Community invited to comment on recommendations that address potential mixed uses, connectivity to surroundings, future bus transit and open spaces for North Bethesda office park
SILVER SPRING, MD –The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, has posted the Public Hearing Draft of the Rock Spring Master Plan on its website for public review and invites members of the community to testify about its recommendations at the Planning Board meeting on Thursday, December 1. For details about speaking or submitting testimony, consult the Planning Board website.
View the Rock Spring Public Hearing Draft.
The Rock Spring Master Plan Public Hearing Draft envisions this 535-acre area in North Bethesda as an employment center that could offer new housing and retail. New development and redevelopment of existing buildings should focus activity along a proposed central circulation spine, which could provide a future transitway for buses and safe routes for pedestrians, bicyclists and cars.
Regional shopping at the western end of Rock Spring (Westfield Montgomery Mall) and neighborhood shopping at the eastern end (Wildwood Shopping Center and Georgetown Square Shopping Center) are expected to continue for the near term, although limited redevelopment on these sites is possible.
Master Plan Recommendations
The Rock Spring Master Plan seeks to build on the goals of the 1992 North Bethesda/Garrett Park Master Plan and leverage the inherent strengths of the Rock Spring area through:
-Establishing a redevelopment framework that provides greater amenity options and a mix of uses for companies and their employees, as well as residents, in both the short and long term.
-Prioritizing the North Bethesda Transitway as a transportation corridor by providing bus rapid transit.
-Concentrating new activity, both public and private, along a “Main Street” to:
-Establish a greater sense of place and an identity for the Rock Spring area.
-Reduce the real and perceived distances between the east and west sides of the Plan area by connecting activity nodes along the spine.
-Provide areas of interest and activity for future residents and employees.
-Encourage a safe and inviting pedestrian and bicycle street environment.
-Ensure compatibility with adjacent residential neighborhoods.
-Enhancing connectivity between the Rock Spring Plan area and surrounding residential neighborhoods, adjacent parks, and nearby community facilities.
-Creating linkages between existing trails and green spaces, and establishing new open spaces through redevelopment.
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, and that rate is expected to increase given the planned relocation of the Marriott headquarters to Bethesda. Recognizing the changing preferences of employers and their workforces for transit-served locations that have a dynamic mix of uses, this planning effort explored ways to reimagine Rock Spring.
The 1992 North Bethesda/Garrett Park Master 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 new County Zoning Ordinance became effective on October 30, 2014. The Rock Spring Master Plan Public Hearing Draft proposes some revisions to the EOF zone.
In addition, the 1992 Master Plan recommended the North Bethesda Transitway to connect the Rock Spring area with the Grosvenor-Strathmore Metrorail Station via Tuckerman Lane, Old Georgetown Road and Rock Spring Drive. The transitway is included in the approved 2013 Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan (CTCFMP), which recommends four proposed stations along the central spine. The Rock Spring Master Plan Public Hearing Draft recommends making this transitway a priority for the area.