County Council to Discuss Glenmont Plan

The Montgomery County Council is expected to devote much of its weekly general session on Oct. 15 to the proposed Glenmont Sector Plan. The plan addresses future development of the area along Georgia Avenue, just north of Wheaton.

The Council’s morning session will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Third Floor Hearing Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The morning session will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM—Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon). The broadcast also will be streamed through the County Web site at www.montgomerycountymd.gov. It will be repeated starting at 9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 18.

The Council’s Planning, Housing and Economic Development (PHED) Committee, which is chaired by Nancy Floreen and includes Councilmembers Marc Elrich and George Leventhal, held several worksessions this fall on the Glenmont Sector Plan that was proposed by the County’s Planning Board.

The worksession on Glenmont is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday during the Council’s morning session. If needed, the Council will continue the worksession at 1:45 p.m.

The Glenmont Sector Plan covers an area of about 711 acres adjacent to the Glenmont Metro Station. The Glenmont Shopping Center, located at the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Randolph Road, is the heart of the community. The PHED Committee has made recommendations that, over the long term, could result in almost double the current commercial development and number of housing units. However, this is about one-third less housing than is recommended by the Planning Board.
Among the issues the Council will discuss is the fiscal impact of the plan. The County’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) projects capital costs at about $83 million, including $72 million in construction and transportation improvements. Much of that cost would be associated with constructing the Georgia Avenue Busway and the proposed Randolph Road Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line within the sector plan.

OMB also identified approximately $11 million in park improvements that will be needed, including $8.5 million to extend the Sligo Creek Trail through Wheaton Regional Park and the Northwest Branch Park to the Matthew Henson Trail.

The Council also will review the Department of Finance’s Economic Impact Analysis of the development called for in the plan. The report estimates the County would incur a negative cash flow of about $9.3 million annually with the current residential and commercial development. The outflow would increase by about $1.8 million (to about $11.1 million per year) with the proposed development in the sector plan.

The plan calls for six new internal roads concurrent with the redevelopment of the major development properties.

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