Community Stand Their Ground Against Building a New School in Rosemary Hills–Lyttonsville Local Park

The  Coffield Community Center was filled to capacity Thursday to hear Montgomery County government and community representatives present their positions on placing the new Bethesda-Chevy Chase Middle School #2 at the Rosemary Hills–Lyttonsville Local Park site. 

The purpose of the planned middle school would be to alleviate overcrowding at Westland Middle School in Bethesda. It would also permit students who currently attend 6^th grade at Chevy Chase and North Chevy Chase elementary schools to attend that grade at middle school.

At the outset of the April 21st meeting, Bruce Crispell and Janice Turpin from the Montgomery County Public Schools explained the March 8th recommendation by the Site Selection Advisory Committee. The Committee considered ten potential sites for the new school and by a process of elimination chose the park site as the most suitable. They characterized the analysis as “broad brush,” but stated that it was “just the beginning.” 

Turpin added that the decision would face more rigorous analysis when, and if, “it goes to Park and Planning [Commission] for a feasibility study and environmental assessment.”

At the meeting, Save Our Park Coalition members, who have organized to oppose the Advisory Committee’s decision, distributed a position statement that raised strong objections to its findings. The coalition criticized the committee for working “in secrecy” and for conducting an analysis that lacked “consideration of impacts to the local community.” The statement characterized the report as “deeply flawed,” adding that it “omits key data that the Board of Education would need to make an educated decision. . .”

Susan Buchanan of the Coalition stated, “no one from this community was involved” in the Advisory Committee process and that was at the root of the problem. As a result, “the community was caught off guard.” She added that the community needed to petition “to make the report available.”

The Coalition’s statement put on the table the following issues that they agree disqualifies the Rosemary Hills–Lyttonsville Local Park site as a suitable site for the new middle school. Acreage is an issue:  The site is “below the 20 acre [Montgomery County Public School] recommendation for new middle school.”  The topography is unsuitable because “subterranean military bunkers, used during World War II to store military munitions” would lie buried under the site.  Access to the school would be difficult.  The report did not give thought to “[t]raffic congestion on East-West Highway and Lyttonsville Road. . .”  

The statement also raises concerns about the cost of the project and the time required to acquire the site and obtain necessary permits.

They explained that this very diverse community comes together in the park as they pursue their own outdoor activities, ranging from walking dogs to playing soccer. These individuals also stated that, regardless of the activity, community residents use this green space as a means to relieve stress.  One member of the coalition lamented that, “When the park is lost, it is lost forever.”

Some residents were concerned about the additional buses and cars ferrying students to and from school. They pointed to the additional vehicles that increase traffic congestion in the area and exacerbate the health risk resulting from air pollution.  The Save Our Park Coalition distributed a paper detailing the pollution concern, which stated that the “proposed middle school site . . . poses a serious health threat to the existing community and to the children who would attend the school.”

While all speakers were warmly received, the loudest applause was reserved for the last speaker, Mary Bradford, Director, Montgomery County Department of Parks, who explained that the Rosemary Hills –Lyttonsville Local Park remains under the jurisdiction of her Department. She added that, while the public policy decision-making process must be allowed to continue, the Department prefers to keep its parks rather than surrender them for other uses.

As the next step in this process, on April 28, the Montgomery County Board of Education plans to take up the Site Selection Committee’s recommendation. 

Susan Buchanan of the Coalition stated that it plans to “pressure the Board of Education to reject” the Advisory Committee’s decision.  Should it win approval, the Coalition plans to “lobby delegates and legislators. 

“We are not backing down,” she vowed.