Community Liaison Council Meeting Minutes
September 20, 2007, 3:45-6:00 p.m.
Visitor Information Center, Building 45 (Natcher Building)
Conference Room D
National Institutes of Health

CVIF Tour

Participants met at 3:45 and took a shuttle bus to the Commercial Vehicle Inspection Facility (CVIF). NIH Police Chief Hinton welcomed the group. Lt. Kittrel conducted a walk-through of the facility, accompanied by Chief Hinton and Maj. Haynes. Since the Gazette had printed stories on neighborhood concerns about CVIF appearance and traffic impact, a reporter was invited and was also in attendance.

Equipment (cameras, monitors, mirrors, detectors, obstacles, etc) and procedures (guards interfacing with drivers and performing visual inspections; explosive detection dogs; communication channels established with federal, state and county agencies; continuous training – a seminar was actually going on in the conference room, etc) were summarized without going into details that could compromise the operation. Some delivery trucks (among some 500 said to be processed each week day) were observed going through the facility.

The size, robust construction, and appearance of the building necessarily reflect its purpose, as opposed to being any kind of architectural statement by NIH. Increased screening is being pursued, but new plantings await wetter and cooler Fall or Winter weather more conducive to their survival. As a result of the tour, participants have a better understanding of the CVIF purpose, design and operation.
Call to Order & Announcements

Call to Order & Announcements—Dennis Coleman, OCL Director, CLC Co-Chair

Mr. Coleman opened the regular session at 5:05 with 2 announcements:

• The Bethesda Urban Partnership is sponsoring musical entertainment at the Metro station between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. on the following 2 Fridays.
• The NIH Research Festival will be held on September 25 through 27. It is open to the public.
  

Facilities—Ron Wilson, Acting Director, Division of Facilities Planning, ORF

Streetscape planning (NIH frontage along SR355): Mr. Wilson said his office is trying to find FY2007 funding to start the Route 355 Streetscape Project this fiscal year, although funding the study may have to be put off until FY2008. The study’s Scope of Work calls for the contractor to periodically brief the CLC as the study progresses. The firm that has been identified to lead the work is Rhodeside and Harwell, a landscape architecture firm which is part of DFP’s master planning team. The final plan will eventually be the basis of a campus Master Plan amendment that NIH will submit to National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) for review.

Inspection tent: The inspection tent at Convent and Center Drive has been scheduled for removal. At the same time the road will be resurfaced. ORF is developing a contract mechanism that will combine work in the area to make the changes more seamless and less costly.

Porter Neuroscience Center, Phase 2—Jeff Welter, Higgins Development Partners:
Mr. Welter reported on noise management improvements to be incorporated in the Phase 2 design of the Porter Neuroscience Research Center. The final design will be submitted to NCPC by September 28 and NCPC action is expected in November. When the preliminary design was reviewed some months ago, NCPC had no issues in terms of the building’s design.

Mr. Welter, Project Manager for the Phase 2 project, noted that noise levels from the Phase 1 building exceed what was originally planned. A new engineer has been engaged to incorporate lessons learned into Phase 2, especially those concerning vibration and noise. The Phase 2 building is the same height above ground as Phase 1, but Phase 2 is not a perimeter building facing the neighborhoods. It fronts on Lincoln Drive, facing south, but is directly connected and functionally integrated with the Phase 1 building.

Montgomery County noise standards restrict outside noise levels to 65 dBA during daytime and 55 dBA at night. NIH plans to lower noise from Phase 2 to achieve a noise reduction of 10 dBA (i.e. 55 dBA day/45 dBA night) below the County standard. This represents a significant (~50%) reduction in loudness as perceived by the human ear.

Most of the infrastructure for Phase 2 is already in place as a result of Phase 1 (e.g., power, water, sewer, communications), so servicing the building with utilities should not require much disturbance beyond the site. Mr. Welter showed a design comparison for Phase 1 and Phase 2. The Phase 2 plan provides for greater noise control as follows:

• Acoustic computer modeling during design process.
• Louvers will be installed on the south and north face.
• Centrifugal exhaust fans will be within a fully enclosed and insulated penthouse.
• 14 exhaust fans in the enclosed penthouse will be centrifugal, as opposed to the louder axial type.
• Sound-attenuating silencers will be used on both inlet and outlet sides of all exhaust fans.
• Silencer performance will be factory tested.
• Prescriptive sound commissioning and on-site testing of installed equipment prior to operation.
• Air handling units and exhaust fans have been selected in part on their low dBA levels.
• Acoustic exterior louver performance will be validated on-site.

Mr. Schofer asked if the same HVAC design contractor would be used in Phase 2 as was used in Phase 1. Mr. Welter said the same general contractor will be used, but construction of the mechanical equipment will be put out to competitive bid. The architect for Phase 2 is different from the one used in Phase 1.

Mr. Schofer asked whether, when doing the modeling, NIH took into account existing noise from Phase 1 to see how it combined with Phase 2. Mr. Welter said that the computer model has not yet been validated, but the measurements obviously include Phase 1 noise and if design goals are met, Phase 2 will be quiet enough that it will not add significantly to Phase 1 noise. Mr. Coleman reminded the group that the noise consultant (Colin Gordon) had confirmed this fact when he said that 55 dBA + 45 dBA = 55 dBA.

Mr. Sawicki asked whether the periodic booming noise from Phase 1 safety relief valves indicated an ongoing problem. Mr. Welter said that the sound indicates the safety system works, but its frequency has not been addressed. For Phase 2, the design team will look at issues that cause the valves to lift; place them elsewhere on the building, or redirect them. Mr. Coleman noted that the boom now occurs every 8 to 9 weeks and that Dr. Eisen (Edgewood Glenwood Citizens Association) had asked to borrow OCL’s noise meter to measure the noise. He also intends to photograph the visible plume that occasionally can be seen.

Transportation—Tom Hayden, Director Travel & Transportation Division, ORS

Visitor Volume Relative to Parking Places: Mr. Hayden presented information on the number of visitors (i.e. vehicles parked in visitors’ lots) between June 1 and August 31. The total number of visitor vehicles was about 38000, which is ~13,000 per month, or about 620 per day. Most vehicles are associated with patient visits. Lot 4A, the lot under the CRC, and the lot near Building 50 are the main patient parking areas. The lots near Natcher and NLM are for non-patient visitors, and MLP8 is a mix of patients and non-patients. The new 350 car Gateway Center parking facility will soon be able to accommodate non-patient visitors outside the fence.

Mr. Schofer noted that the data presented broadly relates parking spaces and visitors, but to determine whether a total of 700 or 800 visitor parking spaces is adequate, one has to know something about typical patient and non-patient turnaround times. Mr. Hayden said he would look into this question.

Brad Moss added that a pilot study is underway for the Cedar Lane entrance to be open for patients and patient visitors until 7:00 PM (instead of 3:00 PM). The visitors’ entrance on Old Georgetown Road takes pedestrians.

Temporary Parking Lots: Mr. Hayden showed a map of the temporary lots and their removal status. All but part of one temporary lot built to accommodate construction in recent years have been removed from the buffer zone. 27 spaces were retained for police vehicles between Building 31 and the North fenceline. The Master Plan calls for the large lot 41 on the south side of the campus to eventually be replaced with a parking garage entirely inside the 250 foot buffer area.

Mr. Sawicki said that there is a large vacant space now inside the fence that NIH will never use and that the public used to use before the fence. He wondered if the fence could be rolled back to allow public use again. Mr. Klepetch said, that in addition to a neighborhood buffer zone, NIH facilities need a standoff zone, intended to enable buildings to withstand blast pressure from explosions that could be set off along the fence line. This standoff zone in this case must remain because it is intended to protect the future animal facility and parking garage. The only option to a standoff zone is to harden buildings at great expense. Mr. Coleman felt that the discussion was proceeding without sufficient understanding of the subject matter. Mr. Wilson will bring maps of future Master Plan phases to a future meeting.

Pedestrian crossing: State Highway Administration contractors have sunk footers on Old Georgetown Road. Last week there was a major backup to Pooks Hill Road because the state was laying conduit and still is. The state would like to get the area restored for bicyclists. Eventually there will be a pedestrian cross walk at the intersection of route 355 and Wilson, but progress has been slower than expected.

BRAC: Mr. Hayden is trying to get a state highway representative to give a presentation on what’s the plan to accommodate the thousands of additional vehicles trips expected from new workers and outpatients accessing the Navy base, including the construction/renovation workers expected to start in mid-2008.

Stormwater retention pond: As the stormwater-retention pond project near the Library of Medicine moves forward next year, the number of trucks on local roads could temporarily increase by a significant number. According to last year’s County staff presentation to the CLC, the amount of fill estimated for removal is ~20000 cubic yards. At 10 cubic yards per dump truck, this represents ~2000 truck loads. The County is responsible for this project, even though it occupies NIH property. NIH will participate with County staff in project coordination meetings closer to the start date. Mr. Hayden will report on the transportation plan and request that dump truck operators not use their “jake breaks.”

Special Projects—Tony Clifford, Chief Engineer, ORF

Adjournment

Mr. Coleman adjourned the meeting at 6:10. The next meeting is October 18, 2007.

Attendance

CLC Members Present
Ginny Miller, Wyngate
Willie Antman, West Bethesda Park
Marian Bradford, Camelot Mews
Jean Harnish, Whitehall Condominium
Darrell Lemke, Bethesda Parkview
Deborah Michaels, Glenbrook Village
George Oberlander, Huntington Parkway
Lucy Ozarin, Whitehall Condominium
Stephen Sawicki, Edgewood Glenwood
Ralph Schofer, Maplewood
Lesley Hildebrand, Huntington Terrace
Nancy Hoos, Sonoma
Eleanor Rice, Locust Hill

Liaison Representatives
Kira Lueders, NIH Alumni

NIH Staff Present
Dennis Coleman, OCL
Anthony Clifford, OCL
Tom Hayden, ORS
Sharon Robinson, CLC
Ronald Wilson, ORFDO
Brad Moss, ORS
Howard Hochman, ORFDO
Louis Klepetch, ORS,SER,DPSM

Guests
Joan Kleinman, Chris Can Hollen’s Office
Beth Volz, Locust Hill Civic Association
Joseph Erchenian, JE Jacobs
Jeffrey Welter, Higgins Development Partners
Audrey Dutton, The Gazette

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