The Montgomery County Council approved the $48.3 million purchase of the 130-acre Webb Tract near Montgomery Village in a 6-2 vote Tuesday, a crucial precursor to opening up land needed for a pair of multi-decade, multi-billion dollar redevelopment projects in Shady Grove.

Under County Executive Isiah Leggett's plan for relocating more than a dozen county agencies, the Webb Tract, off Snouffer School Road near the Montgomery County Airpark, will become home to the county's police and fire/rescue training academy, the school system's food distribution and building maintenance facilities, and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission's maintenance depot. Leggett reached terms in March with McLean, Va.-based developer Miller and Smith Inc.

Two County Council committees recommended last week that the full council approve purchase of only the eastern side of the Webb Tract, then buy the other half once the council finishes its work on the Gaithersburg West Master Plan, a blueprint for building an 800-acre live-work biotech "urban village" in Shady Grove. The county's police and fire/rescue academy sits on a 52-acre parcel off Great Seneca Highway and Key West Avenue that the master plan draft says should become a 3,000-home community with an elementary school, fire station and mass transit stop. The academy would be moved to the western side of the Webb Tract under Leggett's plan.

Councilmembers had worried that approving the Webb Tract purchase would make it seem as though they supported Gaithersburg West, which the council has not yet begun deliberating.

But ahead of Tuesday's vote, county staff was able to rework the Webb Tract contract to save the county $225,000. And the Mid-County Citizens Alliance, made up largely of residents in neighborhoods surrounding the Webb Tract, asked the council to approve the purchase because "the county would be a better neighbor than other possible tenants."

That was enough to sway three council members in favor of the purchase —George Leventhal (D-at large) of Takoma Park, Marc Elrich (D-at large) of Takoma Park and Councilwoman Nancy M. Floreen (D-at large) of Garrett Park — giving the purchase the six votes it needed.

"This is the time to buy land; this is the time to move forward. These opportunities will not remain. The price is right, the opportunities are there," Floreen said.

County Council President Philip M. Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg and Councilman Michael J. Knapp (D-Dist. 2) cast the dissenting votes. Councilman Roger Berliner (D-Dist. 1) of Potomac was absent.

Building the training academy at the Webb Tract is expected to cost $100 million.

Leggett's Smart Growth Initiative is expected to come out $4 million ahead over the long-term, balancing half a billion dollars in costs against slightly more in land sale revenues and lease savings.

Knapp, of Germantown. continues to take issue with how Leggett intends to pay for the relocation plan, which calls for taking on hundreds of millions of dollars in short-term debt to be paid off largely as the county sells its land at the current PSTA and 90 county-owned acres near the Shady Grove Metro station, which would also become a mixed-use community.

"This is not a 'do it now or you don't get to do it.' The reality is that we have until December," Knapp said. "I think we've got to understand the costs before we vote for this."