Sandy Spring Ashton Rural Preservation Consortium
The SSARPC (PreserveAshton.net)
supports development in Ashton that conforms to our Master Plan. We are
pro-Master Plan; not anti-development.
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE:
Town Planning Expert Hired in AMP Dispute
The Sandy Spring Ashton Rural Preservation Consortium
(SSARPC) has retained town planning consultant Stuart Sirota of Baltimore to
assist in their ongoing efforts to downsize the proposed Ashton Meeting Place
(AMP).
Sirota is a principal of TND Planning Group of Baltimore, which
specializes in traditional neighborhood development projects designed to help
strengthen the identity and “pedestrian friendliness” of communities. Among his
most recent efforts was participation in a week-long charrette with famed New
Urbanist planner Andres Duany for planning the redevelopment of New Orleans
neighborhoods devastated by Hurricane
Katrina.
“We would like Ashton Meeting Place to fit in to our area’s historic and
rural character, both in scale and look,” said Paul Maninna, SSARPC
co-president. “Stu Sirota can help
us articulate that vision to the planning board. We don’t want Ashton to succumb
to suburban sprawl. We wish to keep our sense of
place.”
“Ashton is at a crossroads, literally and
figuratively,” said Sirota. “The manner in which this site is developed will set
a precedent, and the outcome will have far-reaching consequences. It could be an
incredible opportunity to become a model for sustainable village development in
the Washington, DC region and beyond, or it could end up as a missed opportunity
that will put Ashton on the path to becoming just another suburban strip
indistinguishable from countless others. If the current design is approved as
is, it’s likely to be the latter.”
Sirota has met several times with SSARPC members to hear their concerns
about issues with the present AMP plan, most of which reflect the plan’s lack of
compatibility with the pattern of development in the village center and its lack
of consistency with the recommendations of the Master Plan. More specifically, members take issue
with the location of a 220 foot- long rear wall of a grocery store only 12 feet
from the sidewalk on MD Route 108, the mass and scale of buildings that will be
several times larger than any other building in the village center, and the paving of a large portion of the
site for parking, including intrusion into the
wetlands.
“The current
proposal is not only excessive in size given its setting, but it also includes a
conventional suburban arrangement of commercial buildings set back from the road
and surrounded by parking lots. Perhaps most egregious is the large building
that turns its back to Route 108 - Ashton’s “Main Street,” Sirota said. “All of
this will dramatically erode the identity of this historic rural crossroads, yet
it doesn’t have to be that way. If AMP is willing to incorporate a more
progressive design that we are currently developing, there’s no reason why this
can’t be a win-win-win situation for them, the Ashton community, and the
County.”
