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Community Liaison Council Meeting
Minutes
February 17, 2005, 4:00–6:00 p.m.
National Library of Medicine, Visitor Center, Room 38A
National Institutes of Health
HANDOUTS
- Next Steps in the NIH Master Plan 2003 Update/EIS Process
- Map of NIH Leased Facilities
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Dr. Tom Gallagher, Director, Office of Community Liaison
(OCL), Office of the Director (OD), National Institutes of
Health (NIH) and Co-Chair, Community Liaison Council (CLC),
welcomes the group and apologizes for the cancellation of
the January CLC meeting. He explains that there was some confusion
with the room reservation and the inauguration holiday. Dr.
Gallagher introduces and welcomes, Ann Tomkinson to the CLC.
The December 9, 2004 meeting minutes are provided for all
attendees and approved.
- OCL is planning our next Share the Health Exposition on
Sunday, May 15, 2005.
- NIH ethics issues will be discussed at the next CLC meeting
on March 17, 2005.
PRESENTATIONS
Master Plan 2003 Update and Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS)
By Ronald Wilson, Master Planner, Division of Facilities
Planning, Office of Research Facilities Development and Operations
(ORFDO), OD, NIH
Mr. Ron Wilson has everyone refer to his handout, entitled
NIH Master Plan 2003 Update/EIS Process. Since the
last CLC meeting in December there have been some changes
to the process. The Montgomery County Planning Board (MCPB)
was supposed to originally review the NIH campus master plan
and the two security projects (commercial vehicle inspection
facility and gateway center) on December 16, 2004. That meeting
was postponed by M-NCPPC to December 23, 2004, and that meeting
was also postponed. The planning staff stated that their agenda
was full. On January 6, 2005 NIH received a Draft letter from
MCPB staff stating (1) their recommendation was that the National
Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) approves the NIH master
plan with two conditions and (2) that the Commission not approve
the two security projects. On the January 6, 2005, the NCPC
approved the 2003 Master Plan Update as well as the two security
projects. Neither NIH nor NCPC has received a copy of the
official letter from the MCPB, to date. The Commission has
two recommendations for NIH and those are (1) to prepare a
forest conservation plan and (2) to revisit the employee-parking
ratio in light of to a recent change that NCPC has made for
federal installations with metro rail stations across the
DC suburbs.
NIH will follow the NCPC's recommendations, in addition to
incorporating all submitted comments to the EIS. This process
should be completed by the end of February. Once the changes
have been made to the Master Plan and the draft EIS, we will
publish a final EIS, which is required to have a 30-day waiting
period. After the 30-day waiting period, NIH will issue a
Record of Decision. This Record of Decision states what actions
NIH intends to take. There is a 30-day waiting period for
the Record of Decision and once that time elapses, NIH will
publish the Final Master Plan. These are the steps that are
expected to take place during the next couple of months.
Mr. Ralph Schofer asks Mr. Wilson about the status of the
planning board not liking some of NIH's response to some of
their comments in 2003. Mr. Wilson replied that the planning
board had various comments and NIH took those comments immediately
after receipt (in February of 2003) and began working on those
issues. We prepared the draft EIS and the draft Master Plan
that went out for public review, incorporating changes that
the planning board had recommended. NIH did in fact respond
to the comments that the planning board had presented in February
of 2003, and those changes were highlighted in a memo to both
the planning board and the commission that described point
by point how we were responding to their comments. That material
was submitted to the NCPC prior to their January 6, 2005 approval
decision. We hope to have this entire process wrapped up by
April.
Debbie Michaels asked Mr. Wilson about what has happened
to the two security projects that were not originally approved
by MCPB, Mr. Wilson responded that NCPC approved the master
plan and the two projects in their January 6, 2005 meeting.
Another committee member asked Mr. Wilson about the status
of the forest conservation plan and the parking ratio and
whether those items will be included in the final Master Plan
Update. The commission has asked NIH to prepare a forest conservation
plan, and we are working on that now. We are expecting a final
of that plan within six months, maybe less. In terms of the
parking ratio, NIH advised the commission that NIH is willing
to consider revising our transportation management plan to
address the issues that the commission had with the parking
ratio. As far as federal government installations, NIH is
considered by the commission to be the "standard"
when it comes to transportation management and traffic control.
Nevertheless, the commission has encouraged all regional federal
agencies to cut down on parking and NIH is looking into other
options outside of the parking ratio.
Mr. Ralph Schofer asked Mr. Wilson what those other options
are or may be. Mr. Wilson replied that some transportation
alternatives, such as increasing Transhare participation (metro
payment program sponsored by the federal government) and telecommuting
(alternate work sites) are being looked into as a way to further
reduce the number of trips employees make to NIH instead of
actual parking spaces.
One council member asked Mr. Wilson what the ratio is that
NIH is trying to achieve. Mr. Wilson responded that NCPC's
original desired NIH ratio is .50 or one parking space for
every two employees, now their vision is to reduce it to 0.33,
or one space for every three employees. This is a recent ratio
change and NCPC has stated that they will review each federal
agency's needs on a case-by-case basis. They do recognize
the unique situation that NIH is in.
The current Transhare program that is in place now, offers
employees $105.00 a month per person towards metro fares,
and has approximately 5,000 NIH participants. Ms. Stella Serras-Fiotes
tells the committee about an article she recently read in
the paper that talked about a transportation survey taken
in the DC metro area. Out of the surveyed commuters, 76% of
regional workers drive their personal vehicles to work, while
only 52% of NIH workers drive their personal vehicles to work.
Mr. Wilson briefly mentions an issue that came up during
the CLC agenda meeting, which was to provide the council with
more information about other NIH facilities located in Montgomery
County. Mr. Wilson provided each member of the council with
a handout, which outlines these facilities, including our
Poolesville, Maryland campus, in both a table and map form.
NIH has three main clusters of leased spaces, which are Rock
Spring, Twinbrook and Executive Boulevard. There are a few
"scattered" facilities located at the bottom of
the table provided. In our 2004 totals we are showing 3.4
million square feet of leased space. Across the region, including
the Bethesda, Baltimore, North Carolina, Montana and Frederick
campuses, NIH has 17 million square feet of workspace. On
the NIH Bethesda campus there is approximately 10 million
square feet of workspace and facilities.
Dr. Gallagher asked Mr. Wilson if he knows anything about
the rumor that NIH is moving staff over to the FDA building
in Rockville once FDA staff moves out. FDA occupies the laboratory
space at the Twinbrook/Parklawn location that could be used
by NIH, since its design is similar to NIH facilities. FDA
also uses three buildings on the campus. One and a half of
those buildings could be used my NIH staff once they move
out. Mr. Randy Schools informs the council that he was in
a meeting today with FDA and he learned that since the building
has such a low rent cost, FDA is interested in keeping the
Twinbrook/Parklawn space for their staff. Mr. Schools asked
the facility management team of FDA how long they were looking
to stay in the Twinbrook/Parklawn building and he was told
that FDA is looking to stay there for the long term, more
than their previous estimate of six years. Ms. Serras-Fiotes
informed the council that she has been informed by the Department
that they will be vacating that space and FDA moving to White
Oak.
UPDATES
By Stella Serras-Fiotes, Director, Division of Facilities
Planning, ORFDO, OD, NIH
Co-Generation Unit Fire
On January 6, 2005 a fire began in NIH's co-generation unit
of our power plant. The fire department was able to contain
the fire immediately and the oil that leaked was contained
within the parameters of the building and no oil was released
during the incident. No abnormal air emissions were experienced
during this accident and the Maryland State Department of
the Environment was notified of the incident. The good news
is that no one was hurt during this incident and no environmental
release occurred. The bad news is that our unit is down and
will be down for several months. In fact, the compressor and
the power turbine were removed on January 29, 2005 and were
shipped back to Sweden, where they originated. A root cause
analysis will be conducted, the appropriate repairs will be
made, and a liability risk assessment will be done so that
we don't run the risk of having such an incident occur again.
Pepco has provided NIH with two temporary boilers, which are
now on line to pick up the load for the co-generation unit.
These boilers were commissioned on February 11, 2005. We are
waiting for the first report from Sweden sometime in March
and NIH will be in discussion with them regarding repairs
and scheduled date of returning the unit.
Northwest Parking Garage
To update the council on the northwest parking garage project
that experienced the collapse, Ms. Serras-Fiotes states that
NIH had KCE engineers working on analyzing the structural
integrity of the remaining structure. This group is highly
respected in this area and these engineers analyzed the Pentagon
and its structural integrity after the September 11th attack.
KCE's report after field investigation, notes that the remaining
structure safely supports the garage. They have not yet determined
the cause of the failure, but they have made decisions about
the structural elements that do need to be replaced. The analysis
did not indicate any problems with the design of the pre-cast
elements, and so the pre-cast elements have continued to be
manufactured per the specifications. Construction has just
recently re-started and we are expecting the project will
be completed by this summer, which will only put us four to
five months behind our original completion date.
Northeast Corner Construction (Cedar Lane and Rockville
Pike corner)
There is some construction occurring in the northeast corner
of the campus outside of the fence, which is not related to
the Building 33 construction. This construction is for a combined
sanitary manhole, which will be used as a monitoring station
for our sanitary sewer system. It is all housed underground.
The work started late last year and should be completed by
June or July of this year, and then that area will be cleaned
up.
NIH Perimeter Shuttle
Ms. Serras-Fiotes gives the council an update on the usage
of the perimeter shuttle. She states that the usage of the
perimeter shuttle has been slowly growing throughout the last
year. It is used more in the winter months, and less in the
spring and summer months. It has been running about 50-70
riders a day, and that number has been pretty consistent with
past ridership. Although the service is used, the numbers
have not really increased, but it is being used. The shuttle
makes a run every seventeen minutes between 7 am and 7 pm.
Rockville Pike
Ms. Serras-Fiotes also mentions another construction project
located along Rockville Pike, which is the vacant employee
parking lot that has stored the salvaged pieces from the collapsed
parking garage for several months now. Those pieces will be
removed any day now so that we can begin construction on March
1, 2005, on the Commercial Vehicle Inspection Station, which
will be located there. This project will take approximately
12 months to complete and should be fully functioning in March
of 2006.
Gateway Center Parking Garage
The main Gateway Visitor Center's underground parking garage
construction project will begin a few months after the Commercial
Vehicle Inspection Station project begins. That puts us into
an estimated start date of May or June of 2005.
Noise Abatement Plan—Building 37
There was a technical analysis done on Building 37 and the
conclusion was that they were going to add noise mitigation
silencers to ease the noise. Those pieces have been ordered
and are expected to arrive by the end of March 2005. Those
pieces are expected to be installed in the first few weeks
of April 2005. After installation, NIH plans to follow-up
noise sampling and analysis toward the end of April, once
the pieces have been installed so we can see the results of
these silencers. Based on current studies, there will be a
noticeable reduction in noise from Building 37.
Questions on These Issues
Mr. Schofer asks how many construction workers are on the
NIH campus each day. Ms. Serras-Fiotes replies that there
are approximately 300 workers here, for both the Building
33 project and miscellaneous construction projects. That number
has decreased from a previous count of 800-900 workers a day
when the Clinical Research Center and the Neuroscience Center
were under construction. Mr. Schofer informs Ms. Serras-Fiotes
that construction workers are parking in his neighborhood
streets and in other neighborhoods. Mr. Schofer suggests to
the council that NIH permit the workers to park at the Grosvenor
Metro Station, (near Strathmore) as a way to alleviate this
parking problem and free up the neighborhoods. Ms. Serras-Fiotes
replies that the metro station will not rent NIH blocks of
parking spots to do this.
Dr. Gallagher addresses the issue by stating that there are
around 60 or 70 spaces on the NIH campus that the contractors
can purchase on a month-to-month plan. Contractors are not
interested in alternative parking because it is usually further
away from their job site and if they can park legally on a
side street that is a five minute walk, which is what they
are going to do. Dr. Gallagher mentions that the only avenue
that has been used in some of these parking issues in the
neighborhoods is to get those streets zoned for 2-3 hour parking
limits. Homeowners can get a county parking permit that allows
them to park there, but all others can only park in those
areas for 2-3 hours. Montgomery County is working to implement
these parking restrictions for communities that are interested.
They have cut the application process down from approximately
six months to sixty days. Dr. Gallagher informs the council
that NIH is doing all it can to help this situation, but a
public street is a public street and legally, there is not
much that we can do to stop it. We are adding stronger language
into the contracts in hopes that may help alleviate the problem.
By Robert McDonald, Project Manager, P-NRC, DCPM/ORF
Noise Abatement Plan and Update for Building 35
Mr. Robert McDonald, the Project Director for the Porter
Neuroscience Research Center (Building 35) has come to speak
to the group today about the noise abatement plan for the
Porter Building. He begins by apologizing to the council for
the noise that the building has been making. The building
is located off of Old Georgetown Road on the Southwest side
of the campus. When the building was designed, it was intended
to use materials that would not add to the noise of the campus.
Although every precaution was taken, and calculations were
prescribed to control the noise, there was an unexpected airflow
that created the noise that you now hear. The did not expect
a noise to come off of the surface of the fans, particularly
through a fabric connection between the stacks above, the
ductworks below, and the fans, which spin and create a vibration.
Those fabric connections were intended to keep the vibration
and noise off of the stack above and out the ductwork inside
of the building. Unfortunately, these fabric connectors allow
too much noise escape into the atmosphere and that is what
is heard. We had intended all along to build a cover over
these stacks when Phase II of the construction project began.
Due to the increased levels of noise, the issue will be addressed
immediately. This noise abatement project will also cover
the stacks as intended in the original design of the building.
The project will begin in approximately two weeks and will
end in May of 2005.
Mr. Ralph Schofer asked Mr. McDonald why the stacks were
not originally put on the building. Mr. McDonald replied that
they were a part of the construction Phase II, but that had
been delayed. The sound absorbent panels are an inside liner
for the stacks that are made up of a combination of fiberglass
and a packing material. Since they are not made of steel,
the possibility of noise escaping again has greatly diminished.
With both Building 37 and 35 silenced, noise should not be
noticeable at all. There will not be as much of an improvement
after Building 37 is silenced, but there will be a dramatic
difference after Building 35 is silenced in addition to Building
37. In conclusion, the problem that currently exists will
be controlled by May of 2005.
By Tony Clifford, NIH Chief Engineer, OD, ORF
Update on South Lawn Project
Construction has begun on this project and there is a large
chain-link fence around the South lawn area. There has been
a lot of inclement weather (rain, snow, and ice) lately, which
has prevented the contractor from continuing the work on the
lawn. Once the land dries out, construction will begin again.
We will be replanting trees once the lawn rejuvenation project
has been completed.
OTHER DISCUSSION ITEMS
We had some flooding occurring by the end of the road way/walking
path. The rainwater was caught up over storm water drain.
Mr. Lynn Muller, Director of NIH's Ground and Maintenance
activities took care of the problem.
Mr. Clifford informs the community how council member Mr.
Harvey Eisen identified a water drainage issue and brought
it to his attention. There is a small triangle shaped piece
of land in the Southwest corner of our campus that the county
owns, and this land has an outflow of storm water that actually
comes out onto that piece of county land. The drainage sends
the collected water through a filter process to remove large
debris, and then it is funneled into the Chesapeake Bay. When
we have large amounts of water, the filter process gets backed
up, and then the water migrates out onto the South lawn. In
response to this problem, NIH has designed our South lawn
project to include a capture-site drain very close to where
that water collects. Mr. Eisen recently contacted Mr. Clifford
via letter to ask if NIH is going to connect the two drainage
sites, and the answer to that question is no. NIH cannot connect
to the drainage simply because the land is county owned, and
more importantly, it is not in the best interest of the environment
to capture rainwater and pipe it into the Chesapeake. It is
best to funnel that water back into the ground and after careful
environmental analysis that is how NIH is going to respond
in this case. This extra step is another reason why this project
is taking a little longer to complete, but the issue is being
taken care of.
Dr. Lucy Ozarin mentions that by the west opening in the
security gate along the south perimeter there has also been
a pool of water collecting by a new house that is being built.
This water flows across the perimeter path. Mr. Tony Clifford
said that NIH would look into that since the builder must
follow strict county and environmental rules. Mr. Clifford
will have NIH's Environmental team take a look at the situation.
Mr. Clifford has asked the council to inform us of any concerns
or issues like this one that they see. They can contact the
Office of Community Liaison and we will forward on the comment
to the appropriate source.
One council member stated that the fence along the West side
of NIH's campus has rusted out. She is interested to find
out if NIH is going to replace that rusty old fence, or not.
Mr. Clifford replied that since the fence in question is very
visible, he would have crews take a look at it.
Mr. Schofer informs Mr. Clifford that he has noticed the
guardrail at Cedar Lane and Wisconsin Avenue needs to be replaced
or repaired. He also states that he hopes the sycamore trees
located on the South lawn, where the regrading project is
occurring, will be preserved. Mr. Clifford responds that the
project will actually help to extend their life.
Dr. Gallagher wants to make a comment about the exterior
chain link fence areas along the south side of the compound.
It is NIH's intention to leave the fence there.
Mr. Randy Schools wants to announce that on March 23rd, NIH's
Recreation and Welfare (R&W) Foundation hosts a big event
at the MCI center. This is the evening where we do the premier
night at the Barnum and Bailey Circus, and we always invite
members of the community. It is a free event. Another event
that NIH R&W is hosting is a special event at Strathmore
Hall, featuring the Baltimore Symphonic at the end of April.
This event is offered to community members at a substantial
discount of 20-25% off admission costs.
Dr. Gallagher has asked Mr. Schools about the future location
of NIH's annual summer film festival. The land that is used
behind Strathmore Hall has been sold to a developer, but we
are assured that for the next few of years, we will have access
to that land for our event. There will be some modifications
to those plans, to accommodate NIH's film festival in that
space and then it will most likely be moved to another site
in the county, such as Montgomery College off of Rockville
Pike.
Mr. David Dabney asks about a previously leased GSA building
in downtown Bethesda at the Wisconsin/Commerce intersection
that NIH at one time occupied. He asks if it is a possibility
that we will occupy that space again. Ms. Serras-Fiotes replies
that no, it is a GSA building and we are out of that lease.
He also asks about the status of the storm water management
system in the Woodmont area. Ms. Serras-Fiotes replies that
she will have an update and will address that issue at the
next CLC meeting. Mr. Dabney asks another quick question regarding
trees located in the park at the Woodmont Triangle. He has
noticed that there are some big trees that have some markings
on them that appear to indicate that they are marked to be
taken down. His question is to clarify what those markings
represent.
The conversation now turns to the homeless community that
has been living in that space. It was suggested that community
members call the non-emergency police department number when
dealing with this issue. Officers will respond to the area
as soon as they can, but please realize that there is little
they can do because they can get the folks to leave, but they
return the next day, or the day after that.
Ms. Debbie Michaels asks another question about the upcoming
Gateway Visitors Center project. She is interested in clarifying
whether or not the center is the same building and location
that was presented to the CLC months ago. Mr. Ron Wilson responds
to her question and states that yes, it is the same building
and location that was previously presented to the CLC. She
presents her concern over the underground Visitor Parking
garage and NIH's security plans for that building. Ms. Michaels
is very concerned about vehicles being able to enter the garage
without having to go through any type of inspection or security
measures. Ms. Serras-Fiotes responds that the garage is located
underground and away from any buildings, so the threat of
a terrorist incident or a security breach will not be a problem.
The garage will only be open and operated during regular business
hours and it will be a pay as you go service.
Dr. Gallagher asks Ms. Ginny Miller how Suburban Hospital
dealt with their homeless population issue in their parking
garage at night. Ms. Miller responds that she notified Suburban's
security team and they cleaned up the problem. For a short
while, the transients were panhandling the doctors and staff
in the parking lot, but that problem has since ceased. Ms.
Miller also notes that she believes that the problem at Suburban
was not as great as the one here at NIH and the Woodmont Triangle
area.
Someone asks if legislation can be created to prohibit this
behavior. Mr. Dabney replies that there is a draft legislative
bill on the table addressing this issue, but he is not sure
what the status of that bill is. The bill will also address
the individuals who sell flowers and other items at and on
the street corners.
Mr. Schofer asks if there are any other identified future
locations for NIH parking garages to be constructed. Ms. Serras-Fiotes
replies that yes, in the long-rang Master Plan there are a
several envisioned parking structures. Realistically, in the
next five to seven years, that she does not think another
one will be built.
Ms Lesley Hildebrand has a question concerning the west pedestrian
entrance and when that will be constructed. Ms. Serras-Fiotes
replies that the structure at this time is a trailer and she
does not have an update on that project at this time, due
to the delay on operating the perimeter fence. Dr. Gallagher
adds that he will notify the community at least 30-days prior
to the activation of the perimeter security fence.
OTHER DISCUSSION ITEMS
The formal meeting ended at 5:45 p.m.
ACTION ITEMS
Add NIH ethics issues and updates to the next CLC meeting
agenda.
CLC Members Present
Anthony Clifford, ORFDO, OD, NIH
W. David Dabney, Bethesda Urban Partnership
Tom Gallagher, Ph.D., OCL, OD, NIH
Jeanne Goldstein, Montgomery County Civic Federation
Lesley Hildebrand, Huntington Terrace Citizens Association
Darrell Lemke, Ph.D., Parkview Citizens Association
Marilyn Mazuzan, Town of Oakmont
Debbie Michaels, Glenbrook Village Homeowners Association
Ginny Miller, Wyngate Citizens Association
Adda Million, Camelot Mews Citizens Association
Lucy Ozarin, M.D., Whitehall Condominium Association
Sharon Robinson, OCL, OD, NIH
Stella Serras-Fiotes, DFP, ORFDO, OD, NIH
Ralph Schofer, Maplewood Citizens Association
Anne Tomkinson, East Bethesda Citizens Association
J. Paul Van Nevel, NIH Alumni Association
Guests
Sandy Miller, ORS
Chris Williams, Gazette News
Ronald Wilson, DFP, ORFDO, OD, NIH
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