Park Planning Projects
Legacy Open Space
Warner Property
Project Update
KENSINGTON, MD - November 13, 2008 — The Montgomery County Department of Parks announced it will cancel its request for proposals (RFP), issued in February 2008, to solicit ideas from interested businesses and non-profits for Kensington’s historic Warner property. The Department of Parks is now considering a public agency solution for reuse of the property.
“We’re turning our sights now to public entities, including ourselves and the Town of Kensington, for instance, as a possible best fit for this historic site,” said Department of Parks Legacy Open Space Program Manager, Brenda Sandberg.
The proposals submitted in response to the department’s RFP require significant public financial investment. At this time, the necessary funding to make the submitted proposals viable is not available.
“Our intent with this RFP was to find a potential private partner, but we were unable to do so through this process,” added Sandberg. “So, we’re ramping up our efforts to find the best reuse options for the property consistent with our adopted public policy objectives for the site—we think that might be a public agency.”
The public policy objectives for the site have developed over the past two years with input from the Town of Kensington and other local community organizations. The Montgomery County Planning Board approved these objectives in 2006. They are as follows:
- Historic preservation;
- Open space preservation;
- Provision of another public benefit;
- Maintenance of the site as a cultural resource, including public access to the grounds and the historic house and carriage house; and
- Community compatibility.
“As we move forward we will continue to work closely with the Town of Kensington and those local community groups—who have been of tremendous support through this process—during this next phase of planning,” said Sandberg.
The Department of Parks identified the Warner property as a heritage resource in 2001 through its Legacy Open Space program and completed the transfer of the 4.45-acre Kensington property into public ownership in September 2007. The Warner property at 10231 Carroll Place sits on the circular tract of land at the heart of Kensington’s historic district. The site includes the circa 1891-1914 historic house and carriage barn and circa 1960 nursing home addition to the house. The 19th century house with carriage barn was home to Brainard H. Warner, the founder of the Town of Kensington.
The Department of Parks released its RFP to solicit reuse ideas for Kensington’s historic Warner property on and held several pre-proposal meetings with interested businesses, developers, non-profit organizations and others to discuss project parameters, submission guidelines and to tour the property.
Background
The 4.45 acre site is identified as a Heritage Resource in the Legacy Open Space Functional Master Plan. The site includes both the house of Brainard H. Warner (the founder of Kensington) and a town green. The Town of Kensington has expressed an interest in partnering with M-NCPPC and Montgomery County in the acquisition of the property.
On January 30, 2006, Montgomery County Planning staff met with the Kensington Town Council to discuss the process for developing planning and design guidelines for the Warner Property. These guidelines would be incorporated into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Town of Kensington and the Montgomery County Planning Board.
The goal of the process described below is to work collaboratively with the Town of Kensington to develop MOU guidelines for the planning and design of the Warner property.
Check this web site or the Town of Kensington web page to keep updated on the process. You are also welcome to send your e-mail address to Brenda.Sandberg@montgomeryparks.org to be added to the mailing list. You may also include any comments or questions you may have on the process.
Community Calendar for Brainard Warner Property
| DATE | EVENT |
| 2006 | |
|---|---|
April 1 |
Brainard Warner House and grounds open to public. |
April 8 |
Kensington Community Workshop The Town of Kensington and the Montgomery County Planning Board sponsored a community workshop on the Brainard Warner/Circle Manor property on Saturday, April 8, 2006 from 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM.The 50 people who attened discussed the following topics:
|
April 18 |
Community Meeting and Workshop |
April 24 |
Report to Kensington Town Council on workshop. (A similar report will be given to the Planning Board) |
May 11 |
Public Hearing (Item #16) Click here to review the Staff memo. |
| 2008 | |
February |
Request for Proposals to solicit ideas from interested businesses and non-profit groups for reuse of the property. |
| November | The Department of Parks announced it will cancel its request for proposals (RFP) and look to a public agency solution for reuse of the property |
| *NOTE: Adobe PDF Reader is required to view some of the files above. - download free Acrobat Reader software from Adobe.com | |
