White Flint phase I and II sector plan areas.

Development in the White Flint area is getting underway. After completing a number of other Sector Plans for other areas of Montgomery County, next year the Planning Department will begin studying White Flint II, covering areas north, east, and west of the adopted White Flint Sector Plan.

In some cases, the street grid and walkable development can just spread into surrounding areas. But to the north, the Sector Plan will run into a major constraint: the barrier created by the Montrose Parkway underpass. It is, in effect, White Flint’s Berlin Wall.

Yesterday, I discussed the underpass (or overpass, depending upon which way you are traveling). The graphic below superimposes one of the sketch plans we received for a several-block area in the heart of White Flint over the area occupied by the Montrose underpass. It is apparent how much land the underpass “sterilized” for future growth, housing, revenue and more importantly, the real impact it has on the possibilities for the White Flint II area.

Image from Montgomery County Planning Department.

10 or 15 years from now, as White Flint hits its stride, there will be plenty of destinations drawing people into the area. Some will take transit, but most will drive. They will seek out parking and walk along new pedestrian-friendly streets lined with windows and activity. Many will work and live in this emerging community.

Rockville Pike near the underpass.

Will those same people look north to the White Flint II area and say, “Hey, let’s go shop or eat over there?” And if they are making this decision, will they walk? No way. It will be a barrier. As the new streets and activities emerge in White Flint, they will not extend the grid across the underpass.

Would you really drive ¼ or ½ mile north and find a new parking spot in White Flint II to shop or eat? It’s unlikely you’d find something there that will not already be in White Flint. And this is the challenge of White Flint II. What can it become? What can happen there that will make it distinct from White Flint?

This question would be different if the Montrose/355 intersection had remained at-grade. The street grid could have extended north to south. The building infrastructure could have created a seamless transition across the intersection, not much different than, say, Georgia and Colesville Road in Silver Spring. People could and would walk across the area into White Flint II because the transition would be lined with active uses day and evening.

The Montrose Underpass simply reinforces the view that Rockville Pike is a runway to get through White Flint versus moving through the area as a destination itself. Keep in mind that for a driver in a car to make eye contact with a pedestrian, they have to be travelling at about 23 mph (30 kph). So as long as we keep building our roads as expressways, we prevent the opportunity for “engaged” streets where a number of activities coexist safely.

So as we prepare to look at the White Flint II area, we have to take a hard look at what is possible. We have White Flint becoming known as NoBe (North of Bethesda), we have Rockville to the north, with White Flint II mostly in the middle. Will it be SoRo (South of Rockville) or can it establish its own identity? Can we expect the same demand for high-rise construction in White Flint II as in WF I? Will traffic modeling reveal that White Flint I occupies the bulk of the available and projected road capacity?

Or should we expect more like Twinbrook Station, a recent successful project north and east of White Flint at lower densities with a residential focus? Should this be the future of White Flint II, with splashes of retailing that are more convenience-focused than destination oriented? Will there still be a market for destination retail like the Container Store north of Montrose?

Several property owners own land both north and south of Montrose. How they lease south of the road in White Flint I — whether to big box retailers or smaller retail — will have a big impact on what happens to the north in White Flint II. That model does not fit into the urban character of White Flint. Property owners will lease according to the market, and will avoid investments that compete with other uses in the area. This will not only impact the retail market but the residential market as well.

If White Flint I is to be higher-density condo and rental, there may not be enough market share for both areas in the next 15 years. Perhaps White Flint II will be about managing expectations, meaning it may take awhile for the collective vision to emerge. This is the approach that we are investigating for the Long Branch neighborhood, where the near and long term goals are differentiated by the actions we can take to create incremental change.

Maybe 20 years from now the Montrose underpass may be MoCo’s elevated expressway. The mistake realized decades later in places like Seattle, Toronto and San Francisco, where lots of money was invested to reverse the damage and open up new opportunities for creating better environments for people, not autos.

Several years ago, a portion of the one elevated expressway that reached downtown Toronto was torn down, about 1.5 miles of it. Support is now building to take down the rest. This is one of the locations around the world where the benefits of tearing down 1950/‘60s era transportation infrastructure has and will open up new economic opportunities that also meld well with the greening of urban areas.

There are lots of things to consider when we start the White Flint II Sector Plan.We hope for engaged conversations with property owners, residents and business operators — all of whom will help guide the possibilities that White Flint II can be.

Crossposted at The Director’s Blog.