Montgomery County Public School’s Bruce Crispell will join planning teams for Rock Spring and White Flint 2 to discuss school capacity issues in the Walter Johnson school cluster
Silver Spring, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, launched the Rock Spring Master Plan with a community meeting held at Walter Johnson High School on Tuesday, September 1 to discuss the goals of the Plan. About 150 people attended the event to learn about the demographics, existing conditions and placemaking challenges in the area, and opportunities to participate in the planning process.
Many attendees provided valuable feedback about their goals and vision for enlivening the office park. Numerous participants raised concerns about schools in the Rock Spring area, which is located within the Walter Johnson school cluster.
The community has the opportunity to learn more about school issues in Rock Spring at a September 17 meeting hosted by the Montgomery County Planning Department master planning teams for Rock Spring and White Flint 2.
The planners will join representatives from Montgomery County Public Schools to address common challenges and opportunities within the Walter Johnson school cluster. The meeting will be held 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 September 17 Rock Spring and White Flint 2 Meeting.
The September 17 meeting represents the beginning of a dialogue about how to address school facility issues in the areas covered by the Rock Spring and White Flint 2 master plans. Representatives from the Planning Department and Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) will address the roles of their agencies and the various tools available to address school capacity issues.
During the upcoming master planning processes for these two areas, the Planning 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.
Meeting Details:
Rock Spring and White Flint 2 Master Plans Community Meeting
Thursday, September 17
Walter Johnson High School (6400 Rock Spring Drive, Bethesda, MD)
7 to 9 p.m.
RSVP for the Rock Spring and White Flint 2 Master Plans Community Meeting
Background on the Rock Spring Master Plan:
The Rock Spring area of North Bethesda is included in the 1992 North Bethesda/Garrett Park Sector Plan and mostly comprises single-use office buildings. The headquarters for Lockheed Martin and Marriott International are located within Rock Spring and Montgomery Mall is located just to the west.
The 1992 Sector Plan recommended the North Bethesda Transitway to link the Metrorail Red Line with Montgomery Mall via Old Georgetown Road and Rock Spring Drive. The Transitway was originally conceived as a link between the Grosvenor Metrorail Station to the east, through Rock Spring, to a planned transit center at Montgomery Mall. It is included in the approved 2013 Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan (CTCFMP) and would increase transit accessibility for this area, providing a framework for re-evaluating redevelopment of the area.
Rock Spring is part of the North Bethesda/Potomac office submarket. It accounts for 48 percent of office inventory in North Bethesda and 7 percent of office space Countywide. The current office vacancy rate in Rock Spring is 21.6 percent, higher than the overall County vacancy rate of 15 percent.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has vacated approximately 160,000 square feet of leased office space in Rock Spring for a new site in Twinbrook and Marriott International is also looking for a new location for its headquarters.
Challenges confronting the Rock Spring planners include:
- Reinventing a suburban office park, with its auto-oriented street network and surface parking lots.
- Identifying opportunities for a new street grid.
- Examining places for public use spaces and amenities.
- Introducing residential and retail uses into predominately non-residential development to create a mixed use environment.
- Planning sustainable environmental measures.
- Evaluating infrastructure needs for the area.
For more information about the Rock Spring Master Plan contact:
Lead Planner, Don Zeigler, tel.301.495.4638, email Don.Zeigler@montgomeryplanning.org
Senior Urban Designer, Michael Bello, tel. 301-495-4597, email Michael.Bello@montgomeryplanning.org
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www.montgomeryplanning.org/rockspring
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