Goodbye Linden Oak

Last week, the county removed most of the Linden Oak.  This tree has been growing for over 300 years, but recently had a bad patch of luck and ultimately died last year.  The county planned to remove it back in June, but found they needed a Historic Area Work Permit. 

The actual removal was on July 18th.  No one consulted with me prior to setting the date so they picked a time when I was unavailable.  I did, however, make it the next day to take some pictures of the remaining stump. They 12+ foot section at the base of the tree will remain as an on-site memorial.

 

The dead Linden Oak in June, before it was felled.  The two stones in the foreground have 3 plaques on them. these stones and plaques will remain.

 

Here's a picture to give you a better idea of where it was. To the right (beyond the road closed gate) is beach drive. The traffic light is Maryland Route 355, here known as Rockville Pike.  The road in the foreground is the one you are on if you exit 495 and want to go south on 355, or if you are going north on 355 and want to make a u-turn or turn on to Grosvenor Ln.  The dead Linden Oak is visible directly behind the yield sign and to the right of the pole.

 

 

 

Looking down on Great Falls

Most of the time, when I go to Great Falls, I either walk or bike on the C & O Canal, or I go out to Olmstead Island, or I do the Billy Goat Trail.  All fun things to do and experience.  There is, however, more to do there.  There is a whole network of trails on the far side of the canal from the river, and one of them leads up to this overlook where you can get a nice view of the area (though your view is punctuated by trees).
 

Bike parking at Grosvenor metro

 

There is a new chicken coop going in at the Grosvenor-Strathmore metro station. I think suburban farming is a great idea and look forward to being able to pick up a dozen fresh eggs on the way home from work.

Oh, maybe I got a few details wrong.  They are putting in a Bike & Ride facility that will securely house 100 bikes.  You'll be able to park your bike out of the rain and snow and have it locked up.  There are currently bike racks which have a roof over them on site, but this will be more secure and more attractive.

In the tone of urban planning, this is the bikeshed, the view of the area around the bike shed (the building that will contain the bikes).  Would it be bike shedding to ask what color it will be painted? (Ok, for you pedants out there, I know I am mis-defining this term multiple times, I find it amusing.)

This secure bike building includes a solid roof and wire mesh walls, as well as two doors.  It still looks like a chicken coop to me.

Strathmore Square construction

 

Strathmore Square is a new development being built on the grounds of the Grosvenor-Strathmore WMATA Metro station in North Bethesda, Maryland.  The vision is to have seven new buildings on just about every inch of open space except for a small "central park" area.

As seen from outside the parking garage

The first two buildings are under construction now and planned for a 2024 delivery.  Between them they will have 220 "luxurious" units.  According to their website, "this unique development offers marketing word, marketing word, marketing word".  Both buildings a visible in the above picture, the taller stack on the left is one of them and the longer (slightly shorter) stack on the right is the other.

Here's the second building seen from the edge of the property.

I really like that they do dense construction right next to the metro station.  The area is growing so you can either build where at least some of the trips will be non-car trips, or you can build where every trip is.  Even a housing moratorium just pushes development outside the area and people then drive right back in.  

This development will feed in to  Garrett Park Elementary School, Tilden Middle School, and Walter Johnson High School.

 

The buildings from the bus bays

I took this photo standing at the bus bays, looking across the kiss-and-ride towards the construction.