An at-large Council candidates forum on Wednesday night brought out some sharp distinctions and strong views on the development and transportation issues facing Bethesda and Chevy Chase.
The forum, organized by the various towns and villages of Chevy Chase, pitted Marc Elrich — the lone member of Council to vote against the Chevy Chase Lake Sector Plan — against his Planning Committee colleagues Nancy Floreen and George Leventhal.
“I think we’ve gotten overly focused on who might move here in 2040 and not paid enough attention to the quality of life for the people who live here now,” Elrich said.
At one point, it even pitted Leventhal against forum moderator Charles Duffy, who asked how the county’s infrastructure could support approved development and later if the county’s tax rates are forcing residents to move elsewhere.
To Leventhal, those questions outlined mutually exclusive concepts.
“I am accustomed to being sort of hit from both sides,” Leventhal said later.
In a room of about 80 people, many from Chevy Chase who are wary or outright opposed to the Purple Line and development such as that approved at Chevy Chase Lake, Leventhal’s responses often prompted murmurs from the crowd.
“There is a disconnect between complaining about not having infrastructure for a growing population and saying we shouldn’t have any Purple Line,” Leventhal said. “If you believe that no one should use the Purple Line to travel north-south, absolutely you should vote for Robert Dyer.”
Dyer is the Republican at-large Council candidate who earlier in the forum claimed the planned light rail system won’t do anything to solve the county’s commuter congestion woes.
“The truth is, people in Chevy Chase will take one stop to the west and take the Red Line from Bethesda to D.C. It will be a massive help, including to the folks in Chevy Chase who I understand are concerned,” Leventhal said. “In the long run it’s going to be a great convenience. It’s going to make everybody’s commute easier.”
Leventhal continued on to say he would take the Purple Line from his home in Takoma Park to connect to the west side of the Red Line for his commute to Rockville.
As Elrich talked about the county’s “unrealistic” approach to traffic tests in regards to the development approved for Chevy Chase Lake, Leventhal asked Elrich if he supports the Purple Line.
“Are you the inquisitor again? You serve that role well,” Elrich shot back.
Before an impromptu Planning Committee session broke out, incumbent and Planning Committee Chair Nancy Floreen stepped in.
“We have transit people and we have choice riders. There’s a limit to what government can do,” Floreen said. “Do you want us to get the state to add lanes to all the state roads? That is the issue.”
If Leventhal served as the lightning rod, incumbent Hans Riemer and challenger Beth Daly largely stayed out of the fray. Daly is seen as the chief challenger for one of the four at-large seats in June’s Democratic primary. All four incumbents are running.
Democrat Vivian Malloy, who didn’t offer much in the way of specifics on Wednesday, is also running. Dyer, the author of a blog focused on Bethesda and maker of this 15-minute campaign video, will be on the November ballot as a Republican.
Tim Willard, a Green party candidate, spoke on Wednesday mainly about what he sees as a coming energy crisis in part due to continued growth in Montgomery County.
Daly began by talking about her graduation about a year ago from Emerge Maryland, a group that trains and promotes women candidates for local elected office. Susan Turnbull, a longtime party activist who helps run the group, asked Daly if she’d be interested in running for a House of Delegates seat in this year’s primary.
“I said, ‘No, I’m going to run for County Council.’ I feel like our county is growing incredibly fast,” Daly said. “We need a new voice on the County Council to make sure we grow in a sustainable way.”
Daly emphasized her role in the beginnings of the movement to limit development at Clarksburg’s Ten Mile Creek. She also questioned the Council’s decisions on Chevy Chase Lake, and said she agreed with Elrich on land use issues at least twice.
“To me that signifies that the County Council is not listening to residents,” Daly said. “I wonder why that happened. I’m not no-growth, but let’s do it in a sustainable way.”
Riemer countered by pointing out that what passed the County Council was not the larger development first recommended by the Planning Board. The Council lowered the allowed building height for a high-rise building planned for Connecticut Avenue and the Purple Line.
“The Purple Line will be there in that location,” Riemer said. “It is necessary to not have new development not carving up places like Ten Mile Creek. We need to figure out where we can accommodate it where we can support it.”
Elrich responded by saying the Council only made the Chevy Chase Lake Sector Plan “trivially less dense.”
“I thought the Chevy Chase Lake Plan was a farce,” Elrich said, which elicited applause from the crowd.
