Suburban Hospital hearing set

Montgomery County’s zoning appeals board has set Sept. 15 as the date for oral arguments on the proposed expansion of Suburban Hospital in Bethesda.

The board began its review this week of the plan, which a hearing examiner has recommended be sent back to the hospital for revisions to reduce the impact on the adjoining neighborhood.

Board of Appeals Chairman Catherine Titus on Wednesday rejected an appeal by a neighborhood group that she recuse herself from the case. The Huntington Terrace Citizens Association asked Titus to step aside because her husband once served as chairman of Suburban’s board, and the couple has donated money to the hospital. Titus, the community group said, would have to review her husband’s testimony in a previous expansion proposal.

But Titus said she could be objective in the case, that the testimony of her husband, now a federal judge, was not relevant to the current case, and that she lacks bias “in favor of or against any party.”

--Miranda S. Spivack