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April 2008
SilverPlace promises affordable housing and a home for M-NCPPC
by Pete Wolfinger
On March 18, the Montgomery County Council voted unanimously to appropriate $1.386 million to fund a comprehensive development plan, cost estimates, “interactive design workshops,” and “community outreach activities” for the SilverPlace project in Silver Spring.
A mixed-use development project, SilverPlace will be multi-faceted. The facility will provide new housing with at least 30 percent of the area devoted to affordable condos and rental apartments. It will support current urban revitalization efforts in downtown Silver Spring and emphasize environmental efficiency.
Also, SilverPlace will house the new 120,000 square-foot headquarters for the Montgomery County staff of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.
The M-NCPPC’s Consolidated Headquarters Study, conducted in 2003, deemed the current headquarters of county staff at 8787 Georgia Avenue as “aged, obsolete, and overcrowded.”
The SilverPlace project was officially approved in November 2007, when the Montgomery County Planning Board drafted a memorandum of understanding that outlined terms for the M-NCPPC.
Late this year, the commission will petition for public appropriations to fund the final design and construction of the project. To offset public cost, the commission will also seek a public/private partnership based on the value of the SilverPlace property.
Although the project plan will not be reviewed by M-NCPPC’s Montgomery County Planning Board until 2009, project staff are already enlisting input from the community.
According to the SilverPlace web page, a public workshop will be held on July 10. The SilverPlace development team of project architects, traffic engineers, and landscape architects will be on hand to answer questions and address concerns.
Community members are invited to attend this meeting and all the public events held at the various stages of design and review, according to M-NCPPC SilverPlace project manager Mike Riley.
“These workshops will allow participants to articulate their visions and contribute their thoughts to the final project,” he said.
Royce Hanson, chair of the Montgomery County Planning Board, emphasized that community members should not be overly concerned at this early stage of the project. “Some anxiety about what is about to happen is understandable,” he said, “but we are still a few steps away from starting the design process.”
For more information on SilverPlace, visit the M-NCPPC SilverPlace web page, email mcp-SilverPlace@mncppc-mc.org, or call Dan Hertz at 301-650-2588 or John Carter at 301-495-4575.
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