County council member Valerie Ervin (D-5) said city living isn’t going anywhere, but that shouldn’t dissuade a little green space here and there.
“We live in an urban neighborhood now,” Ervin told members of the South Silver Spring Neighborhood Association Monday night. “We can’t pull it [development] back.”
According to county statistics, commercial development dropped by 20 percent between 2005 and 2006. The development of retail space saw a greater drop — 70 percent — during that same period.
“Developers are going to Fairfax and Loudoun counties,” Ervin warned. “It is too difficult to build in this county.”
Ervin then alluded to a proposed change in zoning law under review by the county council. The proposal would allow buildings with broadcast studios to rise up to 200 feet in the Ripley district. That height, she said, roughly matches those of the NOAA offices along East-West Highway, on the opposite side of the Metro tracks.
“We have to go up to 200 feet to attract businesses,” Ervin told the audience.
However, Ervin explained that National Public Radio, which has expressed interest in moving to the Ripley district, would not be the sole beneficiary of the proposed zoning change. Zoning laws could not be amended to benefit one prospective tenant, she said.
Along with commercial development, Ervin emphasized more public green space over hardscaped parks. “I have never seen so many pocket parks in a CBD [central business district] in my life,” she said.
Ervin’s focus is on the possible development of a park at Philadelphia Avenue and Fenton Street in East Silver Spring. An opportunity exists there to double the size of an existing traffic triangle and turn it into a park, she said.
According to the park and planning commission, the proposed 1.3-acre park would have green space as well as a skateboard park. However, the funds needed to acquire some of the land are not yet available.
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Please get rid of the pocket parks. They’re worthless. Let the developers make some money on that land.
I’d like to see pocket parks that really function as parks: with trees, shrubs, and benches, all open to the public at large. It’s nice little amenities like this that bring a city to life and make it livable.
actually…pocket parks have come out of favor in most urban areas. Mainly due to the security risks that they pose. Pocket parks in MoCo are typically the result of public amenity space created through optional method of development projects.
Other options include cultural amenities like Creative Partners gallery in Bethesda or Bethesda’s Round House theater or the soon to be built artist incubator space…once again in Bethesda.
These projects enliven the streets and community.
We need to demand more from our local planners and developers for better public amenities.
“We can’t pull it [development] back.” Developers are going to Fairfax and Loudoun counties,” Ervin warned. “It is too difficult to build in this county.” “We have to go up to 200 feet to attract businesses,” Ervin told the audience.
Sigh. Despite the lip service to parks, Ervin joins Knapp, Floreen and the legendary legend-in-his-own-mind Leventhal as the pro-development group on the Council. If we had only known her true colors before she got into office…you watch folks, she’ll ramrod development into downtown SS and Wheaton faster than a greased pig skates on ice.