Community invited to meet with planners, discuss the challenges and opportunities of the plan area at Walter Johnson High School from 7 to 9 p.m.
SILVER SPRING, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, is inviting residents, business owners and anyone with an interest in the Rock Spring area to attend a community meeting hosted by the Rock Spring Master Plan team on Wednesday, October 28 at Walter Johnson High School (6400 Rock Spring Drive, Bethesda, MD) from 7 to 9 p.m. RSVPs are encouraged, but not required.
RSVP for the October 28 Rock Spring Community Meeting.
View the Rock Spring Master Plan Scope of Work presented to the Planning Board on October 8.
View the Rock Spring Master Plan Scope of Work presentation from October 8.
The October 28 community meeting follows the September 17 joint meeting with the Rock Spring and White Flint 2 Master Plan teams which focused on MCPS facility concerns in the Walter Johnson High School cluster. The September 17 meeting, which drew about 100 residents, was held to begin the dialogue about how to address school facility issues in this cluster.
During the upcoming master plan process for Rock Spring, Planning Department staff and MCPS staff will collaborate with the community to ensure that land use and zoning recommendations are coordinated with the corresponding recommendations for educational facilities.
Background on Rock Spring
Once considered a premier office location, Rock Spring has been particularly hard hit by the current downturn in the office market. Single-use business parks without access to transit, like Rock Spring, are struggling with the highest office vacancies. The current office vacancy rate in Rock Spring is 23.7 percent, higher than the County’s overall vacancy rate of 15 percent. In the context of changing preferences of employers and their workforce for transit-served locations with a dynamic mix of uses, this planning effort will explore ways to reimagine Rock Spring.
The 1992 North Bethesda/Garrett Park Sector Plan recommended some mixed-use zoning in the Rock Spring area, and one residential development of 386 multi-family units has been completed and a new 168-unit townhouse project is under construction. Much of the property in Rock Spring was converted to the Employment Office (EOF) zone when the Countywide rezoning became effective on October 30, 2014. The Rock Spring Master Plan effort will allow for a more detailed and nuanced assessment of the area’s zoning.
In addition, the 1992 Sector Plan also recommended the North Bethesda Transitway to connect the White Flint area with Montgomery Mall via Old Georgetown Road and Rock Spring Drive. The Transitway is included in the approved 2013 Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan (CTCFMP) and provides a framework for re-evaluating Rock Spring.
Challenges confronting the Rock Spring planners include:
-Reinventing an auto-centric suburban office park.
-Identifying opportunities for improved connectivity.
-Examining places for public use spaces and amenities.
-Introducing residential and retail uses into predominately non-residential development to create a mixed use environment.
-Identifying sustainable environmental measures.
-Analyzing the impact of potential new residential development on the public schools.
-Evaluating infrastructure needs for the area.
Learn more about the Rock Spring Master Plan.
For more information about the Rock Spring Master Plan, contact the planners:
Don Zeigler, tel.301.495.4638, email Don.Zeigler@montgomeryplanning.org or
Michael Bello, tel. 301.495.4597, email Michael.Bello@montgomeryplanning.org
Stay connected with the latest information about the Rock Spring Master Plan:
www.montgomeryplanning.org/rockspring
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