SPEAK OUT: What Should Happen to the Kentlands Firehouse Property?
The Kentlands Firehouse RFP committee presented its suggestions for the redevelopment of the property.
The Kentlands Firehouse RFP committee presented its ideas for the redevelopment of the property at a mayor and city council work session Monday night in Gaithersburg.
The committee, tasked with compiling a non-exclusive list of potential uses for the Firehouse property, used a "Choosing by Advantages" (CAB) method— in which they weighed different variables and multiplied results to create a score for each idea. The full presentation can be viewed on the City of Gaithersburg website.
They considered proposals involving reuse or redevelopment, which would involve demolition.
Based on the committee's CAB formula, they created a rankings list which suggested reusing the building as private residential, private co-working offices and private single tenant offices as the top 3 options for the property.
Other options for the property, in order of their rank, are: reuse as private art studios, reuse as public co-working office, redevelopment into private residential, reuse as public city classes, reuses public art studios, reuse as public single tenant office, reuse as a park, reuse as an event venue annex to Kentlands Mansion, reuse as a bed and breakfast or small inn and redevelopment as a vacant lot.
SPEAK OUT: How do you think the Kentlands Firehouse property should be redeveloped? Do you agree with the committee's recommendations to Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney Katz and the city council? Tell us in the comments!
Bora Mici
9:42 pm on Tuesday, June 12, 2012
How was community utility/desirability determined in assigning advantages? What about retaining the greenhouse and creating a small community-based co-op grocery store and residential or studio space upstairs?
Kentlands Comm.
2:32 pm on Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Make it a homeless shelter
Jacqueline Krakovsky
11:57 pm on Monday, June 18, 2012
Whatever use the city chooses, careful consideration should be given to how it will impact the Kentlands community and how it will impact the firehouse neighbors in particular.