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A Bethesda company's plans to build apartments on the site of the First Baptist Church of Wheaton received preliminary approval from the Montgomery County Planning Board, but some planners called for more details of the project.

The Washington Property Company plans to buy the site at 10914 Georgia Ave. from the church to develop a six-story, 221-unit apartment building with garage parking, according to a presentation by senior zoning analyst Damon B. Orobona before the board commissioners Thursday in Silver Spring. Although commissioners agreed the plan would fit the vision of the Wheaton Central Business District sector plan, Planning Board Chair Françoise Carrier had concerns about the lack of details for the project; the report listed no definite building height and did not specify whether or not the company would seek to incorporate retail stores on the ground floor.

Having served as a hearing examiner for the Montgomery County Office of Zoning and Administrative Hearings before becoming the Planning Board chair in June, Carrier was concerned the project would not be accepted for consideration by the Montgomery County Council without such specifics.

"When this goes to the hearing examiner, you will need to be adding textual, binding elements," she said. "We can recommend approval [based on] the addition of binding elements that will address density, setbacks and height, just so that we are acknowledging that those things need to be done."

Bob Dalrymple, a zoning lawyer for Washington Property Company, said the lack of detail was based on the company's desire to maintain flexibility moving forward. The landscape and zoning of the central business district likely will change once the CBD sector plan is passed later this year or early in 2011.

"We will add binding elements related to height and possible future uses of the site," Dalrymple assured the board. "[But] I think if we can maintain as much flexibility as possible ... that would be to everybody's benefit."

The commissioners ultimately approved the company's request to re-zone the church lot from a residential to a transit station/residential zone, a designation that will allow the building to exceed the normal height allowed in strictly residential zones and also bringing the parcel into line with the increased building density planners hope to spark in downtown Wheaton with the sector plan.

Commissioner Joe Alfandre also mentioned the absence of walking trails or other paths connecting the outlying areas of the business district to the Westfield Wheaton Shopping Center, asking staff planners if the building site could accommodate a walkway to the nearby mall.

"The way Wheaton mall was built, it was built on fill, and there's a very substantial elevation change as you move from the subject property to the mall," said staff environmental planner Amy Lindsey, explaining that such a path would require a large-scale project, likely on the part of the mall.

The First Baptist Church is looking to relocate its 400-parishioner congregation to a 14.3-acre parcel of land at 3110 Emory Church Road in Olney, a move that is facing some opposition from Olney residents who live near the property and are concerned about the church construction affecting water quality in local wells.

So far both the relocation and the WPC building plan are moving ahead. Having secured approval for the zoning change from the Planning Board, the company's project will next be reviewed by the zoning department's hearing examiners Friday.