guest post: Valerie Berton

July 29 will be the last meeting of the Montgomery County Planning Board until September 16. The Board, which meets weekly on Thursdays, typically takes a recess every August. This year, the Board will stay on break through the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah and reconvene in mid-September.

As you might expect, the Board’s agenda is packed on this last day before a six-week recess. On tap:

• A mandatory referral review of the proposed Travilah Fire Station, on 5½ acres at Darnestown and Shady Grove roads in Shady Grove. The proposed station is expected to serve Travilah, Traville, Fallsgrove and western Rockville. The Planning Board will provide comments to the county’s Department of General Services on the station’s design, access, landscaping, environmental concerns and any other site planning issues to the county.
• Downtown Silver Spring streetscape. In another mandatory referral review, the Planning Board will issue recommendations on the county’s upgrades to the pedestrian environment between Selim Road and Wayne Avenue – which covers most of the eastern part of downtown Silver Spring known as Fenton Village. It’s been 25 years since the county constructed the streetscape and these upgrades are intended to meet disability requirements and increase safety for pedestrians through sidewalk paving materials, landscaping and new curbs. Planners have recommended drought-tolerant plant species, brighter street lights and a wider mid-street pedestrian refuge that can accommodate shade trees.

Georgia Avenue streetscape

• Wheaton Sector Plan public hearing. Planners have sketched out a vision for downtown Wheaton that encourages reinvestment and inviting public spaces as part of the proposed Wheaton Central Business District Sector Plan.  The Board will deliberate the plan’s recommendations before sending it to the County Council. The first step of the Planning Board’s process is the July 29 public hearing at which residents, property owners, employers and others are invited to provide input on the plan recommendations that include strategies for revitalization and mixed-use development – housing, shops, restaurants and offices – and renewed civic spaces as a way to make a more walkable community.