Rachael Golden/The Gazette Peggy Odick of Washington Grove listens at last week¹s town hall meeting. The town is concerned about development on a 12-acre portion of the Casey Farm.

David Rapkievian suggested the council think about building multi-story schools, instead of using valuable land for ³sprawled out² single-level buildings.

Jim Snee, president of the Shady Grove Civic Alliance, asked council members to fix current traffic problems before putting the Shady Grove Master Plan into effect and creating a slew of new problems.

Growing school populations, construction of new schools, and future development were among the issues Gaithersburg-area residents raised at the council¹s town hall meeting last week, which all the members except Councilwoman Marilyn J. Praisner (D-Dist.4) of Calverton attended.

About 175 people showed up to the meeting at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, and also posed questions on issues ranging from property taxes, to insufficient street lighting to funding for libraries.

Cochran, who asked the first question in the 90-minute session, said that schools are reaching overcapacity, and that a new middle school in the Lakelands, scheduled to open for the next school year, is not enough.

In 1999, when the county began looking for funding for the new middle school, ³the projected growth at Kingsview Middle School was 1,000 students,² Cochran said. ³That was for 2003 to 2005. The current enrollment is over 1,300 students. That is happening in many of our schools ‹ Quince Orchard High School is now over capacity.²

The new middle school is expected to relieve overpopulation in other middle schools, and a new high school may be on the way in four or five years, Councilman Michael L. Subin (D-At large) of Gaithersburg answered.

³As we speak there are ongoing negotiations to procure land for a new high school that will relieve not only Quince Orchard but Richard Montgomery [High School], Rockville [High School], and Magruder High School.²

Development of the Gaithersburg area was also a controversial issue, highlighted, for example, by lime green ³Legacy Open Space² signs scattered throughout the audience.

The signs represented the concern among Washington Grove residents about the future of a 12-acre portion of the Casey Farm, a meadow adjacent to Washington Grove.

At the end of 2004, Councilwoman Nancy M. Floreen (D-At large) of Garretf Park recommended a site on the property as a possibility for a new school site. The move angered town residents because they had already made an agreement with developers to give the plot to the Legacy Open Space program, which protects open space land.

Snee, instead, worried about the possible ramifications of the Shady Grove Master Plan, a plan to make the Shady Grove Metrorail area a mixed-use residential community.

³The Shady Grove master plan is going to add 8,000 new automobiles per p.m. rush hour. That¹s just for local development, [not through traffic]. Š There¹s 25,000 to 30,000 new cars that are through traffic,² he said.

Councilman Steven A. Silverman (D-At large) of Silver Spring answered that the council is aware of these issues and is working to produce ³smart growth.²

Other development concerns included the plan to build an Intercounty Connector and the plan to widen Longdraft Road.

William Davis, of Potomac, asked the council to reconsider the homestead property tax credit program, ³and provide greater protection for homesteaders who are currently the victims of quick buck money-grabbers,² he said, referring to people who buy a house for a few years, then sell it for a profit, ³leaving the homesteaders in the first community to pay increased taxes for the rest of their lives.²

Davis, who is retired, said he bought his house for $57,000 in 1971 ‹ today it¹s worth $749,800. In 2004, he paid $5,062 in taxes, he said, ³that amounts to $421 a month for me to live in my house. I paid the mortgage off about 20 years ago.²

Councilman Howard A. Denis (R-Dist. 1) of Chevy Chase said that providing tax relief to people who have lived and worked in the community for a long time is an important issue for the council to consider, but that it must also be balanced with ³the needs of our schools Š that we all benefit from a well-educated society.²

Councilman Philip M. Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg said they provide a good opportunity for council members to communicate directly with residents and discuss issues that are important and specific to their communities. ³I think the face-to-face contact with constituents is invaluable,² he said after the meeting.