Save The Trail Coalition

Testimony -- December 10, 2009

before the Montgomery County Planning Board

Bette Petrides, West Bethesda

My name is Bette Petrides. I live in West Bethesda, among many neighbors who use the Georgetown Branch, and am founder of Citizens for a Better Bethesda. I am co-owner of the Wild Bird Centers of America. My testimony is in two parts and I strongly urge you to read the attached material on the Purple Line’s impact on Bethesda’s business that I cannot cover in the time allotted.

It is of concern that neither the draft Functional Master Plan nor the DEIS adequately addresses the environmental harm caused by the Purple Line nor mitigation measures needed. The DEIS is designed to meet the specific build requirements of the Federal Transit Authority for such projects. The functional master plan is apparently meant primarily to facilitate the DEIS.  However, this approach fails to also deal with other, equally important legislation, the Clean Water Act and the Bay legislation. 

A number of people have already spoken to the devastating impact the removal of 17 acres of trees, the outright destruction of one of the most popular parks in the Washington area, the Line’s impact on adjacent homes, and the side effects from pollution the rail will create.  I would like to raise a small point from the DEIS to show how poorly the DEIS serves Montgomery County and how disturbing it is that there is no response from the Planning Agency that counteracts its impact.

On page E 22 of the Environmental section of the DEIS, paragraph 10 states that the train will take advantage of areas of lowered track along the Georgetown Branch.

The text notes that the existence of an embankment there will reduce the need for retaining walls. It is difficult to believe that construction of the track bed proposed and the destruction of the vegetation along it will not disturb the dirt of the embankment.  Disturbed soil is unstable, as any homeowner who has warned his children not to play on dirt piles, can testify. Even tamped-down soil is unstable. The constant vibration of trains going by is unlikely to make the embankment safer.

Coquelin Run, starting in the valley just east of the Tunnel and south of the proposed Purple Line, runs through many back yards adjacent to the embankment. Neighbors have been told that neither the county nor the state consider this spring fed stream to be of significance, though it  feeds into Rock Creek, which dumps into the Potomac.

Several issues come to mind here – increased instability of the embanked soil, sediment drainage into the Rock Creek and, ultimately, the Potomac,  all of which violate the spirit if not the letter of the Clean Water Act and the Chesapeake Bay legislation.

The wider the disturbed area, the greater the risk, whether to public safety or to the Potomac.  I would urge that this Board vote for the single track option rather than the double. Reducing the opportunities for damage will help the LRT meet all federal standards, to say nothing of standards of community safety.  I would also like to encourage the planning agency to review the DEIS with a finer eye for such issues than it has thus far apparently done.

I would like to also make the following points. As a business owner, I am familiar with the need to vet commercial areas for stores one plans to open to assure that the demographics, traffic patterns, approachability and general ambiance will attract and keep customers.

The picture at the head of MTA’s website on the Purple Line shows a sleek train in front of shops at Woodmont East, the terminus of the Purple Line in Bethesda, the area called Bethesda Row. As attractive as the picture is, it conveys an inaccurate image.

Far from enhancing the area, the train is likely to do it significant damage. Although Mr. Berliner has sought to limit the train holding area to 100 feet beyond the tunnel, which lies to the right of the visual, there are other issues. The establishments in the picture behind the train belong to Federal Realty. Approaches to them are certainly going to be impacted by the Purple Line.  For reasons of public safety, the train holding area must be separated from the public. This typically entails cyclone fencing and razor wire. If the track is double, as planned, the space required will be larger and more intrusive and the impact of the industrialization of Bethesda Row greater.  Given these issues, at the very least, the rail should be single. Better still, the Purple Line should be moved.

During the next few years, the greatest need will be for transit to serve BRAC, where the bulk of the growth in traffic and congestion will occur. Yet the rail is aimed at the opposite side of Bethesda.  Will this serve Bethesda better?  

In spite of plans for a station to be built below the tunnel, the commuters expected to take the Purple Line from Silver Spring have no reason to stop in Bethesda (but will transfer underground to the Red Line to Navy Medical) when they do not simply drive. Nor is there any particular reason to travel to shop the very upscale businesses that Bethesda Row has been created to support. The trail proposed for the tunnel may also prove so unattractive that walkers who typically use it (and Bethesda Row’s shops) will no longer do so. Faced with lack of adequate bus transport and places to park as both the rail and Lot 31 are being developed, anecdotal evidence already suggests that the surrounding community may not transfer its business to other parts of downtown Bethesda during construction, but to Westbard and Wildwood and Montgomery Mall.

As BRAC, with its failing intersections becomes increasingly crowded, it appears that the rest of Bethesda will receive no substantial benefit from the presence of the Purple Line. At worst, we may lose the heart of our retail community to poor planning. It has happened before. We need only look at the commercially sterile area immediately around the former Hot Shoppes location in Bethesda.

The Purple Line could do significant good for Montgomery County. However, it is increasingly demonstrating that in its current configuration, it is a train to nowhere for Bethesda and Chevy Chase.  The Purple Line should be moved.  Failing that, the Purple Line should follow the route of least harm and retain a single track.

Thank you.

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