Northwood News ♦ October 2011

Update on the Proposed Child Day Care Center at Brunett, University Boulevard

By Jim Zepp (NFCCA) and Glen Richardson (SFCCA)

This is an update on the child care center facility proposed for the vacant lot at the corner of University Boulevard and Brunett Avenue.  It is the subject of a special exception zoning request which has been denied twice by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (MNCPPC) Planning Board and staff for (1) violating the per-child space requirements and (2) not complying with recommendations in the Four Corners Master Plan, which specifically discourage such developments in residentially zoned properties next to the Four Corners commercial area.  If you want further background on this issue, please refer to previous issues of this newsletter on this website.

In early July, the developer, Glimour-Brunett, LLC, asked to meet with the South Four Corners Civic Association (SFCCA) officers to discuss their revised plans.  South Four Corners is the community in which the proposed facility would be located.  The impacted area does include a small portion of the Northwood-Four Corners community, which lies directly across University Boulevard from the site.  The meeting was held on 27 July.  Craig Kay, the developer; his attorney; a land planner; and an architect were in attendance.  South Four Corners Civic Association was represented by its current officers:  David Meininger, Betty Batty, and Richard Messalle, plus two former presidents, Christine Patrick and Dave Nettleton.  Glen Richardson and SFCCA attorney and resident Louis Leibowitz also participated.

The developer presented his latest revised plans to pursue a 4,400-square-foot building for 76 children and 15 staff.  The county space requirements for this type of facility continue to set a maximum of 70 children for a property of this size.  A required 28 parking spaces will be provided which assumes that most of the facility’s staff and clients will arrive and leave by public bus service.  There was discussion about the building techniques, layout of the parking lot, storm water runoff, and operations of a child day care.  The meeting lasted less than one hour.

Although the applicant has made some reductions to his original proposal, the SFCCA believes that a 4,400-square-foot building is much too large and intrusive for a residentially zoned part of its neighborhood.  The applicant continues to ignore the guidance provided by the MNCPPC planning staff, the Planning Board, and the Zoning Board of Appeal hearing examiner.  The SFCCA will continue to contest the Special Exception.

When the Four Corners Master Plan was developed in the mid-1990s, the communities wanted the existing commercial area to be stabilized and maintained.  However, the Master Plan also recommended, in the strongest language possible, that commercial development should not be allowed into the residential areas bordering these businesses.  The concern was that this would lead to the destabilization of the residential neighborhoods through continued encroachment.

The next scheduled events are 26 September, when the applicant’s latest revised final plan is due, and 10 November, when sworn testimony resumes at the Zoning Board of Appeals’ Hearing Examination.

Since Jim Zepp was one of the NFCCA’s representatives on the Four Corners Master Plan’s Citizen Advisory Committee, he has been participating in the public review process of this special exception request for our community.  For more information, contact him at [email redacted].   ■