This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

County Resorts to 'Creative' Graphics to Green the Wheaton Redevelopment Project

In response to calls for an iconic building and a viable town square that are green and reflect Wheaton’s unique character, a new draft of the Wheaton Redevelopment Project was unveiled on December 11th to an eager audience of community members, environmental advocates, and County staff & advisers.

Some improvements, like the new parking garage entrance, were met with approval from residents, but the project’s key components – a town square bisected by a busy thoroughfare and the Park & Planning headquarters itself – were still roundly, if politely, criticized throughout the meeting.

From a cursory glance (Image 1), the view is green and inviting – lots of trees, open space, and roadside greenery.  Unfortunately, the devil is in the details, as it appears that at least a third of the greenery pictured in the graphic either does not exist, will not exist, or cannot possibly in theory exist.  Instead of addressing resident concerns and constructive suggestions from the environmental community, project designers resorted to ‘creative’ graphics – sidewalks along Reedie Drive were tripled in width and a whole row of existing retail buildings was magically set back to create an appearance of greenery that will never be realized.

Find out what's happening in Wheatonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In terms of tree canopy coverage, Wheaton – the County’s third Urban District after Bethesda and Silver Spring – could certainly use some improvement.  When Park & Planning, together with Department of Environmental Protection, agreed to the Wheaton move, hopes were high that, as envisioned in the Wheaton Sector Plan, the redevelopment project will bring much needed greenery to the Central Business District.  Alas, after reviewing the ‘creative’ graphics below, those hopes will not be realized without continued pressure and constructive dialogue with the community.

Green space pictured along Reedie retail block (Image 2) does not and cannot exist unless buildings are moved back.

Find out what's happening in Wheatonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Trees and lush roadside greenery (Image 3) pictured in front of Dunkin’ Donuts cannot exist either – in reality the sidewalk is about three times narrower and incapable of accommodating more than a few blades of grass.

The green grove to the left of metal skywalk (Image 4) also does not exist – that’s the top of the pedestrian tunnel into the Wheaton Metro station.  Similarly, the picturesque park-like green space further up is actually the bus transit terminal, which will be covered by a concrete platform in the next redevelopment phase anyways.  The only green element pictured in the presentation that does in fact exist is owned by WMATA and agreement is yet to be reached on its use.

So what is left in the end?  Not nearly as pretty of a picture. (Image 5)

With realism restored to the picture in grey, we are left with about a third of the greenery promised – two dozen trees and some benches…  Granted, the proposed green terrace on the WMATA lot constitutes about a third and will certainly make for a functional green addition to the town square if the agencies hammer out a deal with the developer.

In summary, the town square leaves much to be desired both from functional and environmental perspectives, which is a worry-some sign.  Instead of hearing community concerns voiced during the previous round of public input, the current draft just seems to have doubled up on ‘creative’ graphics.  This is coupled with the continued insistence on a box-like design for the Park & Planning headquarters building itself… (Image 6)

Public comments can still be filed with Department of Transportation, the County agency spearheading this project:
Wheaton.Comments@montgomerycountymd.gov

With enough public involvement, there is still hope for a project design that will reflect both Wheaton’s diversity and the green mission of DEP and Park & Planning.  Constructive ideas could be discussed online if the County re-opens the Engage Montgomery topic page for Wheaton Redevelopment.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?