Evergreen Tree Row along the Cortland Road property line looking towards Western Avenue. The entire line of trees is being removed for the bike path which will be sited to the right of the existing sidewalk in this picture.
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The 26-acre GEICO property in Friendship Heights is being redeveloped by EYA. Not only does the property include the former GEICO headquarters (the wooded GEICO campus) and a wide green buffer between the GEICO campus and the residential area, but it also includes the small Brookdale park tucked in the neighborhood behind the main buildings. The park will be conveyed to Montgomery Parks when the new development is complete, EYA is in charge of it until that point. A shared-use bike path is planned for the green buffer and will be retained by EYA. The property is being developed according to the guidelines of the 1998 Sector Plan, a planning document adopted by the Montgomery County Council to guide development in the Friendship Heights area.
sector plan calls for saving trees
There are over 585 trees on the site (according to the 1998 census - the best number we have)-some over 100-years old, and most are over 60-years old planted in the late 1950s when the property was first developed. At least thirty-six of these trees are large specimen trees: oaks, maples and tulip poplars with enormous canopies that shade the area, provide habitat for birds, squirrels, butterflies, and other wildlife, and soak up rain water providing important storm water management. The Sector Plan calls for the preservation of these mature trees as much as possible. In addition, all of these trees are protected by Chapter 22A of the Montgomery County Code.
However, EYA has asked for permission from the County (i.e. a variance) to remove every one of these beautiful old specimen trees from the GEICO campus all the way to the edge of the green buffer, even in areas that will remain open space. (According to the Code, they don’t need permission to remove smaller trees under 24-inches in diameter; their plans indicate they are removing all of them from the GEICO campus too.) All the beautiful mature trees that line Willard Avenue and the GEICO parking lot will be bulldozed.
Yes, new trees will be planted, but it will take decades before they provide the same sense of space the old trees give us. And many of the new trees will be smaller under-story trees that will never reach the same majestic heights. Some of them will be planted in stormwater management boxes which need maintenance that compromises the health of the trees.
greenway
There is also the greenway. The Sector Plan mandates that the green buffer between the GEICO campus and the residential area be transformed to a hiker/biker trail that will run from Willard Avenue to Western. EYA will be taking down dozens of trees to build the trail as well as reducing the buffer width to fit additional townhouses, necessitating more tree removal. Their design of this path through the greenway ignores both the intent and the specific language of the Sector Plan. The Plan requires retaining mature trees along the greenway, which the proposal completely ignores. And the the Plan specifically calls for preservation (p. xxii) and expansion (p. xxiii, xxvii) of the current green area bordering the Brookdale neighborhood, saving existing trees (p.63, 69). EYA is reducing the size of the current green space.
One of the beauties of old trees is that they provide shade for walking trails. There is nothing like walking on a hot summer day under the canopy of shade trees. While EYA is promising to plant new trees, it will be years and years before they provide the shade that these old specimen trees create. A single large maturing tree with a canopy radius of 20 feet can have canopy area of over 2,500 sf while a three-inch caliper tree might only create light shade over a five-foot radius and 157 sf of canopy area. With a little ingenuity, tweeking of the route, and using some of the latest trail building techniques like floating pavement and permeble blankets, we believe that the trees can be saved when the trail is built and stay true to the vision of the Sector plan.
The greenway will run along the entire GEICO campus between the new town houses and the neighborhood. This map shows the portion going to Western Avenue from the Brookdale Park. The hiker/biker trail is in grey, the existing sidewalk is marked in yellow. Most of the trees along this stretch of hiker/biker trail will be removed either because they are in the path of the trail, or will have their roots impacted by the trail. Scroll down to see the other sections of the trail.
EYA prides themselves on their commitment to “green living.” They even make an “environmental promise” on their website. These trees are an important part of the environment and what makes Friendships our livable and walkable community. They make Friendship Heights a Green Community.
EMAIL HERE TO ASK THE PLANNING STAFF TO SAVE THE TREES
If the above link doesn’t work in your browser, or cut and paste the text below. Feel free, of course, to add your own language.
To:
elza.hisel-mccoy@montgomeryplanning.org,
amy.lindsey@montgomeryplanning.org,
mcp-chair@mncppc-mc.org,
councilmember.fani-gonzalez@montgomerycountymd.gov, Councilmember.Evans@montgomerycountymd.gov, councilmember.Glass@montgomerycountymd.gov, Councilmember.Jawando@montgomerycountymd.gov, Councilmember.sayles@montgomerycountymd.gov, Councilmember.friedson@montgomerycountymd.gov
Subject: Save the GEICO trees
Message: I am writing to express my deep concern with the configuration of EYA’s Friendship Commons development proposed for the GEICO site in Friendship Heights. I believe the proposal is not in substantial compliance with the 1998 Sector Plan as it pertains to trees and green spaces. The sector plan calls for all efforts to be made to retain the mature trees, yet the proposal requires the removal of hundreds of trees – both specimen and smaller ones.
While I recognize that destroying some trees on the GEICO headquarters site might be necessary for grading and installing new infrastructure, cutting down every tree to build new townhouses and apartments will destroy the beauty of the neighborhood and deprive residents, new and old, of the many benefits mature trees add. Without their shade, the parcel becomes a heat island, making it unpleasant to walk to the stores and metro in Friendship Heights. Please deny the variance to remove the large trees.
The design of the shared-use bikeway through the greenway ignores both the intent and the specific language of the Sector Plan. The Plan requires retaining mature trees along the greenway, which the proposal completely ignores. It specifically calls for preservation (p. xxii) and expansion (p. xxiii, xxvii) of the current green area bordering the Brookdale neighborhood, saving existing trees (p.63, 69). EYA, however, envisions removing almost every single specimen tree and other smaller trees in the greenway area. These trees provide habitat for birds, squirrels, butterflies, insects, and other wildlife, and soak up rainwater, providing important stormwater management. But most of all they provide shade. You cannot overstate the importance of shade on a walking path, especially with DC summers.
The Sector Plan has a vision for a walkable, livable Friendship Heights. EYA can do better to conform to this lovely vision. Shifting some green space in the residential area to include an existing tree, tweaking the design of the greenway to avoid tree loss and building to save trees would be a win for everyone and for green living.
We need these trees for shade, for wildlife habitat and for stormwater management.
Please save our trees.
{Name}, {Address}
These are some of the trees that are coming down
All of the trees below are intended to be removed If there is a fence in the picture, trees on both sides of the fence are slated for removal. Trees marked with an X on the maps are specimen trees where EYA has asked for a variance to remove. Permission is not needed to remove trees smaller than 24 inches in diameter.
