Ennalls Avenue Realignment Stays In Sector Plan

As the Wheaton Sector Plan goes forward in the Montgomery County Council, the appeals of two property owners in the Wheaton Triangle were passed over yesterday morning.

The council took a straw vote to unanimously approve the Sector Plan in a Nov. 15 worksession that reviewed the recommendations of the Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee.

The Sector Plan analyzes zoning, land use, environmental impact and transportation, among other things, in Wheaton’s Central Business District. It is part of a larger master plan and would shape redevelopment in Wheaton for the next 15 to 20 years.

Todd Brown, representing property owner Lenny Greenberg and his company GreenMountain, asked the council to reconsider what the Sector Plan says about Ennalls Avenue.

Part of the Sector Plan proposes a realignment of Ennalls Avenue, shifting the road more east to connect with Price Avenue across Georgia Avenue.

Brown requested that the council determine how to minimize the impact of the road realignment on the GreenMountain property.

But Councilmember Nancy Floreen, who chairs the PHED committee, responded that the Sector Plan does not have the realignment go through Greenberg’s property.

Councilmember Elrich added that Greenberg “knew what he was getting into” when he bought the property in middle of the Sector Plan process.

Another property owner, Harold Weinberg, had requested a higher FAR, or Floor Area Ratio, for 2401 Blueridge Avenue, which would permit him to develop the property more intensively. But the PHED Committee did not support his request--and neither did the full council.

“We’ve tried to accommodate this property in the past,” Floreen said. “Our concern was that it be consistent with the other properties on the block.”