On Sunday September 29, the BBCC hosted a presentation for the congregation and community on the design concept for the Silver Spring United Methodist Church affordable housing development. We also updated attendees on the current and upcoming phases of the church master plan, including upcoming construction of a new nursery, new sanctuary-adjacent restroom, and much-needed accessibility improvements to Fellowship Hall.
Four listening sessions following that presentation were an opportunity for neighbors, community partners, and church members to weigh in with comments and suggestions on what had been presented. While there was broad support of the affordable housing project, the most frequent concern among community members was the proposed 7-story height of the project. Questions were also raised about whether we could accommodate parking for both future residents and church needs.
Pastor Will and BBCC co-chairs Alison Edwards and Bill Scanlan then held an informative and helpful meeting with Montgomery Planning officials, where we received feedback on the proposed design concept in several areas including building height and size, traffic flow, green space, and the zoning approval process.
On October 20, the BBCC met to discuss feedback from the listening sessions and further refine plans on the housing design concept. Among the several key items decided, the committee agreed with the strategy of staying within the height limit imposed by Montgomery County’s Faith ZTA (Zoning Text Amendment), while keeping the number of units in the multifamily structure at or above 120 to maximize competitiveness for tax credits. We also agreed to the demolition of the gym and adjacent classrooms in the current education wing.
The BBCC will next host a congregation and community briefing on Sunday November 10 at 11:30am when we will present a more formalized planning proposal incorporating revisions to the September plans based on church and community input. The concept package presented on this date will be considered the “preliminary architectural plans” to be voted on later by the congregation, as required by the Methodist Book of Discipline.
For those who are unable to attend in-person, the presentation will also be streamed and recorded and recorded on the SSUMC Facebook and YouTube pages. Questions? Email us at belovedcommunity@silverspringumcp.org.