The Silver Spring Penguin

Get out your shovels or grab an ax, people. The future Fillmore music hall is closer to turning over some dirt on Colesville Road, with help from the county council and Gov Martin O’Malley.

On Tuesday, the county council approved a zoning change that qualifies the music venue as public-use space for a larger development project. And today, O’Malley is expected to sign a bill granting the house its liquor license.

The legislative business ties up a few loose ends in a complicated, three-way deal between the county, the Lee Development Group, and concert promoter Live Nation. To build the joint on the former JC Penney site, Lee Development asked that the venue satisfy the county’s public-use space requirements for a larger project. That larger project will be built behind the venue, in what is now a parking lot.

Previously, public-use space was thought of as an urban park, plaza or green space. The zoning change adds an entertainment venue to that list if it helps out a central business district.

The liquor license was also tricky. Previously, the state required venues to hold at least 2,000 patrons before qualifying for a special license. That allowed joints like Bethesda’s Strathmore music hall to qualify, but not the smaller Fillmore proposed for downtown Silver Spring.

The state bill, which O’Malley will sign today in Annapolis, lowers the qualifying head count to 1,500 patrons. The future Fillmore will accommodate between 400 and 2,000 music fans.

According to Lee Development, actual construction could start in 2009.

Photo (lead): I don’t care what anyone says — Angus is still the man. Courtesy of Flickr user Dany Chivas 94.