Photo | Clark Day Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney Katz talks with Pepco President Tom Graham before the July 27 press conference called by Pepco to discuss power restoration to an estimated 100,000 customers.

About an hour after additional crews hit the roads to assist in the power restoration efforts in the D.C. area, the lights came on in Quince Orchard Park. Power was also restored in Deer Park earlier this morning. Both Gaithersburg neighborhoods were without power since Sunday.

During a press conference at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds this morning, Pepco President Tom Graham said an estimate of when the remaining 100,000 plus customers will have power restored will be available after 3 p.m. Customers are urged to call 1.877.737.2662 for more information at that time.

Graham said while he can’t confirm when all power will be restored he expects most customers will be back in service by Thursday.

Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney Katz wants to know why some areas in his city are routinely affected longer during power outages and the mayor is pushing for a meeting with Pepco officials. “There seems to be a pattern and we need to sit down and figure this out,” he said.

Communication between Pepco and customers has been a problem during the days-long power outage and even Katz only learned of the press conference from Town Courier staff shortly before the event. He was not sent an advisory. Rockville Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio also asked The Town Courier to let her know if the paper learns of another press conference as much of her city remains without power.

Read more on the power outage in the August 3 issue of The Town Courier.

Sonya Burke contributed to this report.

The fence surrounding the Vistas parcel was knocked down by high winds.

Tree damage in Quince Orchard Park (QOP) was especially severe on Winter Walk Drive and Summer Walk Drive and some houses are missing shutters. High winds also toppled a wildlife perimeter fence adjacent to Quince Orchard Road along the Vistas development.

At dusk, portions of Kentlands and all of QOP were in the dark while Lakelands apparently weathered the storm without a major power disruption. Power was restored in Kentlands before dawn, though QOP remains in the dark.

Power outages were also reported at Gaithersburg City Hall and the police department.

WSSC has instituted mandatory water restrictions because of a power outage infiltration issue at a power station in Potomac.

Montgomery County Public Schools and Montgomery County Parks and Recreation have closed all camps today. County officials are urging people to stay home, and they report 270 traffic lights are without power. City officials say 10 of those lights are in Gaithersburg. Motorists are reminded to treat intersections as four-way stops if traffic lights are not working.

Residents should call Pepco to report power outages at 1-877-737-2662. At press time county officials say restoration may take days. Currently, 187,000 customers are without power in Montgomery County.

Montgomery County opened two emergency shelters at Seneca Valley High School and Richard Montgomery High School at 10:00 a.m. on Monday morning.

Maryland State Senator Jennie Forehand (second to right) was in Kentlands in April for the opening of the community’s first organic garden.

Democrat Jennie Forehand is seeking her fifth term representing the district that includes Gaithersburg, Rockville and Garrett Park. Challenger Democrat Cheryl Kagan is no stranger to Annapolis. Kagan served eight years in the Maryland House of Delegates as the District 17 delegate.

Both Kagan and Forehand have already begun knocking on doors throughout Gaithersburg looking for votes.

The 73-year-old Forehand has the backing of Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney Katz who is serving as her campaign chairman. Ironically Katz also served as Kagan’s campaign chairman when she ran for her delegate seat.

“Jennie Forehand works well with the leaders of the Senate, and that is necessary to be effective,” Katz said. “It takes longer than one term to solve problems facing the state. I appreciate the continuum of people to solve the issues.”

Forehand said she is a supporter of the Great Seneca Science Corridor, previously known as the Gaithersburg West plan.

“I think that it is our future and that it is smart to develop it slowly so as not to overwhelm things,” she said.

She points to the Corridor Cities Transitway, a public transportation system serving the site, as a key component to the project.

Forehand served as delegate for District 17 from 1978 to 1994. As a member of the Senate, she is chairman of the Joint Committee on Federal Relations and sits on both the Judicial Proceedings Committee, Joint Committee on the Management of Public Funds and the Joint Committee on Children, Youth and Families.

Kagan was elected as the District 17 representative to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1994, where she served for eight years. Following her final term, Kagan ran the nonprofit Carl M. Freeman Foundation.

Kagan served six years as the vice president of the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County and eight years on the Maryland State Arts Council. She currently serves on the boards of the American Jewish Committee and Americans for Democratic Action.

Kagan said the time was right for her to get back into Annapolis politics.

Kentlands resident John Schlichting hosted a meet and greet at his house for Senate candidate Cheryl Kagan in May.

Holding her own line on expenses, Kagan implemented a voluntary cap on the amount of money she will collect for her campaign. She said it is an effort to restore voter confidence in elected officials.

In her local campaigning, which included a meet-and-greet at former Gaithersburg City Council member John Schlichting’s home in Kentlands in May, Kagan said she is hearing concerns from Kentlands and Lakelands voters about the economy, jobs and education.

“The advantage I have is that I know the players and the processes by which the decisions in Annapolis are going to be made. I can be effective from day one,” she said.

For more information on the candidates, log on to Kagan’s website at www.cherylkagan.org or Forehand’s website at www.jennieforehand.com.

District 17 Candidate Forum – A discussion with the Senate candidates

District 17 Candidate Forum
July 29, 8 – 10 a.m.
The Crowne Plaze Rockville
3 Research Court
Hosted by the Gaithersburg-Germantown and Rockville Chamber of Commerce and open to the public, but advance registration is required.
For more information, www.ggchamber.org.

Sunday, August 8
Debate/Forum with all the Democratic At-Large Candidates for County Council, 3:30 p.m. at Casey Community Center (Casey Barn), 810 S. Frederick Avenue, Gaithersburg. Co-sponsored by District 17 and 39 Democratic Clubs and the Asbury Democratic Club.  Free and open to the public. 

Tuesday, August 31
Debate between the two Democratic candidates for Maryland Senate from District 17, Sen. Jennie Forehand and Cheryl Kagan, 7:30 p.m. at Rockville Library, 21 Maryland Avenue (on the square in downtown Rockville). Sponsored by the District 17 Democratic Club.  Free and open to the public.

The U.S. Geological Survey reports the epicenter was located one mile north of Gaithersburg in Germantown, although the rumbling was felt over a widespread area from Frederick to Washington, D.C., to Virginia.

Gaithersburg City Council member Michael Sesma was one of many awakened by the earthquake.

“Thought at first it was a sonic boom or an unusually low jet in very humid air but then realized what it was,” said Sesma.

Some Gaithersburg residents thought it was some kind of an accident.

“I thought a train derailed or stopped quickly as I live next to the tracks,” Tom Rowse said on The Town Courier’s Facebook page. “I then went outside and no train. Wow!”

“Sure woke me up, I thought a car had hit the house,” wrote Gaithersburg City Council member Cathy Drzyzgula on her Facebook page.

Ellen Rutt was awake when the quaking began.

“The bed shook and things rattled on the tables in our bedroom,” Rutt reported.

Lakelands resident Jodi Quinn said she and her husband felt it, too.

“Freaked me and Chris out,” she said on her Facebook page. “Felt like something hit our building. The whole thing shook.”

Debi Rosen said the rumbling woke her up in Rockville.

“I thought there was an explosion close to our home,” she said. “I turned on the news sure to hear of some catastrophe … and heard it was an earthquake.”

Despite living in California for two years, it was Kentlands resident Carrie Dietz’s first earthquake.

“I had to move to Maryland to experience my first one,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “Very wild experience.”

At press time, there were no reports of damage or injuries elsewhere.

MedImmune officials said they were not aware of any impact from the earthquake on facilities at the corporate headquarters site in Quince Orchard Park. Still, they were not taking any chances at the nearby construction site.

“In an abundance of caution, we have shut down the tower cranes until they can be inspected,” said Liz Huntley, community affairs senior manager.

For more information about the earthquake, www.earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus.

Seventeen year old Marnie Friedlander works with personal trainer Joe Loza at Fitness First July 9. Frielander, a tennis player at Bullis High School says she focuses on fitness to feel good and also improve her game.

“Kids in this area are so into sports these days,” said Loza, who frequently works with kids for strength and conditioning as a supplement to their sport or sports of choice. Even with economic woes, Loza said he has clients who are willing to forgo their own personal training if it means they can still keep their kids in top shape in hopes of a sports scholarship.

Like Loza, Kentlands Community Foundation Director Bridget Ryder has noticed a focus on fitness for area kids. At press time, more than 40 kids were registered for the 2010 Kentlands/Lakelands 5K race Labor Day weekend, and Ryder expected that number to increase this year and in the years to come.

“Last year we had 138 registered in [the 14-and-under] age group, and 71 finished,” said Ryder.

In 2008, 65 racers in the 14-and-under category completed the race; looking back to 2006, only 54 ran the course.

The appeal of getting fit is finding its way to kids even if it doesn’t involve team sports. Henry Canova, a Kentlands resident and rising eighth grader at Lakelands Park Middle School, has completed three triathlons in the past year and has no plans to stop any time soon. “They’re fun,” he said, although admits he likes the biking and swimming segments more than the running segments.

In addition, last spring more than a dozen girls trained for a 5K two afternoons a week as part of the nationally organized Girls on the Run program. The program was sponsored by the Lakelands Park Middle School PTA and coached by parent volunteers. This fall Rachel Carson Elementary School will introduce the program to fourth and fifth grade girls as well.

Living in a walkable community adds to the ability to get fit, too, said Loza. “We’ve got parks and running trails all around us.”

Factor in basketball and tennis courts, skate spots and community swimming pools, and there are a lot of physical activity choices for local youth.

Kentlands and Lakelands also have a downtown, which supports the health aspects of living in a new urbanist community by opening the doors for area kids to transport themselves to the movies or to pick up a loaf of bread for their mom.

Hopping on their bikes to grab an ice cream treat or to trek to swim team practice offers a sense of freedom for Kentlands residents Noah and Tobias Whelan. “There’s lots of places to go; trails to ride on and stores to go to,” said Noah, who uses his bike as a regular form of transportation.

The brothers also understand the benefits to their health. “It’s a good workout,” said Tobias.

As kids focus on fitness for fun or for gain, Loza said it’s important to do it right. “We work on speed, agility, balance and injury prevention. I don’t want these kids to have trouble walking up the stairs in 20 years because they only used strength not technique.”

Understanding the importance of fitness throughout a lifetime is a lesson Loza takes time to instill in his clients, and while the Whelans and Canova see themselves staying fit now and as they grow older, they enjoy their downtime, too. “I love my X-Box,” said Canova.

Summer Scenes: Dan and Michon Frick take a break to cool their sons, Vaughn and Morrow, in their colorful Kentlands kiddie pool.

Bunny Rescue Operation

Take a walk in Lakelands or Quince Orchard Park this summer, and you may see a lot of bunnies hopping around.

“I constantly see bunnies,” said Lakelands resident Chris Neal. “We have a ton of big rabbits.”

Gaithersburg’s Animal Control Office Director Lisa Holland said an abundance of rabbits often means there are fewer foxes in the area.

On Memorial Day weekend, Neal and her three children Sammy, Bella and Emma learned of five newborn bunnies that were removed from a neighbor’s yard. When they were presented to her in a cardboard box, with their eyes still closed, she wasn’t sure what to do with them but she knew she didn’t want a fox or other predator to find them outside. The kids were especially protective.

“They were sad and lonely,” said Sammy (8 ½). Twins Bella and Emma (6) thought they were “cute and adorable.”

Neal said she learned it was important to keep the baby bunnies warm so the kids gathered grass, mulch and even tried to find some of the mother’s hair to create a natural setting in a fish tank for the bunnies. They also put a washcloth over the brownish-grey bunnies huddled together.

“Wild bunnies are totally scared,” said Neal. After taking in the bunnies, she did research and made calls to local vets and a local pet shop. “The majority will die from a heart attack.”

The Second Chance Wildlife Center agreed to take the newborn bunnies and nurture them until they could be released back to the wild, according to Neal who brought the kids with her to drop off the baby rabbits. She said the tiny bunnies weighed in at 66 grams, 50 grams and 55 grams.

Not surprisingly, the kids were “very sad” they couldn’t keep them, Neal said.

Two weeks later the bunnies were released to the wild, and the Neal family hopes they all lived.

“I said a prayer,” said Emma.

National Night Out

Kentlands and Quince Orchard Park are two of nine communities in Gaithersburg joining with more than 15,000 across the country to participate in the 27th Annual National Night Out (NNO) Against Crime campaign.

On Tuesday, August 3 from 6 to 9 p.m., participating neighborhoods will hold events to increase drug prevention awareness, generate support for anti-crime programs, encourage residents to be involved in their communities, and to send a message that neighborhoods are organized to fight back against crime. The NNO programs help bring together residents, law enforcement agencies, local officials, civic groups, and neighborhood organizations. 

Organizers say Child Identity kits will be distributed for home use, along with informational brochures.

Road Closures: A portion of Orchard Ridge Drive in Quince Orchard Park was closed for several days this month while WSSC crews worked to change the water/sewer service location. Gaithersburg Permits and Inspections Director Wes Burnette said residents may see more closures when the paving begins on the parking improvements in front of the Vistas development site. The photo rendition for the Lakelands cell phone tower is courtesy City of Gaithersburg.

Power Out

Pepco crews were called in to restore power to 14 residences without electricity on Hart Road and Booth Street in Kentlands without electricity on July 8 and 9.

This was the fourth time Pepco has attempted to fix the lines since they were first damaged by Verizon contractors installing FiOS lines earlier this year

Verizon crews have also been spotted laying FiOS feeder lines in the Quince Orchard Park and West Riding neighborhoods this month.

County Planning Director Launches Blog

To provide another opportunity for residents to have a voice in planning their communities, Montgomery County Planning Director Rollin Stanley has created a new blog that will highlight new ways of looking at growth.

The blog is posted at http://montgomeryplanning.org/blog-director/.

The webpage provides a forum for the director to share examples of strategies that work well in communities, from Silver Spring’s thriving downtown to public plazas in Vienna, Austria. Stanley will draw from his experiences at the helm of the county’s planning agency for the past two-and-a-half years and as the planning director of St. Louis, a planner in Toronto and a frequent traveler to some of the world’s most vibrant cities and communities.

The webpage encourages comment, providing residents who may not typically get engaged in community planning an opportunity to be heard.

The U.S. Geological Survey reports the epicenter was located one mile north of Gaithersburg in Germantown, although the rumbling was felt from Frederick to Washington, D.C.

Gaithersburg City Councilman Michael Sesma said the earthquake woke him up.

“Thought at first it was a sonic boom or an unusually low jet in very humid air but then realized what it was,” said Sesma.

Gaithersburg resident Tom Rowse said he thought it was a train.

“I thought a train derailed or stopped quickly as I live next to the tracks,” he said on The Town Courier’s Facebook page. “I then went outside and no train. Wow!”

Ellen Rutt was awake when the quaking began.

“The bed shook and things rattled on the tables in our bedroom,” Rutt said.

Rockville resident Debi Rosen said the earthquake woke her up too.

“I thought there was an explosion close to our home,” she said. “I turned on the news sure to hear of some catastrophe … and heard it was an earthquake.”

So far, there have been no reports of damage or injuries.

For more information, www.earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus

A skateboarder shows off his skills at the Lakelands skate spot, which officially opened last month. Skateboarders are required to wear helmets at the skate spots.

The long-awaited skate spots opened late last month at Lakelands Park (1368 Main Street) and Diamond Farm Park (857 Quince Orchard Boulevard), and from the look and sounds of the skateboarding action, both spots are already popular with local teens.

An official sign unveiling ceremony for the spots was held on June 29 at Lakelands Park.

At the event, Gaithersburg’s Youth Services Director Tim Smith brought some yellow helmets for kids to borrow if they wanted to skate because helmets are required for safety at the city’s skate sites.

Several teen members of the Skate Spot Ad Hoc Committee, who helped lobby for the new amenities, were handed scissors by city staffers at the ceremony so they could cut the official green city ribbon wrapped around the skate spot sign. The skaters were joined by Council members Jud Ashman and Cathy Drzyzgula, parents, other residents and two city staffers.

The youngest members of the city’s Skate Spot Ad Hoc Committee also have the honor of seeing their names on the official skate spot sign. The youth include: Issac Gerendasy, Taylor Moore, Grant Norwood, Spencer Nystrom, Drew Thompson, Peter Turley and Matt Wagner.

During her closing remarks, Parks, Recreation and Culture Director Michele Potter said the skate spots are a real example of how youth can get involved in local government and make something happen.

Ashman told the skaters to enjoy the spots and use them well so they can help make the case for the next one.

Although the spots are open for skating, Smith said more improvements are in the works for this fall, including plantings around both skate areas and a piece of art at the Diamond Farm Park spot.

In October 2009, the City Council approved a resolution earmarking $90,000 for construction of the skate spots.

The report identifies development and redevelopment projects elsewhere in the city and has a special section for Olde Towne.

“The planning report is based on selected planning events which took place in 2009,” said Planning and Code Administration Director Greg Ossont. “All projects are not necessarily mentioned.”

The city set aside $50,000 in last year’s budget for Kentlands charrette implementation
initiatives, but this goes unmentioned.

“It certainly is disappointing that the planning report doesn’t mention the charrette or the Kentlands Downtown,” said Paula Ross, president of the Kentlands Downtown Partnership (KDP). “The Planning Department coordinated the Kentlands commercial district charrette and forgets about it very easily when we don’t remind them.”

Planning Director Lauren Pruss first unveiled the report in draft form at the Gaithersburg Planning Commission’s May 19 meeting in order to ask the appointed officials for input and approval.

At that meeting, Planning Chair John Bauer asked the staff to “take some credit” for their work on the Great Seneca Science Corridor with Montgomery County officials and to tout the staff’s professional accomplishments. Both were added to the final report.

“I must acknowledge that some of my comments during the review of the draft did not specifically address state requirements but were items that I felt were important to highlight,” said Bauer. “As I understand it, the intent of the report is to provide the state an overall look at planning activity in the city for 2009.”

The four-page report begins with a statement on the city’s master plan: “During 2009, the city of Gaithersburg completed work on the 2003 Master Plan update. The primary goal of the 2003 Master Plan is to balance, on a citywide basis, the competing issues and interests that affect future growth and development patterns within the corporate limits of the city.”

In the development section, the report mentions the Residences at Hidden Creek and redevelopment plans by Keystone REI on South Frederick Avenue, the Wilson project redevelopment also on South Frederick Avenue, a redevelopment project at Orchard Pond apartments, Watkins Mill Town Center and Archstone Smith redevelopment plan in Olde Towne. There is no mention of the developing Vistas residential development in QOP, the rapidly growing MedImmune campus or the GE Tech property.

An entire section is devoted to Olde Towne and mentions a marketing event touting the city’s enterprise zone planned for the spring of 2010.

There are other sections in the report about the city’s new technology, environment, ordinances, transportation, community development and historic preservation.

“Without citing specifics, I am confident that the planning staff has thoroughly fulfilled the state’s requirements for the report,” Bauer said.

Schwarz said the city does not keep a log of the planning tours done over the years, but she recalls groups coming from places as far away as Korea, China and Canada and others from Nevada, Pennsylvania, Prince George’s County and Virginia.

“Our department has done tours for the American Planning Association and the Urban Land Institute as part of their national conferences held in Washington, D.C.,” said Schwarz. “Tours have also been done for groups such as local college classes, municipal/county officials and their department representatives, planning commissioners and developers.”

Schwarz was involved in three tours within the past year and two tours the year before.

“In my estimation, the number of tour requests has really gone down from five to 10 years ago,” said Schwarz.

City Council member Michael Sesma recently helped lead a city-wide tour of visiting officials who were in the Washington, D.C., area for a National League of Cities (NLC) committee meeting, and he said one visiting official was so taken away with the Kentlands neighborhood she wanted to know the residency requirements to run for city office here.

Schwarz said the Kentlands Community Foundation (KCF) and Duany, Plater- Zyberk & Company also provide tours of the Kentlands and Lakelands communities. “Some of the tours that the city has participated in are coordinated through either of their offices,” she said.

Both DPZ and KCF officials say tours remain popular with visitors.

In fact, the foundation recently redesigned the Docent Walking Tours of Kentlands brochure to include more photos and historical information providing visitors with the option of a self guided tour if they choose. According to the KCF’s annual report, docent-led walking tours are offered generally from spring to fall and include a 90-minute tour and talk of the new urbanism concept of Kentlands and the history and design principles behind the creation of the community.

For more information, www.kentlands.org.