{"id":3127,"date":"2014-06-05T22:29:24","date_gmt":"2014-06-05T22:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=3127"},"modified":"2019-11-12T18:37:40","modified_gmt":"2019-11-12T18:37:40","slug":"brt-project-info-contacts","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/contact\/brt-project-info-contacts\/","title":{"rendered":"Olney BRT Project Info &#038; Contact List"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width:48%; float: left;\">\n<p>The State of MD is in the planning stages of a new <strong>Bus Rapid Transit system<\/strong> that would widen Georgia Avenue, consequently taking properties along the proposed route through <strong><em>the center of Olney<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In the current proposal, <strong> 75% of the businesses between Olney Elementary School and Route 108<\/strong> &mdash; a three block area that is a significant portion of the town&#8217;s center &mdash; are targeted to be acquired for right-of-way. This includes The Backyard Naturalist and our neighboring businesses.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, there is a proposal for a <strong>new special tax district<\/strong> in Olney to help defray the costs of construction and management of the system. This is projected to include <strong> property tax increases<\/strong> and a special <strong>business surcharge<\/strong>. There&#8217;s more info below on &#8220;Maryland Senate Bill 627&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>If you are a resident of Maryland, particularly Montgomery County or the Olney area, we ask you to respond. During this planning stage, The State Highway Administration, our elected officials and local business associations need to hear from citizens, particularly if you disagree with their proposals.<strong> No feedback equals approval<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>We want all residents of Montgomery County to have <strong>full information and input<\/strong> on this matter. We&#8217;ve added a list of some of the key deciders on this issue. <strong>Please email your comments<\/strong> and copy <a href=\"mailto:charris@sha.state.md.us?subject=Concerns About the BRT Project\">Carmaletta Harris, charris@sha.state.md.us<\/a> on each message. She is the Project Manager at SHA and is coordinating responses from the public.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>More Information About the BRT Project<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>See the <a href=\"http:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/brt\/Countywide-Transit-Corridors-Functional-Master-Plan.pdf\">Countywide Master Plan.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Read ITDP&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/brt\/Demand-and-Service-Planning-Report-to-MC-DOT.pdf\">Demand &#038; Planning Report<\/a> to MC DOT.<\/li>\n<li>See map of <a href=\"http:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/brt\/Olney-Level-of-Destruction.jpg\">&#8220;Least Invasive&#8221; Plan<\/a> for Olney.<\/li>\n<li>Read The Backyard Naturalist Backyard Blog post <a href=\"http:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/olney-brt-project-raises-concerns\/\" title=\"Olney BRT Project Raises Concerns\"><em>Olney BRT Project Raises Concerns<\/em><\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Read story in <em>The Gazette<\/em>, <a href=\"http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/OlneyBRTnews\">Concerns intensify over BRT&rsquo;s effect on Olney businesses<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>How Will the BRT Project Be Funded?<\/h2>\n<h4>Maryland Senate Bill 627 &#038; House Bill 1279<\/h4>\n<p>In January and February, bills were introduced to the Maryland General Assembly, <strong><em>Special Taxing Districts &#8211; Transportation Improvements and Exemption From County Tax Limitations<\/em><\/strong>.<br \/>\nIntroduced in the State Senate as <a href=\"http:\/\/mgaleg.maryland.gov\/webmga\/frmMain.aspx?id=sb0627&#038;stab=01&#038;pid=billpage&#038;tab=subject3&#038;ys=2014rs\">Bill 627<\/a> by Senators <strong>Richard Madaleno, Ulysses Currie, Verna Jones-Rodwell,<\/strong> and <strong>Karen Montgomery<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Read and download <a href=\"http:\/\/mgaleg.maryland.gov\/2014RS\/bills\/sb\/sb0627f.pdf\">Maryland Senate Bill 627<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>See supplemental notes on <a href=\"http:\/\/mgaleg.maryland.gov\/2014RS\/fnotes\/bil_0007\/sb0627.pdf\">Maryland Senate Bill 627<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Monitor progress of <a href=\"http:\/\/legiscan.com\/MD\/bill\/SB627\/2014\">Maryland Senate Bill 627<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Cross-filed with Senate Bill 627,<a href\"http:\/\/mgaleg.maryland.gov\/2014RS\/bills\/hb\/hb1279f.pdf\"> House Bill 1279<\/a> was read to the House by sponsoring <strong>Delegates Hixson , Barnes, Barve, Carr, Cullison, Gutierrez, Hucker, Luedtke, S.Robinson, Simmons, Waldstreicher,<\/strong> and <strong>Zucker.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Download a copy of <a href=\"http:\/\/mgaleg.maryland.gov\/2014RS\/bills\/hb\/hb1279f.pdf\">Maryland House Bill 1279<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 48%; float:right; padding-left: 20px;\">\n<h3>Olney BRT Project Contacts<\/h3>\n<h4>State Highway Administration<\/h4>\n<p>Please copy Carmaletta Harris, Project Manager, on all your emails.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Carmeletta Harris<\/strong><br \/>\nProject Manager<br \/>\nProject Management Division<br \/>\nOffice of Planning and Preliminary Engineering<br \/>\n1-800-548-5026 or 410-545-8522<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:charris@sha.state.md.us?subject=Concerns About the BRT Project\"> charris@sha.state.md.us<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h4>Montgomery County Department of Transportation<\/h4>\n<p>\n<strong>Arthur Holmes<\/strong><br \/>\nDirector, Montgomery County DOT<br \/>\nChair, Rapid Transit System Project Steering Committee<br \/>\n240-777-7170 <br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:mcdot.director@montgomerycountymd.gov?subject=My Concerns About the BRT Project\">mcdot.director@montgomerycountymd.gov<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:Rapid.Transit@montgomerycountymd.gov?subject=My Concerns About the BRT Project\"> Rapid.Transit@montgomerycountymd.gov<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n<strong>Gary Erenrich<\/strong><br \/>\nSpecial Assistant to the Director for WMATA <br \/>\nMontgomery County DOT<br \/>\nOffice of the Director<br \/>\n240-777-7156 <br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:gary.erenrich@montgomerycountymd.gov?subject=My Concerns About the BRT Project\">gary.erenrich@montgomerycountymd.gov<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h4>Maryland Transit Administration<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Rick Kiegel<\/strong><br \/>\nProject Manager<br \/>\n410-767-1380<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:rkiegel@mta.maryland.gov?subject=Concerns About the BRT Project\"> kiegel@mta.maryland.gov<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h4>Montgomery County Executive<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Ike Leggett<\/strong><br \/>\n240-777-0311<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:ocemail@montgomerycountymd.gov?subject=Concerns About the BRT Project\"> ocemail@montgomerycountymd.gov<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h4>Montgomery County Council<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Phil Andrews<\/strong><br \/>\n240-777-7906<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:councilmember.andrews@montgomerycountymd.gov?subject=Concerns About the BRT Project\">councilmember.andrews@montgomerycountymd.gov<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Roger Berliner<\/strong><br \/>\n240-777-7828<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:councilmember.berliner@montgomerycountymd.gov?subject=Concerns About the BRT Project\">councilmember.berliner@montgomerycountymd.gov<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Cherri Branso<\/strong><br \/>\n240-777-7960<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:councilmember.branso@montgomerycountymd.gov?subject=Concerns About the BRT Project\">councilmember.branso@montgomerycountymd.gov<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Marc Elrich<\/strong><br \/>\n240-777-7960<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:councilmember.elrich@montgomerycountymd.gov?subject=Concerns About the BRT Project\">councilmember.elrich@montgomerycountymd.gov<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Nancy Floreen<\/strong><br \/>\n240-777-7959<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:councilmember.floreen@montgomerycountymd.gov?subject=Concerns About the BRT Project\">councilmember.floreen@montgomerycountymd.gov<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>George Leventhal<\/strong><br \/>\n240-777-7811<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:councilmember.leventhal@montgomerycountymd.gov?subject=Concerns About the BRT Project\">councilmember.leventhal@montgomerycountymd.gov<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Nancy Navarro<\/strong><br \/>\n240-777-7968<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:councilmember.navarro@montgomerycountymd.gov?subject=Concerns About the BRT Project\">councilmember.navarro@montgomerycountymd.gov<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Craig Rice<\/strong><br \/>\n240-777-7955<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:councilmember.rice@montgomerycountymd.gov?subject=Concerns About the BRT Project\">councilmember.rice@montgomerycountymd.gov<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Hans Riemer<\/strong><br \/>\n240-777-7964<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:councilmember.riemer@montgomerycountymd.gov?subject=Concerns About the BRT Project\">councilmember.riemer@montgomerycountymd.gov<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h4>Greater Olney Civic Association<\/h4>\n<p><strong>John Webster<\/strong><br \/>\nPresident<br \/>\n301-774-6774<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.goca.org\/contact-form\/\">www.goca.org\/contact-us\/<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h4>Olney Chamber of Commerce<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Jon Hulsizer<\/strong><br \/>\nExecutive Director<br \/>\n301- 774-7117<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:chamber@olneymd.org?subject=Concerns About the BRT Project\">chamber@olneymd.org<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The State of MD is in the planning stages of a new Bus Rapid Transit system that would widen Georgia Avenue, consequently taking properties along the proposed route through the center of Olney. In the current proposal, 75% of the businesses between Olney Elementary School and Route 108 &mdash; a three block area that is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"parent":23,"menu_order":12,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-fullwidth.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3127","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3127"}],"version-history":[{"count":73,"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8068,"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3127\/revisions\/8068"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}