Neighbors: Include us in SilverPlace process

‘‘They are looking to build what looks like a Taj Mahal headquarters,” Joe Anderson said.

A group of 42 households of the Woodside Park and the Woodside Station Homeowners Associations who live near the commission’s current headquarters have been involved in a back-and-forth exchange of letters with Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson and various county officials over the last few months.

The residents say their chief concerns of increased traffic, height and density of the SilverPlace project, and a conflict of interest have been glossed over by the commission. More specifically, they said the building’s proposed height would dwarf the surrounding residences; 358 proposed residential units are far too many for a site that also would include commercial and retail space; traffic implications have not been considered; and the Planning Board should not be able to act as both the reviewing agency and client for the project.

Mike Riley, project manager for SilverPlace, said it was too early to offer specifics about the design of the project for community feedback, and preliminary sketches offered so far are not final.

The next step is getting a revised memorandum of understanding approved by the Planning Board, he said. That memo, a nonbinding agreement, would state to the development team that they had been selected to take on the project, and list the expectations of both sides. The Planning Board did not approve the first version in July, deciding instead to postpone a vote until September.

After that, Riley said the Planning Board would need to approve a funding request of about $9 million that then would be sent to the County Council to pay for the preliminary design. That vote was also postponed until September after the board’s recess. Early estimates for the project are up to $80 million, Riley said, a figure subject to change.

‘‘Only after these two things happen will the commission be able to go back to the community with revised concepts,” Riley said.

But residents said even doing this much without community input was setting a precedent, and it keeps residents from providing input before planning staff comes to them with set ideas.

‘‘I have not talked to one person who said, ‘No, leave it as a parking lot. Don’t develop it.’ I think everyone agrees that this is a great opportunity to build a real transition zone between Woodside and the other residential neighborhoods, and downtown Silver Spring,” Joe Anderson said. ‘‘In my opinion, there’s an obligation to do something that will serve as a model for future development.”

Ideally, residents would want to be a part of an advisory committee that would be aware of and involved in major decisions on the site, said Scott Stebelman, president of the Woodside Park Homeowners Association. In a June 6 letter to the homeowners’ associations from County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), Leggett agreed that a ‘‘formal community participation process set up that goes above and beyond the normal review process” was necessary, due to the ‘‘unusual nature of this project involving M-NCPPC as both a partner in this public private partnership and as the regulatory agency.”

Hanson disagreed. In a letter in response to residents’ concerns and Leggett’s recommendation June 22, Hanson wrote that a new advisory board would ‘‘not remove the responsibility that the board faces to objectively review this project and deliver a high-quality result.”

Valerie Berton, a spokeswoman for the M-NCPPC, said at the last community meeting about the project July 10, about 40 neighborhood residents attended and planning staff took note of their concerns.

‘‘We’re going to continue our extensive community outreach program instead of an advisory board,” Riley said.

But Patrick Lacefield, a county spokesman, said Leggett was still committed to bringing as many voices as possible to discuss the project.

‘‘We are thinking that given that it’s a big project, there should be an advisory group in the area, a countywide board to be able to pitch in their ideas on it. It seems to make good sense, and that’s our perspective,” he said.

The homeowners associations will continue to write to Leggett and Hanson and will review documents going before the Planning Board in September.

‘‘There’s this feeling that the community could really contribute to this,” Joe Anderson said.

The process so far

1998: Park and Planning Commission acquires land next to current headquarters

2003: Study finds new headquarters should include 30 percent affordable workforce housing, public⁄private partnership for mixed-use development

2004: County Council OKs $850,000 for project planning, developer selection

2005: Three development teams chosen for review

2007: County Planning Board approves committee recommendations for team SilverPlace, LLC

Source: Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission