Community Liaison Council Meeting Minutes
July 20, 2006, 4:00–6:00 p.m.
NIH Fire Department
National Institutes of Health

HANDOUTS

• July 2006—NIH News in Health

WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

By: John T. Burklow, Acting Director, OCL, NIH
Mr. Burklow welcomed the Council and thanked Chief Hess for his hospitality. He explained that the agenda included a tour of the firehouse after the updates were completed. He announced that the new OCL Director, Mr. Dennis Coleman, would begin on August 21. His first meeting with the Council will be at the September meeting, and Mr. Burklow and Dr. Marin Allen will also attend and overlap with him. Mr. Burklow informed the Council that Mr. Coleman would likely visit the communities and the Council members before the formal meeting. He has lived in Rockville and has some familiarity with the area, but part of his orientation will be to meet with Council members personally. Mr. Burklow also announced that Mr. Kenny Floyd would be unable to attend today’s meeting. Mr. Floyd will update Council members on the noise problems by e-mail.

PRESENTATIONS

General Updates
By: Ron Wilson, Acting Director, Division of Facilities Planning, ORF, OD, NIH
Mr. Wilson informed the group that the new stair tower for Building 36 has been approved through the National Capital Planning Commission (NPCP) as was mentioned at the June meeting.  Mr. Wilson announced that he had called and checked before the CLC meeting, and the Building 36 demolition is still on schedule to be finished by the end of September. He also told the Council that the schedule for the commercial vehicle inspection facility is for it to be completed by the end of September or beginning of October, and operation should begin in October. The new Gateway Center is on track to be completed by May 2007, including all three components: vehicle inspection, the parking garage, and the visitor-processing center. Mr. Wilson explained that construction had begun on the deceleration lane, and the sidewalk had been pinched by about a foot. That work should be done by the end of August, and the sidewalk will be restored to normal.

Mr. Tom Hayden reported on accessibility to the new 350-space parking garage portion of the Gateway Center during off hours and weekends. At this time, there has been no final decision for individuals who are not NIH visitors to have access to the facility on weekends and off-hours.  The garage will be fee parking, with hours similar to those established for the Metro parking lot. Once a strategy has been determined, Mr. Hayden said he would let the Council know. Mr. Ralph Schofer asked how they would keep commuters out. Mr. Hayden explained that NIH planned to charge the maximum rate possible. Mr. Schofer said that if they charged the same rate as the Metro lot, it would fill up with commuters and leave no room for visitors. Mr. Hayden agreed, but explained that NIH would have a daily rate only, with no discounted weekly or monthly rates available, and he thought this would have an impact. Right now NIH charges $12 a day. Mr. Hayden summed up the situation by stating that nothing has really been decided.
Ms. Kathryn Bender said she was concerned about more traffic and asked if the new garage would increase it. Mr. Hayden explained that traffic would not be increased; instead, the new garage would simply consolidate the traffic that already exists because all visitors except patients will park in this garage. He also told the Council that a package of signs to direct visitors was being worked on. Mr. Burklow wondered if it would be possible to ask people parking in the garage what their NIH business was as they pulled in. Mr. Hayden suggested that the fees would have a deterrent effect. He also announced that he had received e-mail from the state saying that the illegal turn onto North Drive would be closed off by the end of the week, but he noted it was not yet done. He said he thought his contact saw the issue and was sincere; Mr. Hayden is sure it will be taken care of. He also told the Council that in the long term it would be closed permanently. Ms. Bender wondered if a pedestrian bridge to cross over from NIH to the Naval Hospital was being discussed. Mr. Wilson answered that NIH and the Naval Hospital would have to cooperate on such a project and although it has been mentioned, no real proposal exists. He observed that leaping though all kinds of regulatory hoops would be necessary to achieve it. Ms. Debbie Michaels suggested that if the community could help to achieve such a bridge, they would be happy to do so. She said she crosses there frequently, and even with the light, she thought it was pretty scary.

South Lawn Update
By: Tony Clifford, Chief Engineer, NIH, OD, ORF
Mr. Clifford announced that he had spoken with the hydrological consultant and Mr. Stephen Sawicki about the South Lawn. The surveys have been completed and include an analysis of the soil. Now that the testing is done, Mr. Clifford suggested it was a good time for the small work group to meet with the consultant. He said that Tuesday morning (July 25) appeared to be best time, at around 10 a.m., and he will confirm this by e-mail once he has confirmed the consultant’s availability at that time. Mr. Clifford mentioned that Dr. Lucy Ozarin would like to attend the meeting. The group needs to pick a good place to meet on the South Lawn, perhaps on the west side. There the group can see the pipe where it comes out of the ground. He also pointed out that the field is not too large and a latecomer could see people out there; nobody will get lost. He told the Council that he had been talking to the County to establish a contact. He also pointed out that the large tree near the County’s outfall pipe was becoming increasingly undermined by erosion, especially with the recent 300-year storm. He said they were concerned about what the County will do; the consultant is afraid this problem will go into the County’s 15-year program. He said that the solution everybody was leaning toward is putting everything underground, but this has not been decided officially. Mr. Clifford said he would send e-mail to confirm the meeting, scheduled for 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 25 July, for the Council’s work group to meet with and get recommendations from the consultant. Mr. Clifford again mentioned being impressed with the consultant; he said it had not taken much for him to figure out what was going on. The firm is called Morgan-Thompson Associates, and they are very good. Mr. Schofer asked what this meeting was intended to accomplish. Mr. Clifford answered that it was to ensure that everyone had the same understanding of the problems and the possible solutions. The work group will have an opportunity to express their concerns and also to learn what the consultant has done and what his findings are. Mr. Clifford again mentioned the County’s 16-inch pipe, which drains the whole south side on Cedar Lane. Water from this pipe during the last storm really accelerated the erosion, and if this is not stopped, they could lose a very large tree. In fact, they lost one tree during the storm. Ms. Michaels mentioned that she might have a County contact. Mr. Clifford said that if the County understood that NIH wants this solved, something would get done. In this meeting, the group will look at ideas from the consultant and the Council’s concerns. The meeting will include a neighborhood civil engineer, and Mr. Sawicki wants the consultant to have a clear understanding of the Council’s concerns. No County representative will be there. The consultant really wants to understand what we all want to do. Dr. Ozarin asked how the problem could be solved with the County outfall pipe still there. Mr. Clifford said that the last time he spoke to the County they had told him to plant grass and trees to soak up the water. He reiterated that to get something done, he must have a real engineer’s report with solid recommendations.

CLC ROUND ROBIN

Mr. Schofer said that his constituents had pointed out to him that no work was taking place in the commercial vehicle inspection station lately, and he wondered if anything was happening. Mr. Wilson explained that the work had indeed slowed down because of a sanitary sewer line that had to be replaced, and they could not proceed with other work until this was dealt with. This is now finished, he said, so they will now go back and put in additional utility lines and when things are hooked up, the work will start to pick up. This large sewer line was out in a field away from the actual construction site, so they were not aware of the situation. Mr. Burklow asked what the projected completion date was. Mr. Wilson answered that it was the end of September.

Dr. Allen mentioned that the OCL and the Council wanted to recognize Ms. Ginny Miller’s retirement, so this will happen at the September meeting. Dr. Allen mentioned that they needed to find out how long she worked at the hospital.

Mr. Burklow told the Council that NIH was improving its signage around campus, and signs will also be on the Beltway and along the way, directing people toward the campus. These are for people from outside the area coming to NIH, for example, to be treated at the Clinical Center. He explained that they also plan to match names with areas to make street names more logical. Segments of streets that go in the right direction will have the same name, but other names will change.

Mr. Burklow said it was time to move on to the tour of the fire station and thanked NIH Fire Chief Gary Hess for his hospitality. Chief Hess welcomed the Council and said he had no formal presentation. He explained that he would give the Council a tour of the station and show them the apparatus used and explain what they do. He informed the Council that NIH has a mutual aid agreement with the County and the Naval Hospital. This gives them the opportunity to work with surrounding communities and allows for cross training, working under the same guidelines, etc. NIH hosts interagency classroom training. Recently, they had an interagency drill, a water pumping operation to bring water in from off campus and through campus, testing procedures in case of a loss of water to the campus. Chief Hess explained that the sound barriers to the Beltway made it difficult to bring in a water supply. He said that the new Montgomery County fire chief (Thomas West Carr, Jr.) has done an excellent job; everything is now coordinated. He explained that the NIH people now know which emergencies they are going to run, and everything has been very positive. He said that NIH doesn’t use County units very often, except for ambulances. But the new system gives NIH the opportunity to pay the County back for the services they provide. Mr. Burklow mentioned that NIH has the most sophisticated training for laboratory hazards and hazardous materials (hazmat). Chief Hess agreed, but said that the NIH department serves as a secondary unit for the County. As he put it, they do command and control, but we do hazmat. The NIH fire department also stabilizes and cleans up the site when the hazard is contained.

Chief Hess opened the meeting to questions. Mr. Schofer asked how they dealt with security. He wondered if the security guards at the gates were instructed to wave people with red lights in. Chief Hess answered that they had an integrated 911 system on the campus. Any time NIH calls for assistance, they let security know, and also when and where the emergency crew will be coming in. For calls that require the NIH people to leave campus, they have control of the gates right there in the firehouse and can open them and then close them afterward. He said that in some ways they were still working through security concerns in the wake of 9-11. They must balance protecting life and security. Ms. Bender asked if the NIH fire department responded to Beltway hazmat spills. Chief Hess said no, the County generally handles these on its own. Mostly these are fuel spills; if something happens involving exotic chemicals and/or radiation, NIH would be called in. The important thing, he said, was that they know we’ll handle anything that comes through while they are occupied. Mr. Burklow asked how many people were in the department. Chief Hess explained that there were 30, 28 people on shift work, and 2 supervisors who basically work from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. They have two shifts, 24 hours on duty and 24 hours off, etc., on a 2-week cycle; i.e., a. 72-hour week.

ADJOURNMENT

Chief Hess led the tour of the station and explained equipment and operations. The tour ended at 5:30 p.m

ACTION ITEMS

• Mr. Tony Clifford will inform the South Lawn work group member of the meeting time, tentatively fixed at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, 25 July.
• Mr. Kenny Floyd will keep Council members apprised of progress on the noise abatement project by e-mail.

FUTURE MEETING TOPICS

• Campus Tour to include
• Edmond J. Safra Lodge (Family Inn)
• Commercial Vehicle Inspection Facility

CLC Members Present
Kathryn Bender, East Bethesda Citizens Association
Amy Blackburn, OCL, OD, NIH
Marian Bradford, Camelot Mews Homeowners Association
John Burklow, Acting Director, OCL, OD, NIH
Anthony Clifford, ORF, OD, NIH
Darrell Lemke, Bethesda Parkview Citizens Association
Marilyn Mazuzan, Town of Oakmont
Debbie Michaels, Glenbrook Village Homeowners Association
Lucy Ozarin, M.D., Whitehall Condominium Association
Ralph Schofer, Maplewood Citizens Association

Guests
Marin Allen, OCPL, OD, NIH
Tom Hayden, ORS, OD, NIH
Gary Hess, Chief, NIH Fire Department
Howard Hochman, DFP, ORFDO, NIH
Joan Kleinman, Congressman Van Hollen’s Office
Brad Moss, ORS, OD, NIH
Shelly Pollard, OCPL, OD, NIH
Terry Taylor, Palladian Partners, Inc.

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