SILVER SPRING – On Thursday, November 6, the Planning Board will review plans for the Town Center development in Clarksburg that represent the final step in a years-long process to resolve multiple building violations and allow the project to move forward toward build-out.
Clarksburg Town Center, designated the northern-most corridor city along I-270, represents one of the last major developments on former farmland in the county.
The Town Center plans call for close to 200,000 square feet of retail and 1,213 homes on 270 acres at Clarksburg Road and Snowden Farm Parkway. Although plan approvals go back as far 1995, the project was virtually halted when residents uncovered numerous discrepancies between the approved plans and what had been constructed.
After violation hearings, the developer, Newlands, and the residents agreed to try to resolve their differences through mediation, which took place over five months in 2006. The result was a Plan of Compliance, approved by the Board, that required the developer to build a more urban, pedestrian friendly retail area and to provide other enhancements – such as two parking garages, a community pool, and enhanced landscaping – in lieu of fines.
Staff estimates the total cost of those improvements to be worth at least $14.4 million.
On November 6, the Board will consider a trio of applications – project plan, preliminary plan and site plan, as well as a final water quality plan – that cover the entire development and are supposed to address all of the elements agreed to by the parties during mediation. The hearing is scheduled to last about six hours.
Planners recommend approval of the Town Center plan, but specify a number of conditions to ensure not only that the plan meets all county laws and regulations but also that it conforms to the Plan of Compliance. In the time that elapsed since the Compliance Plan was approved, the developer made significant changes as result of arbitration sessions and further mediation.
The most striking difference with the current application, planners say, is that a three-story parking garage was changed to a new, two-level parking garage, while a second garage was dropped altogether. The changes to the plans for parking led to reduced depths for retail stores, narrower sidewalks and larger retaining walls.
Staff recommends that the applicant build the second garage to obtain an additional 100 spaces. A parking waiver of approximately 20 percent will still be necessary for the retail core.
Planners considered recommending denial of the Town Center plans, but instead recommended approval with lengthy conditions so that the violation process could be brought to a close and the project could move toward completion. Many Clarksburg residents, frustrated with the lack of retail and other unfinished amenities, have urged that the Board accept the new plans.
Who:
Montgomery County Planning Board
What:
Public hearing on Clarksburg Town Center Project, Preliminary & Site Plans
When:
9 a.m. Thursday, November 6
Where:
Park and Planning Headquarters
8787 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring