Press kit: the school site that became a bus depot

The records, in about three minutes

A narrated explainer built from the public records on this page. Free to use with credit to No Bus Depot.

Download the HD video (MP4) Captions (SRT)

The story in 90 seconds

Copy-ready. Attributable to No Bus Depot, a residents' group in Potomac Glen, the Willows of Potomac and Lakewood Estates.

When the Montgomery County Planning Board approved the Willows of Potomac and Piney Glen Village, about 1,300 homes in all, it did so on conditions. One required the developers to provide a 12-acre elementary school site. On February 13, 1990, the Board of Education voted unanimously to accept the site they offered, in Resolution 85-90, "Acceptance of Site Dedication for Future Piney Meetinghouse Elementary School." Condition 12 of the Planning Board's 1993 revised opinion restates the requirement: "dedication or provision of a minimum 12-acre site for elementary school." The 1995 subdivision plat labels the parcel at Cavanaugh Drive and Shady Grove Road "to be conveyed to Montgomery County Board of Education." In 1996 the developers deeded the 12.1 acres to the Board, in the deed's words, with "no actual consideration being paid." The Board put up a sign that still stands: School Site for Future Growth.

In October 2025 the Superintendent's capital plan listed the site, along with two others, as a replacement for the Shady Grove bus depot the County wants vacated. MCPS's approved FY2027 facility plan now lists "Wootton ES #7 Future Site" as a planned "Bus Depot/Regional Support Center." Neighbors learned of it from the budget document, after the public budget hearings, and MCPS has said it has not conducted site-specific community engagement because engagement begins once a project is approved to move forward.

The land sits inside the Piney Branch Special Protection Area and a State-designated Priority Urban Forest, across the street from homes, including those built under the County's affordable housing program, at the only exit of seven residential streets onto a road that already carries quarry trucks. Both homeowner associations have asked the Board to remove the site from the capital plan and direct MCPS and the County to find commercial or light industrial land. More than 1,500 people have signed a petition. The Board hears public testimony Oct 26 and 27 and votes Nov 19.

Why now

Oct 15Registration to testify opens at 6 PM, a new time MCPS set on Oct 12. Slots are shared county-wide and go in minutes.

Oct 265 PM, public hearing #1, in person, Patricia B. O'Neill Board Room, 15 W. Gude Drive, Rockville. Residents plan to fill the room with signs. The visual is there.

Oct 275 PM, public hearing #2, virtual.

Nov 194 PM, Board of Education business meeting with action on the FY2028 capital budget and amendments to the FY2027 to 2032 CIP.

The receipts

Public records, in order, with how each one connects to the next. Full files below each card.

Board of Education minutes, February 13, 1990: the opening of the minutes and Resolution No. 85-90, with the title, the unanimous vote, the Planning Board conditions and the no-cost conveyance highlighted in yellow

1990 The Board votes to accept it

Board of Education of Montgomery County, approved minutes of the regular meeting of February 13, 1990, Resolution No. 85-90, page 16. Adopted unanimously. Published by MCPS at montgomeryschoolsmd.org.

"Re: Acceptance of Site Dedication for Future Piney Meetinghouse Elementary School"

"WHEREAS, Developers of two adjacent subdivisions have joined together to make an elementary school site available to the Board of Education in accordance with the conditions set forth by the Montgomery County Planning Board for approval of their respective preliminary plans; ... RESOLVED, That the Board of Education authorize acceptance of a 12-acre parcel of land which is to be conveyed at no cost to the Board of Education"

The two subdivisions are the Willows of Potomac and Piney Glen Village. Two days after the vote, Planning Board staff reported "the School Board's approval of the proposed school site" at the Willows site plan hearing (Site Plan 8-89085, minutes of February 15, 1990).

How it connects: the resolution places the site at Piney Meetinghouse Road and Shady Grove Road extended. The 1995 plat and the 1996 deed identify the land that was conveyed.

Minutes, Feb 13, 1990 (MCPS, PDF)Page 16 Page 1 Site plan record

Page 3 of the 1993 Planning Board Revised Opinion, conditions 9 to 14, with Condition 12 circled in red

1993 The County makes it a condition

Montgomery County Planning Board, Revised Opinion, Preliminary Plan 1-88187, The Willows of Potomac (applicant Percontee), revised circa March 2, 1993. 723 lots on 244.80 acres in the R-200 zone. Source: M-NCPPC Development Activity Information Center, application 119881870.

"12. Dedication or provision of minimum 12-acre site for elementary school, acceptable to MCPB and MCPS staff, with location determined by the time of site plan review in conjunction with Preliminary Plan 1-88190."

Preliminary Plan 1-88190 is Piney Glen Village, the neighboring subdivision; together the two plans cover roughly 1,300 homes. The same opinion requires a conservation easement over the stream buffer (Condition 9), noise mitigation (Condition 10) and 92 moderately priced dwelling units (Condition 8).

How it connects: the condition fixed the location at site plan review. At that review, in February 1990, the Planning Board recorded the School Board's approval of the site (see 1990). The 1995 plat and the 1996 deed identify the land.

Opinion, 4 pages (PDF)Page 1 Page 3 M-NCPPC record

Detail of Plat 19721 showing Parcel AX, 12.1004 acres, to be conveyed to Montgomery County Board of Education

1995 The land is marked for the School Board

Plat No. 19721, Montgomery County Land Records, recorded May 23, 1995 (Maryland State Archives MSA S1249-6476). Parcel AX, 12.1004 acres, at Cavanaugh Drive and Shady Grove Road.

"To be conveyed to Montgomery County Board of Education."

A note on the same plat says the terms and conditions of the Planning Board's approvals "are intended to survive and not to be extinguished by the recordation of this plat."

Plat 19721 note: All terms, conditions, agreements, limitations, and requirements associated with any Preliminary Plan, Project Plan or other plan approved by the Montgomery County Planning Board are intended to survive and not to be extinguished by the recordation of this plat. The survival wording is highlighted in yellow.

Why it matters: the note covers every condition of the Planning Board's approvals, Condition 12 included.

Plat 19721 (PDF)Full sheet (JPG)Parcel AX detail

First page of the 1996 deed to the Board of Education

1996 Deeded to the Board for no money

Deed, Montgomery County Land Records, Liber 13927 Folio 133, recorded February 14, 1996. Percontee, Inc., RCS Land Company I, Inc. and Piney Meetinghouse Limited Partnership to the Board of Education of Montgomery County. 12.1004 acres. Tax ID 4-87-3100722.

"in consideration of the sum of Five Dollars ($5.00) and other good and valuable considerations, there being no actual consideration being paid for the within conveyance"

How it connects: the deed carried out the County's condition and the Board's 1990 acceptance, for no money. The second page carries signatures and is omitted here; the full instrument is at mdlandrec.net.

Deed, page 133 (JPG)Consideration clause, detail Land Records (free account)

Sign on the land: School Site for Future Growth, Property of Board of Education Montgomery County

Today The Board's own sign

Photographed October 2026 at Cavanaugh Drive and Shady Grove Road. Free to use with credit to No Bus Depot.

"School Site for Future Growth. Property of Board of Education, Montgomery County."

Full resolution (JPG)Wider framing (JPG)

2025 One line in the capital plan

MCPS, Superintendent's Proposed Capital Improvements Program FY2027 to FY2032, preview presentation, October 13, 2025, slide 61 ("Recommended Regionalized and Centralized Services"). And MCPS FY2027 Capital Improvements Program, Chapter 1, facility use table.

"Dover Rd., NW ES #8, and Wootton ES #7 sites are new and would allow for us to vacate Shady Grove."

Facility: Wootton ES #7 Future Site. Current use: Vacant. Planned use: Bus Depot/Regional Support Center.

The County Council kept the project in the six-year plan in spring 2026 but moved its funding from FY2027 to FY2030. The Board's Fiscal Management Committee agreed to revisit the site this fall as a possible CIP amendment.

What is not public: a bus count for this site. The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County reported that a slide skipped in the Superintendent's October 2025 public presentation showed 495 buses moving to the Wootton and Northwest clusters, roughly 250 per site. MCPS has not published a per-site figure. We say "hundreds."

Superintendent's deck (PDF, 100 pages)MCPS CIP page Parents' Coalition, Mar 18, 2026

First page of the 1992 conservation easement

1992 The stream buffer the County protected

Conservation Easement, August 28, 1992, Percontee, Inc. to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Montgomery County Land Records, Liber 10621 Folio 49. Recorded under Condition 9 of the same approval.

The parcel lies within the Piney Branch Special Protection Area, which the County created to protect the Watts Branch watershed, and within a Priority Urban Forest designated by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. A 100-year floodplain and this forest conservation easement sit beside it. (Per the homeowner associations' letter of Oct 8, 2026.) Plat 19721 draws the easement on the neighboring homeowner association parcels, not on the school site.

Easement (PDF)The HOAs' letter The Special Protection Area case

In their own words

Statements by MCPS, the Board of Education and County planners. Copies available on request.

"MCPS and DGS have previously explored both commercial and publicly owned properties that could accommodate school bus parking and related transportation operations; however, no identified sites have met the cost or operational factors needed for approval to date."

"Because these projects have not yet entered the pre-planning/design phase, MCPS has not conducted site-specific community engagement regarding the proposed facilities. This is consistent with the approach used for other capital projects: broad CIP discussions occur during the budget development process, while more detailed community engagement begins once a project is approved to move forward into pre-planning."

"At this stage, the facilities would be planned to accommodate both diesel and electric school buses."

MCPS statement provided to the office of Delegate Linda Foley (District 15) in response to a constituent inquiry, September 17, 2026.

"At this time, planning and evaluation efforts are ongoing, and there may not yet be a single comprehensive public resource available specific to the site you referenced."

Ombudsperson, Montgomery County Board of Education, in a written reply to a resident, October 1, 2026.

"It appears from the limited records available that the approval was based in part on the knowledge that the Master Plan projected a future school at the intersection of Shady Grove Road and Piney Meetinghouse Road."

"Per Master Plan guidance, this property has already been transferred to the Montgomery County Public Schools, and it is quite unlikely that the MCPS will surplus this property, given the growing demand for classrooms. The more encouraging news is that, indeed, there will be recreation fields accompanying the school."

Supervisor, Site Plan Review and Enforcement, Montgomery County Planning Department, email to a Willows of Potomac resident, July 18, 2002. In the public file for Site Plan 8-89085.

"We respectfully request that the Board of Education permanently remove this location from the CIP and direct MCPS and the Montgomery County Government to pursue a more appropriate developed or industrial site."

Boards of the Potomac Glen Community Association and the Willows of Potomac Community Association, letter to the Board of Education, October 8, 2026. Full letter.

The place

From the public record and the homeowner associations' letter of Oct 8, 2026.

12 acresof forest at the corner of Cavanaugh Drive and Shady Grove Road, Rockville, MD 20850.

SPAInside the Piney Branch Special Protection Area (Watts Branch watershed) and a State-designated Priority Urban Forest; floodplain and conservation easement adjacent.

1,300+residences in the surrounding communities.

92moderately priced dwelling units required by the 1993 approval; the homes closest to the proposed depot entrance were built under the County's affordable housing program.

7Willows of Potomac streets whose only exit is onto Shady Grove Road.

800+quarry truck trips a weekday on Shady Grove Road, per the 2002 Potomac Subregion Master Plan, which reports a 2002 noise study that found the 67 dBA threshold exceeded at two locations.

55 dBAMontgomery County's residential noise limit before 7 AM, when bus operations begin.

$70MMCPS budget for two new transportation and regional support facilities, planning funded from FY2030 (FY2027 CIP, project P652703).

ParksThe 2002 Potomac Subregion Master Plan says school sites the Board does not need should be evaluated for parks, environmental and other public purposes, and recommends "Re-use surplus school sites as parks." This site has not been declared surplus.

2040MCPS approved a new diesel bus purchasing contract in April 2026 running through December 2027; buses stay in service 12 or more years.

Timeline

July 1988Percontee applies to subdivide 244.80 acres in the R-200 zone: Preliminary Plan 1-88187, The Willows of Potomac.
Feb 1989The Planning Board approves Preliminary Plan 1-88187. One condition requires a 12-acre school site.
Feb 13, 1990The Board of Education votes unanimously to accept the site, Resolution 85-90: "Acceptance of Site Dedication for Future Piney Meetinghouse Elementary School."
Aug 1992Conservation easement over the stream buffer recorded (Liber 10621 Folio 49).
Mar 1993Planning Board's Revised Opinion approves the plan with 15 conditions, including a minimum 12-acre elementary school site.
May 1995Plat 19721 recorded: Parcel AX, 12.1004 acres, "to be conveyed to Montgomery County Board of Education."
Feb 1996Deed to the Board of Education recorded, "no actual consideration being paid."
1996 to 2025The land stays wooded. The Board's sign reads School Site for Future Growth. About 1,300 homes are built around it.
Oct 13, 2025The Superintendent's CIP preview names Wootton ES #7 as a new transportation site that would let MCPS vacate the Shady Grove depot. Neighbors are not notified.
Spring 2026The County Council keeps the project in the CIP and delays funding from FY2027 to FY2030. The Board's Fiscal Management Committee agrees to revisit the site in the fall.
Apr 27, 2026Residents' petition launched; 1,576 verified signatures as of Oct 10, 2026.
Sep 17, 2026MCPS tells Delegate Foley's office it has not conducted site-specific community engagement.
Oct 8, 2026Both homeowner associations ask the Board, in writing, to remove the site.
Oct 26 and 27, 2026Board of Education public hearings on the capital plan.
Nov 19, 2026Board of Education vote.

Where we stand

We are not against a bus depot. MCPS needs bus parking, and the County wants the Shady Grove depot vacated. We say a depot belongs on commercial or light industrial land, not in any residential neighborhood.
We do not propose another site. That is MCPS's and the County's job.
Our case rests on the public record: a condition the County set, a vote the Board took, a promise a community was built around, and a process that skipped the people next door.
We do not have an MCPS bus count for this site. We say "hundreds" and cite the watchdog report for the 250 figure.
We quote every record as it reads, with a link to the original, and leave legal conclusions to lawyers.

Four ways in

The promise

A county required a school site as the price of building a neighborhood. The Board of Education voted unanimously to accept it, took the land for free and posted a sign. Thirty years later it wants to park buses there. The sign is still there. Residents are asking the Board to keep its own word. The documents are above.

Decide first, ask later

The site entered the capital plan after the budget hearings, from a slide the Superintendent skipped in public. MCPS says in writing that community engagement starts after approval. The Board votes Nov 19.

Free land isn't free

MCPS says the commercial sites it explored did not meet "cost or operational factors." This site costs nothing to own and a lot to build on: twelve acres of forest in a Special Protection Area, a water quality plan, forest conservation, noise mitigation on a road the County's master plan calls a quarry truck route, and road work. The project is budgeted at $70 million for two facilities, with planning funded from FY2030.

The County's own map

A Special Protection Area, a Priority Urban Forest, a conservation easement, affordable housing across the street, a quarry truck route, one exit for seven streets. Every protection on the map, and a depot in the middle.

Questions worth asking MCPS

How is converting land the Planning Board required for an elementary school into a bus depot consistent with that 1993 approval?
How many buses would be parked at Wootton ES Site #7, and where is that figure published?
What site-specific traffic, noise, environmental or stormwater analysis has been done for this parcel, and when will it be?
Which commercial and publicly owned properties were evaluated, and on what criteria did they fail?
Does the "cost" that ruled out commercial sites include clearing, water quality controls, forest conservation, noise mitigation and road work at this site?
Why was the slide naming the three sites skipped in the October 2025 public presentation?
In 1990 the Board voted unanimously to accept this land in Resolution 85-90, "Acceptance of Site Dedication for Future Piney Meetinghouse Elementary School." Has any Board vote since changed that purpose?
What does the County, which wants Shady Grove vacated, owe MCPS in return: land, money, or both?

Photos and video

Free to use with credit to No Bus Depot. Residents and the site are available for your own photography and interviews.

Explainer video title card: promised for a school, planned for a bus depot

Explainer, 3 min 20 s, narrated

Watch HD file Captions

The Special Protection Area case, video title card: inside a Special Protection Area, the Board has protected land like this before

The Special Protection Area case, 4 min 20 s, narrated

Watch HD file Captions

The sign

Full res Wide

Drone video, 84 s, with narration

Watch and download HD file

Concept of Site #7 with a bus depot, from the residents' drone photo

Before and after (concept)

Side by side 4:5 Story Video Today

Resolution 85-90 with Elementary School circled

The Board's 1990 vote, circled

PNG Minutes excerpt

Condition 12 with elementary school circled

Condition 12, circled

PNG Plat detail Deed detail

Residents' signs

All six

1993 condition versus the MCPS capital plan line

1993 vs. now

1200 x 630 Square Story

Download the full kit (ZIP)

Who to talk to

No Bus Depot is a volunteer effort by residents of Potomac Glen, the Willows of Potomac and Lakewood Estates, working with both community associations. Available on request through press@nobusdepot.com: the association presidents who signed the Oct 8 letter; families on the seven streets that exit onto Shady Grove Road; residents of the affordable homes nearest the proposed entrance; parents of children who walk that road. Decision makers: the Montgomery County Board of Education (240-740-3030) and MCPS Department of Facilities Management.

The school sitethat becamea bus depot.