Reply to 35 reasons why a single bus depo will cost MCPS millions...

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[quote=Anonymous]1.	The only reason for moving the bus depot was a self-inflicted wound.  In 2006, Montgomery County allowed the County Service Park in Derwood next to the Shady Grove Metro station to be vacated before securing an alternative industrial-zoned property to park and fix the hundreds of displaced MCPS buses.  Gude Drive and Jeremiah Park filled that gap.  The only reason why there is pressure to move is the county already entered into agreements with private developers to build communities like Shady Grove Station - Westside.
2.	The Office of Racial Equity and Social Justice officially stated that moving the bus depot to Cavanaugh Drive "has the potential to advance racial equity and social justice in the County" in a Racial Equity Impact Assessment (REIA) Supplemental Appropriation (SA) #25-60 MCPS Bus Depot and Maintenance Relocation memo dated March 31, 2025, but didn't explain why.
3.	MCPS, BoE and County Council is using a Montgomery County Zoning Code Section 3.4.9 "Public Use" loophole using Mandatory Referral instead of the process required to rezone R-200 land into Light Industrial (IL) or Heavy Industrial (IH).  If MCPS ever hires a private company to fix the buses or run the depot, that private company loses the "Public Use" zoning loophole protections so the land will have to be re-zoned through the full process anyway.  It ends up a burden for a company who wins the contract.  (Montgomery County Mandatory Referral Uniform Standards)
4.	A 200-bus depot must have acres of continuous asphalt to minimize "imperviousness" (asphalt, concrete, roofing) in the Special Protection Area (SPA). Under SPA Permitting Requirements, developers must mathematically prove they have minimized impervious surfaces.
5.	Land-use changes within the Piney Branch SPA trigger mandatory Category I Forest Conservation Easements. MCPS would be legally required to lock down and plant trees across portions of the site, further reducing the actual room available for bus bays and employee vehicle parking.
6.	Because this project involves a public entity developing inside an SPA, a specialized Water Quality Plan must be jointly approved by DEP and the Planning Board. The plan must prove that pollutants unique to transportation yards—heavy metals, brake dust, fuel leaks, ice melt, and toxic detergents from bus washing—will be 100% contained on-site without raising the ambient water temperature or contaminating local streams.
7.	Under SPA rules, the public developer (not County) must prove their specialized Water Quality Plan can entirely mitigate environmental degradation.
8.	Forcing a 200-bus operation onto a 12-acre site severely compresses the necessary space for buffer zones, tree saves, and stormwater management ponds, proving the site is fundamentally incompatible.  Specifically, the proposed site would be twice the bus-to-acre density than both the existing Shady Grove bus depot it's designed to replace, as well as the existing Seven Locks bus depot.
9.	The Montgomery County Environmental Guidelines require sweeping, untouchable buffers around any headwaters, streams, or springs feeding into the Piney Branch. No paving or bus parking can legally infringe upon these buffers, heavily constricting the usable layout of a 12-acre parcel for Wootton ES #7.
10.	The Master Plan focuses on preserving the low-density, green-canopy character character. Bypassing standard R-200 rules via a public-agency exemption to place a heavy industrial transportation yard in a residential envelope violates the core zoning integrity promised to the community.
11.	Forcing hundreds of school buses into this exact Travilah Quarry haul route bottleneck during peak morning hours undermines local roadway safety and directly violates basic county transportation-planning logic.
12.	The two-lane Shady Grove Road with ample shoulders and sidewalks narrows sharply into the narrow, winding single-lane, narrow, no-sidewalk, no-shoulder profile of Piney Meetinghouse Road all the way to River Road.
13.	A Type-A or C school bus requires a 25 to 35' turning radius and 80' turnaround.  Buses turning left from Cavanaugh onto Shady Grove Road or attempting to turn left off Shady Grove into the facility, will consistently block multiple lanes of traffic. The short geometry of the existing turning bays cannot accommodate a queue of large buses idling and waiting for a green light.
14.	The Shady Grove Road & Travilah Road intersection is the primary logistics artery for heavy dump trucks exiting the active Travilah Quarry where ~200 school buses will compete with multi-ton quarry haul trucks peak haul hours in the exact same intersection—specifically between 6:00 AM and 8:30 AM.
15.	The Darnestown Road (MD 28) & Shady Grove Road intersection is the principal commuter funnel for residents traveling toward the I-270, Rockville, and the Great Seneca Science corridor.  Buses deploying from the depot will head north toward MD 28 to access their county-wide routes.
16.	Buses using Travilah Road & Piney Meetinghouse Road as a southern bypass route toward River Road or the Potomac village center will compete with parents headed towards Travilah ES and Stone Mill ES.
17.	Heavy multi-ton buses will traverse a historic, narrow, structurally sensitive Piney Meetinghouse Road Bridge (P501522).
18.	Large school buses have wide turning radiuses and slow acceleration profiles attempting a left or right turn at the intersection at Glen Road and Piney Meetinghouse Road will inevitably "track" into oncoming traffic lanes, halting matching vehicles and elevating broadside accident risks.
19.	Glen Road is a Rustic Road (R-2) under the Potomac Subregion Master Plan and parts of Piney Meetinghouse Road are 'Exceptional Rustic'. By county law, rustic roads must be protected from changes that destroy their quiet, narrow, rural character.
20.	River Road (MD 190) & Piney Meetinghouse Road between 6-8:30 AM is already near-capacity by commuters heading toward the Capital Beltway (I-495) and Washington, D.C. who will compete with southbound school buses attempting to make left-hand turns onto River Road
21.	Buses turning onto River Road will take significant time to clear the intersection and bring their heavy frames up to 35 MPH, increasing current backup delays.
22.	Regular commuter traffic following buses down the narrow, winding, short visibility Piney Meetinghouse Road will face sudden, hard-braking scenarios, leading to an increase of rear-end collisions.
23.	The Countywide Bikeways Functional Master Plan designated a segment of Piney Meetinghouse Road as a Dual Bikeway (DB-23) to support recreational cyclists who already compete with morning and afternoon commuter traffic.
24.	References to neighborhood bus depot plans were most likely tied to ICC planning that never materialized.  As one example, the Potomac Subregion Master Plan designates Piney Meetinghouse Road as Arterial (A-34) with a minimum right-of-way of 80 feet.  However, Piney Meetinghouse Road could only be widened by displacing the Union Wesley Methodist Church Cemetery, a historic black cemetery.  Another example is Shady Grove Road was specifically built to handle the infrastructure demands of the planned ICC / Outer Beltway, however the upgrades of Darnestown Road (MD 28), Piney Meetinghouse Road, River Road, and a planned bridge over Watkins Island or Bealls Island were never constructed.
25.	Any bus breaking down on Piney Meetinghouse Road, River Road, Cavenaugh Road, Travilah Road or any other one-lane feeder would not be possible to bypass without driving into the opposite lane, making recovery of non-functional buses difficult. 
26.	The depot’s primary bus deployment window (6-8:30 AM) aligns directly with the Shady Grove hospital’s morning shift changes and peak emergency room arrival periods, potentially threatening emergency medical access.
27.	Northbound buses on Shady Grove Road heading towards the life sciences corridor can slow down emergency vehicles and staff trying to access the medical campus at Key West Avenue (MD 28) and Medical Center Drive.
28.	Montgomery County recently launched the Great Seneca Transit Network (GSTN) with dedicated, high-frequency Pink and Lime line express buses directly along Shady Grove Road and Medical Center Drive to serve the hospital and Johns Hopkins campuses.
29.	Shady Grove Road by the hospital is heavily utilized by multi-ton dump trucks and cement mixers coming from Travilah Quarry.
30.	Adding ~200 buses will stress asphalt capacity with thousands of pounds of axle weight, likely resulting in aggressive rutting, potholes, in a cycle of disruptive emergency road repair possibly affecting hospital traffic.
31.	Local Area Transportation Review (LATR) standards for the Life Sciences District and Kentlands already operate near congestion thresholds.  Adding school buses at 6-8:30 am can immobilize critical intersections during rush hours.
32.	Drivers will need to commute to and from the bus depot, however there is currently no street parking and only one public bus route, #67.  However, this bus route will also have to compete with quarry and school bus traffic.  Approximately 2 acres of the 12 would need to be dedicated just for car parking.
33.	Currently the MCPS Shady Grove Bus Depot on Crabbs Branch is about a 10-minute walk from the Metro.  At best, Cavanaugh Drive is a 15-minute direct drive by car, but taking the public bus #67 is easily 30 minutes and it wouldn't be practical to walk.  No public bus = no MCPS bus drivers.
34.	The Potomac Subregion Master Plan explicitly states that if a reserved future school site is deemed unnecessary for an educational building, it must revert to recreational space or environmental conservation.  Perhaps unwittingly, by designating the site as a bus depot, the Montgomery County Council, Board of Education and Montgomery County Public School system admitted that the site is no longer necessary as an educational building.
35.	MCPS, BoE and County Council are proceeding despite the petition circulating on this topic.  The petition (as of the time of writing) is in the Medium Impact range (i.e. 1,000 to 5,000 signatures, whereas 10,000 validated signatures within a county-wide population of 1 million is required to put a question onto an election ballot).  Although that would be a respectable but not overly significant showing of public opinion county-wide, it is a massive outpouring of support for a localized area with a population of 24K (Official 2020 Census Count for North Potomac is 23,790) that this depot is presumably supposed to be servicing.

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