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The difference in the areas of the White Flint Sector Plan and the Kensington Sector Plan is 30 acres, but the difference in the scale of intended development within them is huge.

Residents repeatedly drove that point home to the County Council at a Thursday public hearing on the draft Kensington Sector Plan. Concern centered on the proposed Commercial-Residential Zone, under review by the County Council, which residents said may not work in Kensington the way it is projected to in White Flint.

The County Council is considering sector plans, which are long-term development plans, for White Flint and Kensington. Both plans are designed to encourage pedestrian-friendly mixed-use development, and lively streetscapes.

In 30 years, the area around the White Flint Metro station is expected to be more developed than downtown Bethesda. The vision for new development in Kensington isn't as grand, with a few maximum 75-foot buildings recommended.

Neil Burka, owner of the Kensington Shopping Center, the largest property to potentially redevelop in Kensington under the plan, offered a "cautionary comment" about the CR Zone.

"CR Zone amenities may not be as achievable in Kensington as in White Flint," Burka said.

"I think when you look at an area like Kensington, the goal of the mix of uses is very important. The question is how you get there," said William Kominers, an attorney representing the Antique Village in Kensington, one of the larger properties that could be redeveloped.

Kominers said the CR Zone, which allows developers to build bigger in exchange for providing community amenities on their property, may work in White Flint where the economics and higher property values mean developers can afford those amenities. But in Kensington, he said, the investment might not have the same return.

That's because in White Flint, many large properties are owned by companies that can make the investments for 300-foot tall office and residential buildings. Proximity to the White Flint Metro station spurred planners to encourage larger developments in White Flint to maximize transit use. But in Kensington properties are smaller, owners' budgets are smaller, there is no Metro and the proposed plan reflects that with more modest recommendations for growth.

County Council Vice President Valerie Ervin (D-Dist. 5), who represents Kensington as well as other small communities such as Takoma Park, said the distinction between the usefulness of the CR Zone in large redevelopment areas like White Flint and in smaller infill areas needs to be considered.

The County Council was scheduled to have a worksession on the CR Zone after Gazette deadline Tuesday, but Ervin said she did not anticipate approval of the CR Zone yet.

"The CR Zone the way it is proposed won't work in Kensington, won't work in Takoma Park," Ervin said. Ervin said planners need to craft recommendations for a similar zone that could be implemented on a smaller scale.

Mackie Barch, a Kensington Town Councilman and a business owner, said the town has lost six businesses in three months due to "a lack of modern amenities" like those that could come if the Kensington Sector Plan succeeds. The plan hasn't been updated since 1978, and Barch said the development envisioned then failed did not materialize because of a lack of incentives.

"We've got one shot at this," Barch said. "If we don't get it right it's going to be like last time in '78 and we won't get developers in to get this done."