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The Time To Build Capital Improvement Projects 2007 - 2018 | County executive Isiah Leggett

County Executive Ike Leggett

During the past 12 years, Ike Leggett and his team have worked to – literally – build a better future for Montgomery County. Even in tough fiscal times for County government and County residents, the Leggett Administration has completed 50 major projects – not including schools, parks, and the college. That’s more than the 37 completed during the 12 years before Leggett took office – when it was a boom economy. Highlights include:

21,000 classroom seats added. 63,000 affordable housing units. Five new fire stations. Leggett’s bold Smart Growth Initiative. New campus facilities for Montgomery College’s “endless possibilities.” And a laser focus on “back to basics.” A 1,330 percent increase in resources for residential road maintenance. More County snowplows. 36 miles of new sidewalks. 4.3 million service requests handled by our 311 Call Center. Four new transit centers. New bus routes and more than 600 new buses. Bus Rapid Transit and the Purple Line underway. Twenty new and renovated libraries and community centers. More green space to enjoy with our families. Partnering with business to create the jobs of the future that allow us to better support our families, strengthen our tax base, and help make our County truly a “community for a lifetime.”

2018

Coming Attractions...

The future just keeps on coming. In 2018 library refreshes will be finished at Bethesda and White Oak. Work will be completed on the Good Hope Recreation Center, the 6th District Police Station, and Kensington Fire Station #25. And, starting in 2019, Wheaton wins big. Construction is underway on a new combination Wheaton Library & Recreation Center, as well as the completion of the Wheaton office tower project to house Park & Planning plus County agencies and including a town square.

2017

Montgomery College

The best community college system in America got even better. New College facilities include Rockville’s Science Center and Parking Garage, Takoma Park/Silver Spring’s Cultural Arts Center, and Germantown’s Bioscience Education Center. Renovations include: Rockville’s Science West and Science East buildings. The County also funded a parking garage for the Universities at Shady Grove to leverage significant State investment for a new Biomedical/Engineering building.

Transit

Keeping Montgomery moving, four new Transit Centers were opened (Silver Spring, Montgomery Mall, White Oak, and Takoma/Langley). The Silver Spring Transit Center alone handles 10 million trips annually. There are 629 New Buses and 7 new or expanded RideOn bus routes. The County has provided initial funding for a Bus Rapid Transit system, beginning with Route 29 in East County. The County has completed 3,083 Bus Stop improvements. The Purple Line, which will connect Bethesda with Silver Spring and College Park, has broken ground.

Silver Spring Library

County residents can visit 2 new libraries in Silver Spring & Germantown. Renovations were completed at Olney and Gaithersburg. Six more libraries were “refreshed” (Twinbrook, Kensington Park, Davis, Little Falls, Aspen Hill, and Quince Orchard). Leggett’s innovative approach means 12 branches can be refreshed for the cost of two renovations. Under the Refresh program, branches are closed only 4-6 months compared with 2-3 years for full renovations.

Affordable Housing

The County has invested more than $1 billion during the past 12 years in affordable housing. Every dollar the County puts into housing acquisition has leveraged another $4 in private and nonprofit affordable housing funding. The County has created or preserved more than 63,000 affordable units during the past 12 years. And 16 new senior housing projects have been completed or are underway, totaling more than 1,900 senior rental units. The new Progress Place facility in Silver Spring provides needed services and housing for homeless individuals.

2013

Our Police

Projects include a new Public Safety headquarters (co-locating Police and Fire & Rescue) and a new Public Safety Training Academy. Add to that 3 New County Police District Stations, with a fourth on the way. The County is one of the first large jurisdictions to equip our entire police force with body cameras, to enhance public trust, evidence, and accountability. And the County opened a state-of-the-art Animal Services and Adoption Center to replace previous dilapidated facility. Nearly 2,000 pets are adopted from the center each year.

Smart Growth Initiative

The Smart Growth Initiative of County Executive Leggett moved County agency industrial uses from valuable land located around the Shady Grove Metro Station and within the heart of our biotech corridor. These moves made these properties available for more appropriate transit-oriented mixed-use development with thousands of housing units and high-tech job creation. The Initiative enhances the County’s tax base, builds new, needed County facilities instead of pouring monies into updating obsolete ones, and gets the County out of expensive leased space.

Business & Jobs

The County has invested to spur economic development and grow 100,000 quality jobs through public-private partnerships in White Oak, White Flint, Bethesda, and Wheaton, as well as in areas impacted by the Smart Growth Initiative -- altogether projected to create the biggest growth in jobs in County history. The opening of the Fillmore helped make Silver Spring an entertainment hub. And the Ultra Montgomery project is developing ultra-fast fiber and WiFi networks for business, academic, and federal institutions.

2010

Community Centers

During the past 12 years, the County has built new community centers in Silver Spring, Mid-County, White Oak, and North Potomac. The Silver Spring Civic Building has hosted more than 6,500 events since opening seven years ago. Modernizations and renovations include Neighborhood Recreation Centers such as Ross Boddy, Scotland, and Wisconsin Place, in addition to the Western County Outdoor Pool and the Potomac Adaptive Sports Court. Also, 7 new parks, 2,800 more acres of parkland, and more than 50 miles of new trails.

2009

Taking Care of Basics

The County has increased funding for fixing primary roads by 136 percent since Ike Leggett took office. He has increased the amount spent on residential roads by more than 1,330 percent. The 311 Call Center has fielded 4.3 million service requests with an 85 percent satisfaction rating. The County has 344 new snowplows. He replaced the old system with a state-of-the-art Computer Traffic Signalization System. We have 36 new miles of sidewalks, 66 new Traffic & Pedestrian Safety projects, and 73 Bikeshare Stations, with 571 bicycles.

2008

More Fire Stations

Leggett has opened 5 new fire stations – to respond to population growth in the UpCounty and improve response times everywhere. That compares to only 1 new station opened in the 12 years before Leggett took office. Another 5 stations have been renovated. And Leggett’s five-year fight to win the Emergency Medical Services Reimbursement program has generated $82.2 million from insurance carriers for equipment and apparatus maintenance, facility improvements, and support for Local Fire Departments – at no cost to taxpayers.

More Classrooms Seats

Montgomery County has increased capital funding for the Montgomery County Public Schools by nearly 50 percent the past 12 years. That has added 21,043 classroom seats. That’s 6 New Schools – 4 Elementary (Arcola, William B. Gibbs Jr., Flora M. Singer, and Wilson Wims), 2 Middle (Hallie Wells & Silver Creek); 44 School Additions, 27 School Renovations/Expansions and 12 gym renovations. The County won $476 million in State Money for County School Construction over the last 12 years.

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