Dear Friends,
Well this week’s snow was the first time we’ve had a snow emergency since 2016. It is hard to sum up the massive effort in response to our most significant winter storm in years. The snow was beautiful in some ways, as our Office of Agriculture captured in the picture below and shared on social media. However, the snow also proved to be a challenge our County met and continues to respond to.
The Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) used 650 snow removal crews throughout the week to remove snow and ice from 1,661 miles of primary roads and more than 3,600 miles of residential streets. We will continue to respond to the public and return to areas where ice remains. You can report ice on the roads by calling 311 or online through our County Snow Portal.
One note about snow removal: our plow drivers aim to make roads passable. Sometimes, that is accomplished during a storm even if bare pavement is not clearly visible. Below are images of passable streets that were plowed and treated by our crews. You can read more from MCDOT here.
This two-tiered storm required more attention on primary roads than initially believed. Some streets proved to be more challenging than others. Because of that, some snow removal crews had to switch to steel-tip plows temporarily. The County prefers to limit the use of that equipment because of the damage it can cause to the road itself.
Our County also worked to keep people without housing out of the cold. Our shelters were at capacity, but in some locations, extra accommodations were made to ensure safety because of the storm.
While a snow day is often fun for kids and those who get the day off work – for our entire government, it is multiple days and long hours of challenging and sometimes dangerous work. This was an all-hands-on-deck effort. That includes work through the County’s Regional Service Centers, 911 and 311 operators. as well as snowplow drivers and bus drivers. Councilmembers also took questions, dealt with issues and put out proactive communications through the storm.
I also want to thank our partners at the State Departments of Transportation, Emergency Management and Police, as well as the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and the National Weather Service for their collaborative efforts.
I want to remind everyone that libraries, senior centers and recreation centers are open during normal hours as places to stay warm. I hope we are done with this bitter cold soon. Thank you to everyone who looked out for and helped their neighbors and communities during this storm.
Watch Out for Water Main Breaks
On Monday, we worked closely with the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) to address a significant water main break in downtown Bethesda. WSSC moved quickly to repair the pipe damage, but I do not expect this to be the last water main break we see in the County.
WSSC tracks the Potomac River's temperature because it often correlates with water main breaks. When the river temperature gets too low—like it did this week—they typically see an increase in broken pipes.
Older pipes are most impacted by the colder water, causing them to break. Approximately 40 percent of the water mains in the WSSC system are more than 50 years old. The pipe that broke this week on Wisconsin Avenue was originally installed 93 years ago in 1932. This is another example of the infrastructure investment needs that we need to tend to year after year.
I encourage you to visit WSSC’s website for tips on how to best care for your home's water pipes.
Montgomery County Urges Sustainable Salt Use During Winter Storms
As we clean up from this snowstorm, I want to highlight the collaboration between our Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Department of Transportation (MCDOT) and WSSC Water on the SaltWise campaign.
We have encouraged all our departments to adopt sustainable salt use practices to protect water quality and the environment. For example, MCDOT monitors road temperatures to limit the use of salt brine it applies to the road.
Excessive salt used to de-ice pavement and asphalt can damage our infrastructure and threaten public health. WSSC warns that rising salt levels in rivers cannot be filtered, potentially posing health risks.
By being careful with salt use, you can help reduce salt runoff into drinking water sources like the Potomac and Patuxent rivers.
To be SaltWise:
- Shovel early and often through a storm to prevent ice build-up.
- Limit the amount of salt used to 1 1/2 cups of salt per 10 sidewalk squares or a 20-foot driveway.
- Sweep and reuse excess salt after the ice is gone.
2025 General Assembly Session Begins
I was glad to attend the opening of the 2025 General Assembly in Annapolis this week. You can find many pictures from that visit here, including the one above with Howard County Executive Calvin Ball and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott.
We have laid out many of our legislative priorities, which you can read here. Today I spoke to the Montgomery County delegation and recognized the challenge at the State with a staggering budget deficit of close to $3 billion. At the same time, I asked that we work together to preserve and prioritize certain strategic investments.
This means continuing to prioritize key investments that are critical to our economic growth and sustainability. Projects like our Flash Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and the Institute for Health Computing are essential not just for our region but for the entire state.
I also support the ongoing conversation about modernizing Maryland’s transportation financing structure to ensure it meets the needs of all regions equitably and effectively. A strong transportation infrastructure is an essential element of economic vibrancy. We learned that from the Amazon bid process, and it is what I hear from nearly every company I have met with. People do not realize that part of the State’s bid for Amazon was a very large investment in transit along the MD 355 corridor. And our BRT is designed as a system that connects residents with jobs. You can read more about our work on BRT here.
We need to invest in our transportation infrastructure, and I told our state partners that we do not expect them to provide all the funding. We want to be partners in this effort and are asking for local authority for differential tax rates to fund transportation infrastructure. It is how Northern Virginia funded the Silver Line and attracted major investment. One major consultant compared our situation vis a vis Northern Virginia. If a company is choosing between us and Fairfax County, and they ask which County can deliver the infrastructure in their master plans in a timely way, a consultant would tell them Virginia will do it, but we have no idea what or when Montgomery County could deliver it. They want certainty that the taxes they pay will be used to build the critical transportation infrastructure. We have so much else going for us, but to score badly on infrastructure is something we should and can fix.
The State will also be discussing the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future while navigating the current fiscal realities. I certainly understand the challenges, and we are facing some major financial challenges locally with our school system so we can’t have additional financial burdens passed to local government.
Our local school system has real challenges that have been ignored for too long, independent of the costs associated with the Blueprint. I appreciate that Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor is taking this seriously, focusing on things that are most impactful in the classroom, trimming administration and being cognizant of spiraling costs tied to health care insurance. I give the superintendent credit for being frank about the financial situation we are in with our schools and recognizing the need to slim down administrative costs within MCPS. You can see the MCPS proposal here.
As always, I appreciate the partnership we share with the Montgomery County Delegation, Governor Moore and his administration, and the General Assembly. Every time I visit Annapolis, I am there to listen, learn and offer my help in any way that moves our common goals forward.
This week, I welcomed Del. Julie Palakovich Carr to my media briefing. She is chair of the Montgomery County House Delegation and also serves on the Ways and Means and Joint Audit and Evaluation committees. Here is a link to her comments.
Attainable Housing Strategies Update
This week County Council Vice President Will Jawando and Councilmember Kristin Mink expressed their concerns about the Attainable Housing Strategies (AHS) Initiative. Montgomery Planning put AHS forward for Council consideration last summer, and it was the subject of multiple community meetings this past fall.
In his statement, Councilmember Jawando suggested putting recommendations from this plan on hold indefinitely.
Councilmember Mink, in a statement posted here, said the feedback she received leads her to believe that AHS is not where we should be focusing our energy.
As many of you know, I share their concerns. As I have repeatedly said (in this video and other forums) since the Attainable Housing plan was shared publicly, it does not address our most pressing need, which is affordable housing. Spending time and resources on any housing plan that does not add to, protect or preserve our affordable housing stock does not help us address our goals. As Councilmember Jawando said, stable and affordable housing is a critical issue for individuals and families that cannot wait.
The community has not asked for this, and in fact, when there was an opportunity for public feedback, it was overwhelmingly negative. Those concerns should be taken seriously.
The plan is flawed because it does not reflect what people want–and that’s just the starting point. The infuriating thing is that we already have master plans in place that took community feedback into consideration when developing these growth plans. I was on one of those planning committees under then County Executive Doug Duncan and I saw the value in bringing people together to discuss the shape of development to make sure everybody’s needs were met in an honest and meaningful way. Residents on the eastern side of the County and the western side are examples of population clusters that very clearly have serious concerns with AHS.
The AHS proposal would upzone 82 percent of single-family homes. That would be an enormous change for our County that we would not be ready for. Not only that but it is not necessary to account for projected growth. The Planning Board refuses to acknowledge updated projections and the analysis from the Washington Metropolitan Council of Governments (COG) that said, way back in 2019 when this started, that we do not need to rezone in the way the AHS proposes we do. It is ludicrous and outrageous that the Planning Board refuses to acknowledge that this County and all counties in the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments have already planned for future growth.
The plan put forward by Montgomery Planning would not solve the issues of affordability and yet they continue to push it despite clear opposition and serious concerns. Their approach is unnecessary and completely outside the County’s tradition of planning.
Health Update
This week, we saw our COVID-19 hospitalization numbers double. If this had been any year since the start of the pandemic, that would have been alarming. In this case, it meant we went from 16 to 32 patients since the last week of reporting. That is a far cry from where we were last year at this time, with nearly 100 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Flu-like symptoms were also a driving force behind more doctor’s office visits in the latest update from the Maryland Health Department.
I also want to share the following stories published by the press that highlight some of the great work and expertise we have working for you in Montgomery County.
‘Every day was hand-to-hand combat’: Officials five years after COVID arrived in Montgomery County
Here's a look at new laws taking effect in Maryland starting New Year's Day
What you need to know about the continued surveillance of bird flu after first U.S. death
In this next story, our Director of Transportation Chris Conklin discusses the possibility that federal workers may have to return to the office five days a week and he urges them to use our Ride On buses and other public transit to get to their offices.
Return to the office for federal workers
Lastly, I want to remind everyone that the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration at Strathmore is taking place on Sunday, Jan. 19. Read more about it in this newsletter.
I know that has been a lot to read and review, but it should convey that I am excited to start a new year and meet the challenges ahead.
As always, my appreciation for all of you,
Marc Elrich
County Executive
