The Montgomery County Planning Board voted unanimously in favor of approving the abandonment of a one-acre wooded lot near Falls Road, north of Potomac Village.
In abandonments, publicly owned land is ceded to adjoining property owners if the county determines that the land has no public use. The Planning Board will forward its recommendation to the County Council, which votes on abandonment cases. The board voted to support its staff's recommendation, which included the provision that a 20-foot right-of-way be preserved for future use as a bike path.
"This property really is just basically kind of an orphaned portion of the abandoned right of way for Ronald Drive," said Mark Viani of the law firm Linowes and Blocher, speaking on behalf of the applicant, Ahmad Habibi, who was present at the Planning Board meeting, and Lloyd Potter, the brother of former County Executive Neal Potter.
He added, "There was a public hearing held by Department of Public Works and Transportation one month ago today, Dec. 13, that was heavily noticed. Present at that hearing was DPWT staff and the applicants. There was no comment whatsoever from the public on this."
However, the sign providing public notification of the DPWT hearing had provided the wrong date. The sign, on the west side of Falls road, said the hearing would be Dec. 31.
"It doesn't seem as though that would provide adequate notice to people," said County Councilmember Steve Silverman (D-At Large) of the posting error. "For many people this is the only notice that anybody sees."
"They shouldn't have had the hearing. They should have re-posted the sign with another hearing date if they weren't going to do it on Dec. 31," Silverman said. "It seems as if there's a sign that has date on it they ought to be held accountable."
In an interview after the Planning Board meeting, Viani said that notification about public hearings is the responsibility of DPWT.
In conversation with Planing Board staff after the meeting, Habibi discussed the possibility of subdividing the property to build two or more new homes, but declined to comment on his plans in an interview.