From Henry Odeniran & Evan Glass

Montgomery County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin (D-Silver Spring) attended the latest meeting of the South Silver Spring Neighborhood Association (SSSNA) on October 22 to discuss her vision of the Silver Spring central business district (CBD), the Growth Policy, the raging debate over the Purple Line, the truth about the Fillmore music theater, Pedestrian safety and to enjoy some slices of pizza generously donated by Mamma Lucia.

"I have news for folks, we live in an urban neighborhood and there's no going back," declared Ervin to the group of 30 area residents. “We have just begun the redevelopment of Silver Spring, but if we don’t address the infrastructure, we’re going to have a problem.”

The SSSNA board echoed Ervin's vision for the CBD by approving a letter in support of her motion to allow increased height by the Silver Spring Metro for future development. The purpose of the zoning text amendment (ZTA 07-14) is to support a maximum height of 200’ feet and ground floor retail for new buildings in the Ripley/South Silver Spring Overlay Zone. Current zoning laws cap buildings at a maximum of 143’ feet if they’re not within 800’feet of the Silver Spring Metro station entrance. In addition, there is currently a disincentive to ground floor retail in that location.

Ervin touched upon the County’ Growth Policy, saying, “One of the things I’m going to be talking about with the County Council in concern to the Growth Policy is how it affects the CBD.”

The Purple Line, formerly known as the “Bi-county Transit way”, was a hot topic. The 16 mile mass transit line that could come in the form of light-rail or Bus Rapid Transit has many residents in other neighborhoods voicing strong opposition to it.

“It seems to me that the [Maryland Transportation Administration (MTA)] is not hearing from the public, they’re only hearing from the people who say they don’t want to see it.” Ervin said.

The MTA is serious about the Thayer and Wayne Avenue alignments. Ervin noted that there is a long County owned right of way that goes down Thayer Avenue. Tunneling could happen under that road.

Evan: A lot people think the Purple isn’t going to be built because of the monetary funding going to the [Inner County Connector], can you elaborate on that?

Ervin: “Well first of all, I believe that that’s not a true statement, from what I’ve been told the Purple Line and the ICC are from two pots of money.

There are bulldozers lined up along the proposed route of the ICC and four other council member and myself actually sent a letter to the Governor stating “don’t put a shovel into the ground” [until all pending legal issues are resolved] . We didn’t get a response from the governor but the bulldozers are still parked on the side of the road.

For me it as an issue of fairness, if you don’t what the laws decision is than why would you tear down people’s houses.

I believe the Purple Line is going to be built; I believe we will get an alignment that the community agrees on, but we’re competing against ourselves too. We have Corridor Cities Transit Way in the I-270/355 Corridor., we’re also competing against [the Red Line in] Baltimore."

As far as parking goes, Ervin reiterated the parking decision in the past year.

“We were advised by a person our staff that this was the way to go, the parking lot district was running in the red and this was a way to pay back that money that was borrowed. “ Ervin said.

“But it became very evident in your community, which spoke very loud, very quickly that [this was the wrong move]. There was a unanimous vote in favor but I think the right thing happened in the end, we listened, it was a mistake and we didn’t understand the implications but we changed that and I’m really glad we did. Parking is going to be and ongoing conversation as we continue to build out in this area. We’re listening. This community has been first of all very helpful.”

Ervin also expressed her commitment to affordable housing as well as ending the invasion of pocket parks in the CBD by supporting new enticements for developers to create public spaces which actually add to the quality of life for residents and visitors, rather than waste space with small, often underused public spaces.

According to Ervin, “ten years ago or so, Park and Planning and many people in the downtown Silver Spring neighborhoods assessed a way to bring affordable housing into the CBD, and now it’s beginning to happen. I’ve been getting calls and having meetings with developers whose primary product is affordable housing and they’re interested in [the Fenton Village Area]. And we’re hoping that we’ll be able get some projects underway and they will be rentals with approximately 30% of the units affordable.”

In addition to that Ervin noted, “We talked to Gary Stith of the Silver spring Regional Center and said we would like to move forward with the [Fenton Street Urban Park Redevelopment]. There’s an opportunity for us to double the size and make it into a green park. There’s also opportunity’s for a community garden.”

The night’s meeting included discussion of Silver Spring as an Arts and Entertainment District, this of course led to discussion about the proposed Fillmore Music Hall.

“Live Nation and Fillmore are one and the same but the [music hall] name will be Fillmore. Live Nation has venues in San Francisco, Miami and Denver,” Ervin said. “We have a real opportunity to continue out thing here in Silver Spring as an arts and entertainment district."

There is also a plan to add signage to Silver Spring, noting historic locations, structures and neighborhoods.

“We’re working with the Silver Regional Center to bring signage to Silver Spring; first we need to pass a recommendation to the council. There will be signs for the neighborhoods and what the historic significance is.” Ervin said.

Ervin also detailed her commitment to infrastructure enhancements within the CBD to make it safer for pedestrians. She said that she even walked along the CBD perimeter earlier this summer with county and state officials to gauge the need for better crosswalks, which many residents have asked for, and will lead an effort by the President’s Council of Silver Spring Civic Associations (PREZCO) to enhance pedestrian safety throughout Silver Spring.

“I’m the councilmember that heads Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee of the Council…back in May we did a huge walk around the Silver Spring CBD with the Police Dept, Park and Planning, Department of Public Works and Transit, and advocates that have been working on this issue for a long time. So there was a group about 20 people…to see how safe it is to cross the street.”

“We are going to have what we call a Pedestrian Safety Master Plan…It’s going to involve an [expert] to come in and work with the [County Executive’s Staff] and we want Silver Spring to come first.”

“This has not been done before in the state of Maryland as far as I know and might be the first pedestrian Master Plan ever.”

Evan: I was at a PREZCO meeting and was asked for the troubled intersections around here and basically the top two I’ve given were another cross walk across East-West Highway and another from Georgia Avenue to here, the problem with that is they’re state roads and I was told that it took 10 years to get the crosswalk by Caribou Coffee across East-West Highway to the NOAA buildings. But that’s the number one thing on the list.

Ervin: I’m feeling very optimistic about that because we’re working on the intersection at Dale Drive and Colesville Road and we’re working on a speed camera for that intersection because drivers are going 70 miles an hour down there and it’s dangerous for people to cross the street. It’s at the top of the list of priorities.

One resident noted not only dangerous roads due to vehicular traffic but danger due to criminal safety.

“This also relates to the topic of pedestrian safety, I don’t know about anyone else but I’m really uncomfortable walking under the [Georgia Avenue Railroad Bridge Crossing].”

Attendees wanted to know if there was going to be a bridge cross over the railroads tracks but Ben Stutz, part of Valerie Ervin’s staff offered this information.

“One of the technical problems with a bridge crossing is the CSX tracks, there’s a lot of laws regarding how tall you’re going to build it. Say they for example [CSX] tells you that it has to be a number of feet above our tracks, well you have a bridge but then it can become an issue of Safety,” Stutz said.

Other issues

Another resident wanted to know what the homeless shelter in the CBD, noting more and more people on the street.

“What is going to be done about prospect place? I see many homeless people at night when walking from the post office and was told that it closes at 6pm so all the homeless are let out after they close.”

Ervin: "Prospect place is going to have to grow, were going to have to find another location and it’s going to have to expand. There are more homeless people, more homeless women, more homeless children. There are many people that are one pay check away from not being able to live in their apartments.

A lot of people are very opposed to the move of prospect place but it’s too small. Recently I went there and there are more families. They are under employed and don’t make enough money to take care of their families.“

The meeting ended with questions raised about the Growth Policy and what effect it could have on Montgomery County

Henry: "This question pertains to the Growth Policy, reading it over from current and past years, it looks like the recommendations are to decrease the number of allowable jobs and increase or keep the same rate of housing, and this doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Erving: "I agree with you…Montgomery grew less than 1% last year, growth has almost stopped in this county so how do you legistlate growth and development? I believe that market is always going to dictate the vast majority of that. Developers have options; they don’t have to stay in Montgomery County and guess what they’re not. They’re going to Fairfax, Loudon, Arlington. It’s too hard to build anything in [Montgomery County], try going through the park and planning process and it will take you three years before you put anything in the ground.”

Henry: "So there is an incentive to build residential over commercial in the County?”

Ervin: "The incentives are new residential development not infill development. The incentive is to go up to Germantown or Boyds, a place where there is still raw land not here [in Silver Spring]. …At the end of the day it comes down to what kind of County we want? Do we want a County where there’s no growth in development? We can’t have a vibrant community without job growth, without affordable housing without transit and smart people thinking about the County’s future. What kind of county is that? Not the kind of County I want to live in.”

Photos courtesy of SSSNA Treasurer John Murphy