Suburban Pushes for Lincoln Street Abandonment With Petition

is launching a petition in order to garner support for the abandonment of one block of Lincoln Street, necessary for its contested expansion plans.

The hospital requested an abandonment of one block of the road — between Old Georgetown Road and Grant Street — in April of 2008 in order to allow for an addition to the hospital and a new parking garage. The hospital, which hasn’t seen a major facilities upgrade since 1979, is seeking to add 15 operating rooms, on-site physician offices, private patient rooms, and a parking garage.

The abandonment of the road, along with the demolition of houses the hospital owns in the area, have been a point of contention between the hospital and the Huntington Terrace Citizens Association, which represents the surrounding community.

The Montgomery County Board of Appeals that the hospital may move forward with its plans, though the body ruled that Suburban may only remove less than half of the 23 houses it hoped to demolish in order to expand. In January, the HTCA to Montgomery County Circuit Court.

The abandonment of Lincoln Street, however, requires County Council approval in order to move forward. In January, County Executive Isiah Leggett by a county public hearing officer which found that the abandonment is necessary to allow the hospital to expand, and in turn, the health services provided by the addition would benefit the community. The officer also found the abandonment would improve hospital-related traffic conflicts in the area, and that residents had a variety of other ways to access the community.

The HTCA has contested the recommendation, saying in a statement, “HTCA supports the mission of Suburban Hospital to provide medical services to the community, but it does not support this current design that closes our main access to and from Old Georgetown Road.”

It’s not yet clear when the council will vote on the Lincoln Street abandonment. In a push for a vote in favor of the move, Suburban organized the petition and recently posted it to its Facebook and Twitter accounts. The petition reads, “The greater public benefit that will result from the hospital being able to provide modern operating rooms for patients outweighs the minor inconvenience perceived by a few.”

“We want the County Council to know that thousands of Montgomery County residents support Suburban's campus enhancement project,” wrote Ronna Borenstein-Levy, a spokeswoman for Suburban, in an e-mail to Patch.

The petition is set to be sent to the County Council March 18.