Planners discussed community feedback and County-approved development for Rock Spring during meeting at Walter Johnson High School
SILVER SPRING, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, held a community meeting on Wednesday, October 28 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Walter Johnson High School (6400 Rock Spring Drive, Bethesda, MD) to discuss existing conditions and approved development in the Rock Spring Master Plan area.
The planning team summarized community feedback about the Master Plan that was received at the kick-off meeting on September 1 and September 17 meeting, which focused on school capacity issues in the Walter Johnson cluster.
In addition to concerns about school sites and overcrowding, residents have expressed interest in better transit access and connectivity; more walkable streets, open space and parks; more community and senior centers; and less traffic impact in neighborhoods adjacent to Rock Spring. These issues will be considered by the planners when the preliminary Rock Spring Master Plan recommendations are drafted later in the process.
Staff summarized office and retail market conditions in Rock Spring, noting the premium office space that catered to large scale office tenants during the 1980s and 1990s. The current trend for executive offices is to be located in transit-friendly, mixed-use environments.
Planners also presented the concept of placemaking, which provides ideas about how a traditional suburban office park could be transformed through improved street design, connectivity and programming of activities. These ideas will be discussed in more detail at the next Rock Spring Master Plan community meeting on December 14, 2015.
In order to inform attendees about developments that have been approved in the Master Plan area, the October 28 meeting included presentations from property owners. Jim Agliata, vice president of development for Westfield Montgomery Mall, spoke about the extensive renovations that have been undertaken at the mall, including the addition of Arclight movie theaters and remodeling of the food court.
Steve Robins, an attorney representing the Rock Spring Centre project, provided an overview of the development plans that have been approved, but have not been built, for a large, mixed-use project on a 50-acre site across from Walter Johnson High School. Residential builder McLean Quinn of EYA spoke about Montgomery Row, a 168-townhome community under construction on a site formerly planned for an office building on Fernwood Drive between Rock Spring and Rockledge Drives.
View the presentations from the October 28 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.
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 high 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