Community Invited to Attend Wheaton Downtown Study Open House on June 14

Montgomery Planning will provide background on the study, and initial strategies to advance the vision of the 2012 Wheaton CBD and Vicinity Sector Plan

WHEATON, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, will hold a community open house for the Wheaton Downtown Study on June 14, 2022 (4 – 7:00 p.m.) at M-NCPPC’s Wheaton Headquarters Auditorium (2425 Reedie Drive, Floor 2, Wheaton, MD 20902). At the open house, Montgomery Planning staff will provide an overview of the purpose of the study, discuss strengths, opportunities and challenges within the Wheaton Central Business District, and present initial strategies to further the implementation of the 2012 Wheaton CBD and Vicinity Sector Plan. The open house is in-person only and the presentation will be made available on demand.

Interested parties are encouraged to RSVP, but it is not required.

Montgomery Planning staff will provide a brief presentation once each hour of the open house – at 4:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m., and 6:30 p.m. The remainder of the event will be open house style and provide an opportunity for the community to learn more about the goals of the study and offer feedback on the study area’s strengths, opportunities, challenges, and initial strategies.

All  participants attending the community open house must be vaccinated and may be required to show proof of vaccination. Translation assistance and accessibility accommodations are available upon request and must be made by June 7, 2022. Please contact Jessica McVary at [email protected] or 301-495-4723 by June 7, 2022.

About the Wheaton Downtown Study

The Wheaton Downtown Study is an effort to identify opportunities to create a cohesive downtown that integrates recent development with Wheaton’s small-scale character while meeting the needs and aspirations of small businesses, property owners, and residents of the Wheaton Central Business District. The Study builds upon the vision of the 2012 Wheaton Central Business District and Vicinity Sector Plan, which is already advancing physical redevelopment and adaptive reuse of the downtown in ways that enrich the community economically while preserving Wheaton’s unique character. The Study will complement the 2012 Sector Plan and integrate guidance from recently adopted plans and policies to explore how larger redevelopment can support smaller properties’ potential to evolve and contribute to a growing Wheaton, provide clear paths for small businesses and property owners to participate in community redevelopment opportunities, and share the creation of public benefits.

The Study will focus on the following key goals:

• Evaluate Development Progress: Evaluate downtown Wheaton’s development progress to date and identify challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned in furthering the 2012 Sector Plan’s vision.
• Promote Complete Communities: Explore the adaptive reuse and expansion of existing structures to promote existing small business preservation, local job retention and creation, provide services and amenities, and introduce additional residential uses.
• Improve Multimodal Safety: Update the 2002 Wheaton Central Business District Streetscape Standards and establish goals compatible with actual redevelopment opportunities and with Wheaton’s unique character to further Montgomery County’s Vision Zero policy.
• Establish Fine-Grained Urban Design Vision for Wheaton: Create an urban design development framework that builds on the relationship between redeveloped and adaptively reused properties and focuses on how small-scale redevelopment can help retain Wheaton’s unique character.