T H E G AZ ET T E
Wednesday, January 8, 2014 r
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White Oak master plan updates may speed up development n
Planning board removes some limits in process BY
SARAH SCULLY STAFF WRITER
Planning officials want to remove certain limitations to future development in the White Oak area by amending the White Oak Science Gateway Master Plan. According to Nancy Sturgeon, the master planner supervisor for the area, changes to the plan will allow slightly more traffic and remove a staging policy that slows down development by
dividing projects into three stages of approvals and requirements. The Montgomery County Planning Board approved the changes on Dec. 19. Next, the County Council will review the amended plan before finalizing it in the coming months. The council has scheduled a public hearing for Feb. 4. The recommended plan makes White Oak a new policy area with urban congestion standards, which allow a higher volume of traffic. Previously, the area was part of a larger policy area considered suburban. Development projections for White
Oak were expected to outgrow suburban traffic standards. With the new classification, and removal of the staging policy, the Planning Department aims to prioritize development by removing pre-emptive limitations. “We’re trying to stimulate new development in White Oak,” Sturgeon said. “The concern was the staging plan was going to be a disincentive and was going to limit something that we actually wanted to see.” The staging policy slowed down development by breaking projects into three phases, allowing only certain steps in each phase, and requiring in-
frastructure and transportation capacity to keep up with development at a certain standard. The amended plan “doesn’t put a cap on the amount of development that can occur within any given time frame,” Sturgeon said. Staging policies can protect a community from growth outstripping capacity, Sturgeon said. However, all new projects still will go through the regulatory review process, which includes traffic and capacity studies, prior to approval. Future Bus Rapid Transit, an improved bus system planned throughout the county, also will help to provide
more transportation. Potential construction that has been discussed for the area includes a new campus for Washington Adventist Hospital and a new county Life Sciences Center. The urban classification doesn’t necessarily mean more traffic; Sturgeon emphasized that real future development is unknown. Recommended congestion limitations don’t meet those of the busiest areas in the county, but fall in line with areas like Wheaton, Kensington and Germantown Town Center. The County Council likely will make a final decision in February or March, according to council staff.
D.C. woman accused in tiki-torch attack Police searching for team behind on pregnant Takoma Park resident North Bethesda jewelry theft Police say Katherlan Johnson forced her way into apartment
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BY
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ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH
BY
STAFF WRITER
Police say a Washington, D.C., woman took a taxi to a Takoma Park home last week and used a broken tiki torch to attack two people, including a woman who was seven months pregnant. Takoma Park police announced Thursday that the Metropolitan Police Department had arrested Katherlan Johnson, 46, in Washington on a warrant from the Takoma Park department. Johnson was charged with first-degree burglary, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and malicious destruction of property. According to Takoma Park police spokeswoman Cathy Plevy, Katherlan knew the man and woman she is accused of assaulting, but Plevy did not know the nature of their relationship. Johnson took a taxi to the Flower Avenue home, which is owned by a man she knew, and knocked on the door “very loudly,” Plevy said. A woman inside didn’t answer the door, so Johnson walked to the back of the home and forced her way in through a space she had created by pushing in an air conditioning unit. Johnson attacked the woman inside, using a broken tiki torch to hit the woman in the stomach, according to police. The man in the house also got involved in the argument, trying to defend the woman Johnson was attacking.
Two stolen rings worth more than $20,000
ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH STAFF WRITER
TAKOMA PARK POLICE
Police say Katherlan Johnson attacked a woman.
Plevy said Johnson stabbed the man with an “unknown sharp object,” then fled in a taxi. The man was taken to a hospital and required surgery, but was doing well and recovering. “He’s going to be fine,” Plevy said. No other information about his condition was available on Tuesday. Takoma Park police said Johnson will be charged in Montgomery County District Court after she is extradited from D.C. D.C. court records show she has a hearing scheduled for Thursday. Sharon Burka, who is listed as Johnson’s lawyer in D.C. court records online, did not return phone calls seeking more information.
Police are trying to identify a couple who walked into a North Bethesda jewelry store last month and swiped two rings worth more than $20,000. The theft took place at about 2:10 p.m. Dec. 16. Police say a man and woman walked into a Masica Diamonds store on Rockville Pike. The woman posed as a customer, distracting the store’s employee. The man stole two diamond rings from a display case. Police say the combined value of the rings is more than $20,000. They are asking anyone with information about the thefts to call 866-411-8477. sjbsmith@gazette.net
MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE
Montgomery County police say they are looking for two people who they believe stole two rings valued at more than $20,000 from a North Bethesda jewelry store.
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