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In Silver Spring’s redeveloped downtown, officials are looking at ways to create larger public spaces that could include grass. The lack of green space has become an issue recently for residents, who have noted the popularity of a temporary artificial turf field that lies on the site of a future public building.

Developers of optional method projects — projects in central business districts that have a higher density — have to provide a minimum of 20 percent public-use space, said Glenn Kreger, Park and Planning’s team leader for Silver Spring and Takoma Park.

‘‘It has to be open and available to the general public,” Kreger said. For instance, even though it is fenced in, the garden next to the Discovery Communications building is considered public space, Kreger said.

Other examples of public space in the Silver Spring’s downtown include a landscaped area near 1010 Wayne Ave., and a small plaza by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said Gary Stith, director of the Silver Spring Regional Services Center, a county-operated office that has been heavily involved in the downtown redevelopment effort. There are plans for a plaza and fountain at the future Park and Planning headquarters on Georgia Avenue.

Silver Spring’s amount of open and green space is similar to other downtowns. In Rosslyn, Va., for instance, there are two parks and several smaller plazas. But downtown parcels are often small, and grass doesn’t work well in small spaces, Stith said. ‘‘It doesn’t really provide a good space for the public to sit and use.”

The Montgomery County Planning Board and Park and Planning are looking into how to create larger urban green spaces, Stith said.

Developers could contribute to a fund to purchase open space, or developers could contribute land to one area to create a larger open space that could be more appropriately located. Whatever ordinance is created also would apply to other areas of the county with central business districts, like Friendship Heights, Bethesda and Wheaton, Stith said.

Progress in Alexandria

In 2003, the Alexandria, Va., City Council allocated 1 cent from every $100 of the city’s real estate assessment for the purchase of open space land. This year, officials changed that amount to 1 percent of every $100, which is about the same amount of money, said Laura Durham, the city’s open space coordinator. Properties to be purchased are recommended by a steering committee, according to an Alexandria planning document.

An open space master plan was approved for Alexandria in 2003, outlining open space goals, Durham said, including making sure everyone in the city had open space within a tenth of a mile, even if it was just a small pocket park.

‘‘We knew we needed to do it sooner rather than later,” Durham said. Since then, 64 acres have been preserved or dedicated for open space. About 22 of those acres were acquired or dedicated, meaning the city bought them or was given them. Alexandria’s goal is to create 100 acres of open space in 10 years.

‘‘We’ve made significant progress,” she said, adding the city also partnered with Northern Virginia Conservation Trust to give tax incentives to private property owners to set aside some of their land as open space.

In some cases, the city bought commercial property and created open space, Durham said, adding there was no demolition of buildings with historic value.

‘‘We’re looking at infill open space,” she said. ‘‘We’re going back and reclaiming some property.”

Space, but not green space

In downtown Silver Spring, the redevelopment effort includes the development of Silver Plaza along Ellsworth Drive, which has a square complete with a fountain. People gather outside the shops and restaurants, and the area has been the site of several special events, concerts and parades.

But Silver Plaza’s crowds may have contributed to what some residents see as a lack of green space in an area of hard surfaces. The county has installed artificial turf temporarily on the site of the new Silver Spring Town Center and Veterans Plaza, to be built at the corner of Ellsworth Drive and Fenton Street. On nice days, many people can be seen lounging on the grass substitute.

Darian Unger, a Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board member, has lobbied for more grass to be included when the civic building is built.

‘‘Open spaces should be welcoming,” he said. ‘‘... Green spaces are more environmentally friendly and more welcoming. People don’t want to stretch out on hard pavement or cold concrete.”

The civic building site isn’t a good place for a park where people could play soccer, for instance, Unger said. But he does believe it could be greener. Grassy areas, he said, will keep the temperature down during warm months, in addition to giving people a comfortable place to relax.

‘‘It can make a huge difference in a Washington summer,” Unger said.

But Stith said there are more appropriate places to put an expanse of grass. The site of the future Silver Spring Library, to be built on Wayne Avenue and Fenton Street, would be larger and able to withstand heavier use.

Pocket parks, public space

There are several pocket parks and public spaces in the downtown, including a small park near the Metro station, a park at the corner of Spring Street and Georgia Avenue and the park at Fenton Street, said Charles Atwell, a longtime Silver Spring business owner and member of the Silver Spring Urban District Committee. Those spaces have been in the downtown for some time; others have come and gone and been replaced over the years.

Atwell recalled one sizeable park that the developers of City Place Mall built off Fenton Street. A concert series was held there for 10 years until the downtown was redeveloped. That park is no longer there, but other smaller public areas have been created in the downtown. For instance, Atwell said, there’s a place to sit near the Cameron Hill townhouses that wasn’t there before the townhouses were built.

‘‘There are places to go at lunchtime and have a sandwich,” he said, adding that people looking to play soccer are more likely to find that type of space in Jesup Blair Park, near Montgomery College’s Takoma Park-Silver Spring campus. Atwell said that type of space is not appropriate at Veterans Plaza, but that there may be other spots in the downtown for green space and that there is merit to pooling some land to create it.

Unger said he appreciates the parks that are near Silver Spring’s central business district. In particular, he said, he likes the improvements recently made to Jesup Blair Park.

Renovations for that park, completed in 2005, included a playground, two basketball courts, a tennis court, small stage and soccer field, as well as new lighting and a stone with a sculpture and poetry.

The only park in the central business district currently recommended for expansion and improvements is Fenton Urban Park, Kreger said.

However, Unger said, ‘‘There’s not a good substitute for grass in the downtown Silver Spring area itself.”

Parks in andaround downtown

Acorn Urban Park

Bullis Local Park

East Silver Spring Urban Park

Ellsworth Local Park

Fairview Road Park

Fenton Street Urban Park

Jesup Blair Local Park

Kramer Urban Park

Royce Hanson Urban Park

Woodside Urban Park

Source: Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission