Planned Spy Campus Divides Bethesda Community

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BETHESDA, MD (WUSA) --- Residents of wealthy neighborhoods with spectacular views of the C and O Canal and the Potomac River here are divided over plans by the government to build what it is calling an intelligence community campus on the 40 acre site of the old National Geospatial Intelligence Agency just off MacArthur Blvd. The campus would provide office space to about three thousand employees of various intelligence agencies

The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, known as the government mapping agency, has moved its headquarters to Ft. Belvoir in Virginia, taking business away from shops in Bethesda.

"We've seen a drop in business because the defense mapping agency, they've slowly taken their employees away...We have been thinking the last couple of years, how is this going to impact our business?" said Amy Schmonsees, owner of the Wild Bird Center in a nearby shopping mall.

"We were excited to hear about three thousand jobs coming in. The quicker the better," she said.

But some neighbors are worried what the change will mean to their quality of life, and worry about the environmental impact of the adjacent and sensitive C and O Canal National Historic Park.

"There are significant environmental issues about clearing several acres of trees (that) will effect the the watershed and the national park area," said neighbor Laird Patterson.

Some neighbors are particularly worried about a proposed six story parking garage that would require the destruction of trees and would change the vistas both from and of the Potomac River.

"We, of course, don't want all the trees taken down. We live in the neighborhood. We want them to be respectful of that, for sure," said Schmonsees of the Wild Bird Center.

There are other issues as well.

"I think there are multiple impacts. The first is that there are tremendous traffic issues because they are proposing a 44 percent increase, at least, in the traffic," said Patterson in a 9News Now interview on Monday evening.

A planning review is scheduled for February.

Source: http://bethesda.wusa9.com/news/news/86718-planned-spy-campus-divides-bethesda-community

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