south silver spring needs better parks, not just more

A developer wants to build apartments here. Some neighbors want a park.

Citing a lack of open space, some South Silver Spring residents oppose a planned apartment building. But the problem isn't that there aren't enough parks, but that existing parks aren't being used.

Reston-based Comstock Homes seeks to build a 7-story, 200-unit building with ground-floor shops on a 1-acre property at the corner of Newell Street and Eastern Avenue currently home to a self-storage facility. Dubbed the Boulevard on Newell, the building would be allowed under current zoning and could start construction in 2014. Comstock will present their proposal at a meeting Monday, August 20 at 7pm in the Silver Spring Civic Building, located at Ellsworth Drive and Fenton Street in downtown Silver Spring.

While the South Silver Spring Neighborhood Association hasn't taken an official position on it, some residents living in the two buildings bordering the site, 8045 Newell Street and Eastern Village Cohousing, worried that the building could draw crime, block their sunlight and add more traffic to the area.

"The community is overdeveloped and there's too much density," says Brian Holland, an HR consultant who lives at 8045 Newell, in a phone interview with JUTP. "The community is beginning to say no. Enough."

Holland and his neighbors recently formed Park Now for South Silver Spring, which wants Montgomery County to buy the $2.8 million property and turn it into a park. "We request that our interests be prioritized over those of real estate developers," reads this petition, which as of Sunday night had 153 signatures.

New and old apartments in South Silver Spring, seen from the roof garden of Eastern Village.

Mostly warehouses and auto shops just ten years ago, South Silver Spring has sprouted several apartment and condominium buildings and is now one of the county's most densely populated neighborhoods, as members of Park Now are quick to note. It's not surprising that residents want open space.

At the same time, the property at Newell and Eastern is a short walk from the Silver Spring Transit Center, shopping centers and some of the region's largest employers. It's also literally across the street from the District of Columbia. This is an urban neighborhood, and people who choose to live there should be realistic about what kind of development will happen in their backyard.

That said, before spending millions of taxpayer dollars to acquire and build a new park in South Silver Spring, it's worth taking a look at the parks that already exist there.

Older apartment complexes like Rock Creek Springs have tree-filled courtyards, though they're only open to people who live there. However, newer buildings like 8045 Newell are required by the county to have a Public Use Space, usually in the form of a pocket park. 37 Public Use Spaces have been built in downtown Silver Spring in recent decades, and no fewer than 5 can be found within a block of Newell and Eastern, along with Acorn Park, a public park home to the original Silver Spring.

A pocket park outside the Veridian, a new apartment building in South Silver Spring.

Holland says those spaces don't count. "Those parks do not have any green. They are asphalt," he says, adding, "Many residents have no place to put their doggies. They basically defecate on the little strip [of grass] right by East-West Highway."

Many of the neighborhood's pocket parks are poorly designed and seldom used. However, it's worth exploring how they could be redesigned or reprogrammed to meet residents' needs. There's no reason why these pocket parks, home to nebulous public art today, couldn't accommodate dog runs, jungle gyms, or something else.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away is the 24-acre Jesup Blair Park, with playgrounds, sports fields and a picnic ground. But South Silver Spring residents don't go there. "It is deemed unsafe," says Holland. "There is a perception by some that it is intruded [upon] by people who live in the District."

Evan Glass, board member of the South Silver Spring Neighborhood Association, believes access, not crime, is the biggest reason why people aren't using the park. "It is divided from the community by a cavernous Georgia Avenue," he says. "Until we figure out how to bridge that divide, it's going to remain severely underutilized."

County planners propose building a park at a redeveloped Blair Park Shopping Center. Image from the Montgomery County Planning Department.

In the event there's still a need for more open space, county planners have studied potential sites for new, large parks in downtown Silver Spring. The Newell and Eastern property was one of three they identified in South Silver Spring, along with the parking lot at the Blair Park Shopping Center and a block bounded by East-West Highway, Bottleworks Lane and Kennett Street.

Those two sites may actually be better for a new park. They're both larger, at roughly 1.5 acres in size, and more centrally located within the neighborhood, allowing more residents to reach them. And a park at the Blairs, surrounded by shops, restaurants and offices, could be a really valuable space, offering a true green oasis in the busiest part of South Silver Spring.

No matter what gets built at Newell and Eastern, it's clear that there's a desire for quality park space in South Silver Spring. Hopefully, the community can come together to make it happen. "The association is trying to work with all parties involved, especially the residents, to make whatever outcome the most appealing for everyone," says Glass.

MoCo's RTV has promise, but needs lanes and money

Last Wednesday, members of a task force appointed to study a bus rapid transit system in Montgomery County talked about their findings at a forum at the Silver Spring Civic Building hosted by the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

While they stressed the importance of transit to the county's future, how the system will work and how it will be paid for are still unclear.

Composed of residents, community leaders and major landowners, the Transit Task Force was set up by County Executive Ike Leggett to give recommendations on how to build a countywide transit system dubbed RTV, for Rapid Transit Vehicle. In May, they released this report, concluding that a 16-line, 148-mile network of rapid bus routes would reduce congestion and provide new development opportunities. It builds on previous studies by planning consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff and an earlier proposal by County Councilmember Marc Elrich.

RTV stations will be more substantial, with features similar to those at Shirlington Station in Arlington.

Not your typical bus

Unlike traditional bus service, RTV stations would be distinctive and covered, with real-time information for when the next one was coming and off-board fare collection. Stops would be between a half-mile and a mile apart, while buses would run frequently throughout the day. The buses themselves would be sleek, attractive and level with the station platform, allowing riders with limited mobility to get on and off more easily.

Meanwhile, Metrobus and the county's Ride On bus service would be restructured. New "feeder buses" would collect riders in neighborhoods and deliver them to rapid transit stations, reducing the need for park-and-ride lots.

When finished, the RTV system could receive between 165,000 and 207,000 riders each day, though the task force was realistic about changing transportation habits. "We don't expect to get half the people out of their cars, but even if a small percentage do, it'll make a big difference," said Tina Slater, task force member and president of the Action Committee for Transit.

Francine Waters, representing Lerner Enterprises on the task force, talked about the development potential of RTV. Lines would connect research and development centers like the Great Seneca Science Corridor with the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda and the Food and Drug Administration in White Oak, creating a "science and health triangle."

Lerner is one of several developers is remaking White Flint as a new urban center. They hope to transform Rockville Pike into a grand boulevard, complete with special, protected lanes for buses. RTV is about "[providing] different levels of mobility," she said, making it easier for people to get around with or without a car.

Buses can carry the same number of people in far less space than cars. Image by carltonreid on Flickr.

Need for dedicated lanes

However, it's unclear whether the rest of the system will look like Rockville Pike. The Task Force chose not to look at where dedicated lanes would go, saying it required "block by block" solutions that were best considered during a future design phase. "The construction may be the simplest part," said Winston. "The sorting out of these issues will be extremely complicated."

Adding new lanes for transit could be prohibitively expensive, but county officials are reluctant to give existing lanes to buses. Parsons Brinckerhoff's study assumed that much of the system wouldn't have dedicated lanes at all.

"Some places you won't be able to take anything away," said Dan Wilhelm, task force representative from the Montgomery County Civic Federation.

As GGW's Dan Malouff wrote last month, that could be the undoing of Montgomery County's transit plans. A transit lane can carry more people than a normal car lane. According to Wilhelm, 3 car lanes can carry about 4,000 people per hour. Replace one of them with a dedicated bus lane, and capacity can increase to 10,000 people, depending on how frequent the buses are. With 3 car lanes and a bus lane, a street can carry as many as 18,000 people per hour.

This is especially relevant to the county's downtowns, like Bethesda and Silver Spring, where there's a lot of congestion that can slow buses down but no room to widen streets. Taking away lanes from cars in these areas will be politically unpopular, but giving them to buses is the only way to ensure that the rapid transit system is fast and reliable. Otherwise, riders will be reluctant to use the system, making it less effective while traffic gets worse.

Residents and businesses within a half-mile of RTV routes could see higher property taxes.

Questions about funding scheme

The task force estimates that the RTV system could cost $1.8 billion to build and $1.1 million each year to operate. They've proposed dividing it into 3 phases to be built over 20 years. Funding would likely come from a combination of state and local sources. The county could borrow money to build the system and and use the proceeds from a special taxing district along with some state funds to pay it off over time, in an arrangement similar to the 30/10 initiative being used by Los Angeles to pay for a massive transit expansion.

"This will last a long time and can be paid for over a long time," said Winston.

Some audience members were skeptical about that arrangement, which would tax residents and businesses within a half-mile of the proposed routes. Jim Zepp, Silver Spring resident and member of the Montgomery County Civic Federation, asked whether the system benefitted long-distance commuters from Frederick and Howard counties at the expense of those who lived next to a RTV line. "It's not Smart Growth," he said.

Winston suggested residents shouldn't "take a narrow view" of who will benefit from the service. "Even if I don't live near the service, I still benefit in a variety of direct and indirect ways," he said.

The task force warned that not improving the county's transportation system wasn't an option. Montgomery County already loses money to congestion, Wilhelm noted, due to wasted fuel and higher labor costs, which result in a higher cost for doing business here. Meanwhile, the county is losing jobs while surrounding areas continue to add them. There's room for over 160,000 new jobs in Montgomery County under current plans, but even without them, turnover from retirements and an influx of new workers means traffic will still be an issue.

"Burying our heads in the sand about creating additional transportation assets is not the solution," said Winston. "We need to do this even if we don't create all these new jobs, and especially if we do."

Next up, the Planning Department will take a look at the rapid transit proposal and make further refinements. County planners have already made changes to the system outlined by the Task Force, removing lines that were unlikely to get a lot of riders while extending others that might be more popular. According to planner Larry Cole, they may have a report of their own by October.

bethesda: america's 17th coolest city?

America's 17th coolest city? Sort of. Photo by eddie.welker on Flickr.

Forbes recently named Bethesda America's 17th coolest city, causing some to wonder if Montgomery County is becoming Portland on the Potomac. While their ranking and definition of a "city" are suspect, there's still plenty to be excited about.

The magazine made their rankings based on several factors, including the number of restaurants, availability of recreational amenities, cultural diversity, and unemployment rates. Houston topped the list, followed by D.C., while Baltimore was #14. Cities normally touted for their coolness, like Minneapolis and Austin, were lower on the list, while hipster capital Portland was nowhere to be found.

Not surprisingly, people in the area are confused. "Did someone redefine cool or cities or Bethesda?" wrote Montgomery County planner Claudia Kousoulas on the Straight Line blog. A commenter on Bethesda Patch grumbled that Bethesda is "still pretty much white bread." And Huffington Post DC has a poll asking whether the title should have gone to Fairfax.

However, this prize doesn't belong to Bethesda alone. When Forbes says "Bethesda," they're referring to the "Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick Metropolitan Division," a term used by the Census Bureau to break down the larger Washington metropolitan area. It contains Montgomery and Frederick counties. The rest of the region, including D.C., Northern Virginia, and Prince George's, Charles and Calvert counties in Maryland, belongs to the "Washington-Arlington-Alexandria Metropolitan Division."

Denver is a less cool place than Montgomery County, according to Forbes.

Portland didn't make the list at all.

Forbes has lavished Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick with many plaudits in recent years, including 2nd Smartest City, 9th Geekiest City, 5th Most Secure Place to Live, 21st Best-Performing City, and even 2nd Most Livable City. Montgomery alone has gotten its fair share of awards too, being named Utne Reader's "Most Enlightened Suburb" and making the Atlantic Cities' list of Creative Class Counties.

Still, very few people would conceive of Montgomery or Frederick counties, which together cover an area over 60 miles long, as a single "place," let alone a city. After all, some people in Kensington won't even go to Wheaton, a mile away. As a result, the Columbia Journalism Review has called Forbes' use of Metropolitan Divisions manipulative and wildly misleading.

But is that the magazine's fault, or the Census Bureau, who drew these lines in the first place? As Jarrett Walker points out, the boundaries of both metropolitan areas and cities are often arbitrary and have no relation to actual communities or social or economic connections.

The Census may lump Montgomery and Frederick counties together, but as a resident of Silver Spring, I spend more money in and have more social ties to D.C. than I do to Frederick. However, not only is it in another Metropolitan Division, it's in another state, sort of.

Portland on the Potomac deserves a fitting theme song. (Make it full screen; you'll be glad you did.)

Whether or not Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick deserves to be called one of America's coolest cities, the facts supporting that title still hold. With 1.2 million residents, it's comparable to the metropolitan area Salt Lake City. It has one-fifth of Maryland's jobs and 600,000 jobs and just 5 percent unemployment, compared to 8 percent nationwide.

Montgomery County has a majority-minority population with 164 countries represented in its public schools. It's got everything from the headquarters of a major media corporation to punk houses and a town lovingly called the "People's Republic." The county is even planning to build one of the country's largest rapid transit systems.

This skate shop is one of many cool things in Frederick.

And Frederick County, whose reputation as a backwater once earned it the name "Fredneck," has a bustling downtown of its own with trendy restaurants and a growing number of wineries.

We may not be the coolest, and we may not be a city in the proper definition, but there's still plenty to be proud of. And unlike Portland, the sun actually comes out in Montgomery County.

don't forget: charrette on flower theatre tomorrow

The Flower Theatre today. Photo from Google Street View.

For decades, the Flower Theatre in Long Branch entertained generations of Silver Spring residents eager to see the latest films. In recent years, however, the Art Deco-style movie house has sat vacant and may need substantial funding to be usable again.

How can we bring the Flower Theatre back to life? Tomorrow, we'll get to explore this issue at a community charrette hosted by Fenton Street Market.

A charrette is a sort of planning workshop where people craft a vision for the future of a space. At our charrette, we'd like to create an "inventory" of community wants and needs and explore how the Flower Theatre could be repurposed to meet them. We've also invited local architects, planners and community leaders to offer their thoughts and expertise.

Like previous charrettes held at Fenton Street Market, we'll have a big tent with tables, chairs and lots of markers. You'll be able to stop in throughout the day to offer your perspective and suggestions. Our goal? To develop viable solutions for the Flower Theatre that could be implemented either now or in the future.

If that sounds good to you, please join us at Fenton Street Market on Saturday, August 4 from 10am to 1pm. The market is located in Veterans Plaza at the corner of Fenton Street and Ellsworth Drive in downtown Silver Spring. You can also read more on the charrette and the Flower Theatre's history.

We're looking forward to a great discussion and many great ideas at the charrette. In the meantime, what would you like to see done with the Flower Theatre?