The Silver Spring Penguin

The planning board has drawn a line in the sand for one Silver Spring project, saying its developer and the county had better get their collective crap together — or else.

The project — developer Bob Hillerson’s Studio Plaza — would put 255 residential units, plus commercial and retail space over three lots along Thayer and Silver Spring avenues in Fenton Village. But negotiations with the county to acquire another parcel — public parking lot 3 on Fenton Street — are tied in knots, Hillerson said during an Apr 3 planning board meeting.

The problem: The county wants workforce housing built on the parking-lot site to accommodate middle-class residents. But because the project sprouted before workforce housing became a requirement, Hillerson feels he shouldn’t be forced to offer more than 26 units spread out among the project’s existing parcels.

Shallow bedrock at the site also gets in the way, Hillerson said. Blasting away granite to build more than 100 underground parking spaces requested by the county would put a big dent in the project’s budget.

“It’s uneconomical to maintain that offer and build workforce housing on that property,” Hillerson testified before the board. “It doesn’t work.”

So what’s a planning board to do? Lay down the metaphorical law.

In a 3-to-1 vote, the board gave Hillerson and the county one year to get it together, one way or another. If the two parties can’t resolve their differences, then the planning board will not extend any more deadlines for the project’s review. And if that’s how it plays out, Hillerson must resubmit his project to the planning board, and subject it to current workforce-housing requirements.

“There’s a public benefit being withheld in terms of those workforce-housing units,” planning staffer Elza Hisel-McCoy argued.

“We’re sympathetic to the intricacies of moving this plan forward,” Hisel-McCoy said. “But our recommendation to limit the time the applicant has to pursuing this property is really about not further extending the grandfathering of two multifamily buildings.”

Gary Stith, director of Silver Spring’s regional center, favored the one-year window to iron out disagreements between the county and Hillerson. It would allow development of the various parcels to proceed together instead of piecemeal, he said.