Dear Neighbors,
As you know, the Westbard Sector Plan has a beautiful amenity that is central to the Plan - the Willett Branch Greenway. This is a beautiful new park planned to naturalize the Willett Branch and create a linear park that will wind through the sector along side the new Equity One development. It's the only meaningful green space in the plan.
The Park is jeopardized by Equity One's plan in partnership with the Housing Opportunity Commission (HOC) to build a parking garage creek-side behind the Westwood Tower Building which is owned by the HOC. We need public support of the park to convince the Planning staff to reject the plan. We are asking people to please take a minute from your busy holiday season to send the following email to HOC and county planners opposing proposed building in the stream buffer, the flood plain or on top of the cemetery and asking for their support for the vision for the Willett Branch Stream Valley Park.
Send the email to planning@springfield20816.com which delivers your message to the HOC leadership, the County planners and the County Council.
These letters need to go out ASAP. The HOC leadership and County officials may make a decision to build this garage as early as the end of the week when the Planning staff begins to draft their recommendations for the development for presentation to the Planning Board. They need to hear that you and the entire community strongly opposes any new buildings in the 100 foot stream buffer and flood plain of the creek and strongly supports the creation of Willett Branch SV Park as envisioned in the Sector Plan and promised by all sides during the lengthy public review process.
You can visit the Little Falls Watershed Alliance website for more information or to send an email directly. http://www.lfwa.org/email-now-willett-branch-westbard-sector
Learn more about the cemetery that is along side the Westwood Tower at http://www.lfwa.org/westbards-forgotten-history-plantations-emancipation-and-jim-crow-era
Thank you,
Sarah
Sarah Morse
Executive Director
Little Falls Watershed Alliance
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Send to planning@springfield20816.com
Re: No HOC Garage in Stream Buffer of Willett Branch SV Park
Dear Commissioner Roman and County Planners,
Please don’t build any new buildings in stream buffer or flood plain or on top of the cemetery behind your Westwood Tower Apartments property which abuts the planned Willett Branch SV Park.
Montgomery Parks has a beautiful park planned for the Willett Branch in the Westbard Sector. The residents of HOC’s Westwood Tower Apartments will be big winners with this park, enjoying the benefits of nature, a sparkling creek, pedestrian trails that connect to the Capital Crescent Trail and lush green woods that will serve as their backyard and playground for their children.
Please join the community in supporting this new park. Specifically, I ask that HOC and its development partner, Equity One (merging with Regency Centers) not build a parking garage or any new structures behind the apartment building which is stream buffer for the Willett Branch. The garage would sit on the cemetery which is the final resting place of many of the area’s post emancipation African American residents and would be in violation of MD environmental guidelines that require a 100-foot stream buffer.
Your support will ensure the creation of this park which will be a gem for the County and treasured by residents of Westbard most especially residents of your soon to be three building Westwood Tower Apartments complex. Your support will help make the Park a reality.
As a resident, I ask HOC to please not build any new buildings in stream buffer or flood plain or on top of the cemetery behind your Westwood Tower Apartments property which abuts the planned Willett Branch SV Park.
Thank you for your leadership in doing the right thing,
Sincerely,
[INSERT YOUR NAME HERE]
[INSERT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD OR ADDRESS HERE]