Kemp Mill’s Orthodox Jews Largely Oppose Upzoning Plan

For many members of the Orthodox Jewish community in Kemp Mill, the Montgomery County Planning Board isn’t taking the “human factor” into account in its pursuit of a rezoning plan along University Boulevard.

The board approved a working draft of the plan in January to “rezone and improve safety” along a 3.5-mile stretch of University Boulevard between Wheaton and the Capital Beltway, according to Montgomery Community Media. Its goal is to improve traffic safety and boost economic development and regional connectivity.

The University Boulevard Corridor Plan recommends the rezoning of the existing shopping centers, religious properties and properties that face University Boulevard, giving area property owners the opportunity to build different housing types to “add more height and density.”

Traffic Concerns

Many of the residents who oppose the UBC plan cited traffic congestion as their primary concern. The plan recommends new and wider sidewalks, bikeways and protected crossings to address residents’ safety concerns along the corridor. It would reduce the number of through-vehicle traffic lanes on University Boulevard from three per direction to two per direction.

“Cars will be gridlocked if there are fewer lanes,” Jules Szanton, the president of the Kemp Mill Civic Association, said. “If cars are not gridlocked, cars will be slowed down by slower speed limits, as low as 25 miles per hour.”

He said the plan calls to lower speed limits to 25 to 30 miles per hour on the state highway and enforce these speed limits with speed cameras.

The plan would also prohibit right turns on red, giving pedestrians more time to cross University Boulevard, but potentially longer commute times for drivers, and remove some right turn lanes: “Cars will be stuck waiting behind cars that are trying to turn right and cars that are trying to turn right will be stuck behind traffic,” Szanton said.

The planning board identified Arcola Avenue as one of at least five areas to turn into bus rapid transit station locations, which typically include roadways that are dedicated to buses and give priority to buses at intersections.

Michelle Penn, a 12-year resident of Kemp Mill and member of the Kemp Mill Civic Association, said the plan would at least double her daily commute to the Torah School of Greater Washington, which three of her five children attend.

“The University Boulevard Corridor Plan is a huge effort to create a 15-minute [walkable] city in an already suburban area,” Penn said.

She said residents will still require cars to get around Kemp Mill.

For Szanton, the plan is contradictory because it recommends additional housing while removing state highway capabilities.

“We’ll have more people using worse infrastructure,” he said. “The county thinks we can just switch from commuting by car to commuting by bus or biking or walking places, but that’s still not going to work for people in Kemp Mill. You can’t drop your kids off at school on a bicycle. You can’t really go grocery shopping on a city bus. And none of this is going to work if you live a mile away from the nearest bus lane or bike lane, which most Kemp Mill residents do.”

He emphasized that these potential traffic issues don’t just affect the Orthodox Jewish community, but all area residents.

“We all have an interest in being able to get around and not having constant traffic jams to ruin our environment and our quality of life,” he said.

Access to Kosher Food

Kemp Mill Shopping Center, one of the properties that would be affected, is the “beating heart of our community,” Szanton said. It’s where the region’s Orthodox Jewish families access a kosher supermarket and eateries.

The plan would open the shopping center to commercialization or residentialization, meaning that another, larger business could build a site larger than legally permitted in the area. This action would create competition for Shalom Kosher, a supermarket that resident Brit Siman-Tov said “isn’t the cheapest store” due to the added costs of the kosherization process.

More residential properties means an influx of people to the shopping center who might not need to shop at a kosher supermarket, potentially creating increased demand for other businesses and harming Shalom Kosher and the other kosher eateries there.

“We’re concerned that, if rezoned, stores we rely on could be temporarily closed, permanently taken out,” Szanton said. “Our beloved local businesses might be unable to afford higher rent.”

“Without [Shalom Kosher in the Kemp Mill Shopping Center], there’s no other source of kosher food other than in Rockville, and that is over a 20-minute drive [away]. A lot of us can’t do that,” Siman-Tov, a local mom of four, said. “If something were to threaten that store, then our Orthodox Jewish way of life here possibly ceases to exist.”

“We’re gonna have to move,” Siman-Tov said she jokes with her husband. But she’s only half joking.

Howard Schoenholtz, the volunteer communications director for the Montgomery County Communities Coalition, said the MCPB doesn’t take into account the lives of the residents affected by the plan.

“As far as I know, members of the planning department have not walked the streets of the community,” Schoenholtz said. “They have not talked to people who are going about their daily business, whether it’s going to shop at the kosher butcher store or taking their kids to school.”

He said that while the UBC plan may look good on the map, the “human factor is left out, which is disturbing.”

It’s for this reason that Siman-Tov organized the opposition effort, starting a group chat with about 200 community members and “a lot of momentum.” Representatives from local Jewish institutions testified at hearings held by the planning board in opposition to the UBC plan, including members of Young Israel Shomrai Emunah of Greater Washington and students and Rabbi Eliyahu Reingold of the Yeshiva of Greater Washington.

“One of the reasons why the Orthodox community has rallied around is the fact that they feel that their voices are not being heard,” Schoenholtz said. “They may be invited to listening sessions, but listening and hearing are different things.”

The planning board is currently in the public hearing and work sessions phase in which it is collecting community feedback and looking to refine the working draft. The draft will be sent to the Montgomery County Council for review this summer, and if approved, will take effect in the fall.

[email protected]