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Developers -- and especially the Chevy Chase Land Company -- have funded much of the campaign to push for the light rail Purple Line.
The President and COO of Chevy Chase Land Company, Mr. Ed Asher, is a founding member and Director of the Coalition to Build the Inner Purple Line, now known as Purple Line NOW. Mr. Asher also represents the Chevy Chase Land Company on the Montgomery County Park and Planning's Master Plan Advisory Group for the Purple Line." See:
http://www.cclandco.com/EdwardHallAsher.asp .
In 2003, the Chevy Chase Land Company announced that it raised $60,000 to push for the Light Rail Purple Line along the Capital Crescent Trail (Gazette, Jan. 29, 2003).
Why is Chevy Chase Land Company so interested in routing the Purple Line along the Capital Crescent Trail?
The Land Company owns all of the land around the Trail at Connecticut Avenue, where the light rail transit station is being planned. The County allows greater development and density around transit stations. If the Purple Line is built, development ceilings will be raised along Connecticut Avenue and in downtown Bethesda, and the Chevy Chase Land Company stands to profit from this increased density.
Ed Asher, President of the Chevy Chase Land Company (and also the President of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce), says the Land Company has already spent $30,000 designing a light rail station! The Land Company plans to center their development around the station. See:
http://www.cclandco.com/lakeeast/lakeeast.asp
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