Local opposition to new suburban development is practically a given in most developers’ minds, particularly when it involves large-scale projects. But that process doesn’t have to be as adversarial — and full of delays — as it is now, experts say. And in Montgomery County, which is in the middle of a massive redevelopment of its major traffic corridors, that smoother process starts with wooing residents.
“Public education and civic engagement is usually treated last … but I can’t emphasize enough that it needs to become front and center,” Stuart Sirota, owner of the land-use consulting firm TND Planning Group, said at the Makeover Montgomery conference held in Silver Spring last week. “Without the public buying in, it can’t really happen.”
He noted Montgomery County’s shift in recent years to hold more community meetings before voting on projects. Making more information available online also has helped, he said. However, a lot of hand-holding is key to the developer-resident courtship. That means multiple community meetings, lots of before and after — and in between — renderings and surveys to gauge the public’s likes and dislikes.
Cases where developers have successfully worked with the community early on to design large-scale projects include New Hampshire Avenue in Takoma Park and the New Hampshire Avenue-Route 108 interchange in Ashton.
In the case of New Hampshire Avenue, Sirota said his firm held community meetings for more than a year and used renderings of the streetscape and building changes over time to show that change would blend in gradually. The plan was approved in 2008 and is slowly being implemented.
But that’s almost small potatoes compared to the challenge ahead with the redevelopment of Rockville Pike, which will eventually span the five miles between Rockville and North Bethesda.
That plan not only includes creating urbanlike centers around the county’s Metro stations but adding more mass transit to alleviate traffic, planners said. A Bus Rapid Transit system, an express bus system that uses dedicated traffic lanes, is one of the options being weighed because it is less costly than light rail.
But the problem there, the Traffic Group President Wes Guckert notes, is image.
“Most people think that the bus is for poorer people,” he said. “It’s not something [a young professional] thinks is for them.”
Getting the public on board starts with education, he said. In major cities across the world, the transit system is more like light rail on wheels, operating in a dedicated median, boasting “iconic” station stops and offering WiFi Internet access onboard.
“When you ride on this down the center of the median … you feel as if you’re doing something special,” Guckert said.
