NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in consultation with federal, state and
local officials, has released draft documents describing the Center’s
Facilities Master Planning proposals for its site in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Copies of the Master Plan are available, and comments are welcome until
September 3, 2002.

A Facilities Master Plan is a set of proposals to change the Center’s
buildings, roads, fences, utilities and land use over the next 20 years. The
Plan sets general guidelines for the many individual proposals to change
Center facilities during that timeframe and helps to ensure that these
proposals fit together. The Plan is a part of Goddard’s overall effort to
conduct its work more efficiently and effectively.

The documents include two volumes. In addition to the Draft Facilities
Master Plan, the first volume contains a Draft Transportation Management
Plan, which describes the Center’s program to encourage employees to carpool
and use mass transit, doing its part to help reduce area roadway congestion.

The second volume contains a Draft Environmental Assessment, which describes
the engineering analysis of the likely consequences of the proposals in the
Master Plan. Consequences include effects on natural features (woodlands,
wetlands and wildlife), cultural resources (historic buildings and sites),
and nearby homes, roadways and commerce.

The Plan includes a proposal to relocate a part of Soil Conservation Service
Road to a new route across GSFC over the next two years. While the specific
route is still under study, the Center has announced its preference for
relocating the road to the east. The Draft Environmental Assessment
describes this proposal and its consequences in detail.

Comments are solicited from federal, state and local agencies, elected
officials, and other interested groups and individuals in the community. At
the end of the comment period, the documents will be presented to the
National Capital Planning Commission, the coordinators of Master Plans at
Federal facilities in the Washington area.

For more information on the Goddard Facilities Master Plan, go to:
http://gsfc-facilities.gsfc.nasa.gov/

The documents are available for public review at the following locations:

… Prince George’s County Memorial Library System

Greenbelt Branch

11 Crescent Road

Greenbelt, MD 20770

New Carrollton Branch

7414 Riverdale Road

New Carrollton, MD 20784

Bowie Branch

15210 Annapolis Road

Bowie, MD 20716