Montgomery County officials have been talking about redeveloping Wheaton since 2000, but a decade has passed without much visible progress. Now two county lawmakers plan to create a County Council committee dedicated to fixing the downtown area. Councilman Hans Riemer, D-at large, and Councilwoman Nancy Navarro, D-Eastern County, plan to introduce a resolution creating the committee at Thursday’s council meeting.
“The community has been waiting for a very long time,” Navarro said. “It’s a wonderful place, but it’s sort of lacking a few things.”
Under the latest plans, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission — and possibly another county agency, as well — would relocate to a space next to the Wheaton Metro station, between Veirs Mill Road and Georgia Avenue. Next to the approximately 150,000 square feet of office space will be a new “town square,” and the county hopes that both will draw business for local shops and restaurants.
The county plans to invest $66.1 million over the next six years to develop the initial designs. Department of General Services Director David Dise said he also hopes to bring in a private partner to develop part of the space. He is in discussions with BF Saul and hopes to know for sure if the firm is interested later this week.
The committee will make sure that projects like the Wheaton Library and Recreation Center and the modernization of Thomas Edison High School of Technology are not forgotten, Riemer said.
It could provide a venue that makes sure the community is heard throughout the redevelopment process, said Wheaton Citizens Coalition President Marian Fryer, who lives just a couple of blocks from the Wheaton Metro station and the planned project site.
“I don’t want to see people dictating to folks about what needs to be done,” she said. “A lot of us have worked for many, many years because it’s our town that we live in.”
Wheaton also needs the attention more than many of the county’s other projects, Riemer said.
“It’s a different quality of life in Wheaton than it is in Rockville or Germantown or Bethesda, he said. “Wheaton was always an appendage to a mall … and it hasn’t worked very well.”
Riemer described a vision of an area where residents feel safe to walk around — “the kind of place that you want to spend time with your family on a Saturday afternoon or go for a bite to eat and a drink with your friends on a Friday night.”
But the plan could take another eight to 10 years to be realized, Navarro said.
