefit our broader community.
 Since much of our county is zoned for single family detached residential, religious assemblies or private education institutions seeking to build townhomes or low-rise apartments would have to pursue a lengthy, cumbersome process. This has tended to discourage the construction of housing. The FAITH ZTA requires that these projects meet one of four affordability thresholds, and undergo development review under a conditional use process, where a hearing examiner evaluates each proposed project. This individually tailored approach evaluates proposed projects and provides a forum for community input on the projects.
In the Racial Equity and Social Justice impact statement for the bill, council staff noted the potential positive impacts of the ZTA to narrow racial and social inequities in housing security and cost burden and increase the number of affordable housing units in the larger lot residential zones concentrated in the most affluent communities in the County and diminish residential segregation and reduce racial disparities in access to high quality schooling, transportation, health care, employment, and other opportunities.
You can read the final ZTA here or click the photo above to view my remarks on the FAITH ZTA.
I recently joined County Executive Elrich for a press conference to discuss Public Safety in downtown Silver Spring. I have worked closely with Councilmember Evan Glass starting last year when we convened a community conversion and safety walk with District 3 police.
Here are key moments from our press conference covering crime prevention steps. I want to thank Council President Andrew Friedson and Councilmember Natali Fani-González for joining us and to all of my colleagues for supporting our efforts to support our community and our work.
On Tuesday, the County Council voted on and passed the Late Night Establishments Closing Time Bill (3-24) as well. I introduced the Late Night Establishments Bill with my colleagues Councilmember Albornoz and Councilmember Glass. This is a bill my team and I have worked on for more than a year.
During this time, we convened meetings with a variety of stakeholders to discuss concerns and challenges in Downtown Silver Spring, where the majority of overnight hookah lounges are located. We met with residents of condominiums in the core, renters in the area, neighborhood associations with concerns, businesses, the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce, the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce, business owners with shops adjacent to hookah lounges, other late night business owners, and owners of the hookah lounges. Major concerns raised by business owners and residents are related to crime, noise, and other activities that are taking place overnight, primarily between the hours of 2 a.m. and 7 a.m.
The Montgomery County Police (MCPD) furnished data to the Council that show in the past two years between the hours of 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. that Downtown Silver Spring (DTSS) had the highest number of service calls compared to all other areas in Montgomery County. These calls are in the proximity and addresses of the hookah lounges in Downtown Silver Spring. MCPD also noted the increase in overtime costs to the tens of thousands of dollars a month, and because of the heightened concentration of police in the area of the lounges, the response time for 911 calls for service across the district was negatively affected.
This bill will create parity with other late night establishments such as bars and restaurants by closing hookah lounges at the same time: 2 a.m. on weekdays and 3 a.m. on weekends. Other neighboring jurisdictions are closing earlier, Baltimore closes at midnight, Prince George's closes at 8pm. the District of Columbia closes at the same time as bars. It is our hope that this change will drive down emergency calls for service in the overnight hours, and create a reasonable closing time for the community. You can read the final bill here. You can view my remarks about this bill here.
Charles W. Woodward High School is a highly anticipated project for our entire county. It will serve the important role as a holding school for Northwood High School while their building is upgraded and then help alleviate overcrowding at Walter Johnson High School.
The Northwood High School upgrade has been extended for an additional year, leading to students spending three years at Woodward High School as a holding facility. A couple of weeks ago, the Board of Education postponed construction of Woodward HS’s auditorium indefinitely as a result of fiscal limitations. This has raised sincere concerns for myself along with students, community members, and my colleagues on the Council. As a result, Council President Friedson, Councilmember Mink, and I sent a letter to MCPS and the Board of Education outlining our concerns and the need for parity of facilities for our students. We also sent a parallel letter to the full Council highlighting this issue.
You can read our letter to MCPS and the Board of Education here, and our letter to the Council here. You can also listen to a clip of my remarks on this issue during our Council session here.
For more information on Northwood HS students attending Woodward HS as a holding school, please visit the MCPS project website here.
Last month I had the pleasure of joining County Executive Marc Elrich and Jon Monger, Director of the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection, on a delegation trip to Taiwan. We attended the Smart City Summit & Expo, hearing from innovators on sustainable technology we can bring to Montgomery County, connecting with businesses to bring their companies to our county, as well as meeting local elected officials. Tragically, Taiwan recently experienced a 7.4 magnitude earthquake and I have been in touch with local officials expressing our support in the aftermath.
The trip was productive. In particular, I learned a great deal:
- touring a furniture recycling facility in Taipei
- talking to companies about advances in vertical solar panels
- and hearing from people working on anaerobic composting at scale
The trip also focused on economic development opportunities. We met with companies and academic institutions interested in expanding into the U.S. market and locating in Montgomery County. The biotech companies and universities were particularly interested in our new University of Maryland Institute for Health Computing in North Bethesda. Enjoy some pictures from our trip!
At a recent state Board of Public Works meeting, Comptroller Lierman joined Governor Moore and Treasurer Davis in approving funding to keep the Purple Line project going toward completion. At my request, Comptroller Lierman specifically pressed Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) Administrator Arnold to commit that the project will increase proactive steps to ensure pedestrian safety and care for residents’ quality of life throughout construction.
I thank Administrator Arnold for her commitment, and thank Comptroller Lierman for asking about these efforts. My office will continue to seek safe, speedy completion to this project affecting so many residents’ lives daily. For concerns regarding Purple Line construction, please email me Councilmember.Stewart@montgomerycountymd.gov and CC the project’s team outreach@purplelinemd.com.
Recognizing Shepherd’s Table - Thank you to Shepherd’s Table for inviting me to their Power of Community Day! We got to showcase different essential services they provide, county services, and most importantly hear from our community.
The Forum Condominium - We had a great discussion at The Forum in North Bethesda with their board and the board of The Sterling for residents to hear directly from the Montgomery County Green Bank about energy efficiency incentives, low interest loans, and technical support for building improvements to save residents money on their utility bills.
Sodexo’s New Headquarters - I was thrilled to join CE Elrich and CP Friedson as we welcomed Sodexo USA to their new headquarters in North Bethesda. Sodexo serves millions of global consumers each day through its unique combination of On-site Food and Facilities Management Services and Benefits & Rewards Services.
MCDOT has planned overnight paving from 8 PM - 5 AM to permanently patch an area of Nicholson Lane so it is more smooth. This work is expected to occur during April and take 4-5 business days to complete, weather permitting. For more information and contacts on this project, the public notice flier is here.
Join us on Wednesday, April 10th at 6:30 PM for a free Narcan training and distribution event at Montgomery College’s Health Sciences Center in downtown Silver Spring. You can register for the event at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/82TLVJ7 or use the QR code below.
Apply to be part of the Purple Line Equitable Housing Training Series! This free training series is open to community-based organizations located in or serving people living near the new Purple Line transit corridor. Participants will improve their organization’s capacity, build community, and strengthen relationships. Learn more and apply by Friday, May 3rd, 2024. Questions? Email Laura Searfoss, Senior Program Director at Enterprise Community Partners, at lsearfoss@enterprisecommunity.org or Reemberto Rodriguez, Consultant, at reemberto@gmail.com.
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Office of Councilmember Kate Stewart
