Everyone at last week’s Montgomery County Planning Board meeting agreed that the East County neighborhoods of White Oak and Fairland are ripe for another look at development and transportation.

It’s been nearly 15 years since 1997’s Master Plans for the areas. Also, the science worlds of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Washington Adventist Hospital are due to converge in White Oak any day now, permits permitting.

The East County Science Center Master Plan, presented by Nancy Sturgeon, Community-Based Planning for Montgomery County Planning Department, proposed a two-year study and master plan for the region. The scope of work was presented to the board on Friday, Feb. 4, and unanimously approved with three suggested changes.

The Plan

Spurred by the FDA’s consolidation of 39 facilities across the Washington Metro to the 130-acre campus on New Hampshire Avenue, the study will look at the development needs of FDA’s White Oak workforce (expected to grow from 5,500 to 9,000 in the coming years) and the facility’s ability to bring other development to the area.

“Are there businesses that want to relocate near FDA?” asked Sturgeon during her presentation. “And that’s a question that we’re going to be looking at.”

The study will make suggestions on the use of about 300 acres across White Oak. Montgomery County owns 115 acres just northeast of FDA and there’s the 185-acre Percontee property on Cherry Hill Road. Vacant properties along US 29, including the Dow Jones building at Stewart Lane and Postal Workers Union building at Cherry Hill Road, will also be included in the study.

Transportation

Special concerns for the area include transportation, which will be impacted by the InterCounty Connector, the proposed Purple Line and the county’s bus rapid-transit (BRT) study.

Dan Hardee, planning and policy chief for the county, said he’d be using a grant from the Council of Governments to study transportation and connectivity issues within the study area and across the county line in Prince George’s.

“What different types of transit and land use, not just in this area, but how would the other modes of activity we have, between Metro station, maybe the MARC station and this site lend us towards getting a transit connection from the regular transit system into this area,” Hardee said of the study.

Sturgeon also outlined community outreach efforts, which included forming a Citizens Advisory Committee to consult the project. The department will also hold open houses to present on the progress and continue to grow an email list as opposed to delivering notices via paper mail.

The County Executive and County Council would have a draft of the plan in hand by February 2013, said Sturgeon.

Differences of Opinion

A full hour of speakers took to the microphones after Sturgeon’s presentation.

The FDA sent a handful of representatives to lobby for a sped-up timeline.

“We wanted to express our concerns with the timing of the master plan,” said Deanna Murphy, director of White Oak services for FDA. Murphy, who said that she was responsible for the continued consolidation of FDA’s campuses, argued that the efficiency of the agency depends on its ability to attract talent and to form local business partnerships in the area.

“Collectively we have an incredible opportunity to put East Montgomery County on the map,” said Murphy. “We will create what is going to become the Silicon Valley of health care... It can’t wait, it must be done now and we’re concerned with the two to three year time frame that the master plan will take to complete.”

Dr. Jere Stocks, president of Washington Adventist Hospital, stresses the synergy between the FDA, his hospital and the master plan. He also urged the planning department to consider faster completion of the pan.

Members of the residential community disagreed.

Kim Bobola, member of the East County Citizens Advisory Board , and Eileen Finnegan, of the Hillandale Citizens Association, both speaking as individuals, were in favor of the current timeline. Each speaker felt that it was important to leave time to get as much community support as possible.

Planning Board Chair Françoise Carrier was not in favor of a increasing the speed of the project.

“I understand that there’s an imperative here, but I don’t think that we can give short shrift to this master plan,” she said. “We have a lot of density out there already. If people really want to do stuff, there are probably things that can be done. Probably not residential, but there’s commercial density available, so I’m not sure that the master plan has to hold up everything for the next two years.”

Carrier and Commissioner Norman Dreyfuss proposed three changes to the current scope before voting for approval.

Carrier requested that Sturgeon explicitly mention the BRT study in the scope’s “Connectivity” notes, and she wanted to see more information about protecting existing neighborhoods.

Dreyfuss requested that the study look at affordable housing. “Housing and affordable housing deserves a place at the table,” he said.

To visit the East County Science Center Master Plan website, click here.