Sandy Spring Rural Village Plan in Full Swing
The Montgomery County Planning Department hosted a free four-day workshop from February 3 to 6 at the Sandy Spring Museum to initiate its Sandy Spring Rural Village Plan. The main purpose of the plan is to design a village center near the museum, and to continue “transforming the heart of Sandy Spring,” as the Montgomery County Planning Department stated on its website.
The first workshop held for the Rural Village Plan was a success. Over 130 residents, business owners and professional designers attended the workshop over the four days and contributed their ideas to socially and architecturally develop the Sandy Spring community.
The idea for change in the Sandy Spring area began in 1998 with the Sandy Spring/Ashton Master Plan, which recognized that the details of the village center were beyond its scope and proposed further studies to develop the concept. Still, it encouraged change “that will help ensure that the village center serves its role as a focal point in community life.”
Of the three focus points in the Master Plan – constructing a fire station, realigning Brooke Road to improve vehicular and pedestrian traffic and safety, and creating a village green (a public park with grassy land) – only the first has been completed.
The Scope of Work document published by the Planning Department states that “the plan should preserve the rich cultural history in Sandy Spring, design civic spaces and a village center for the community to gather, and make safe connections to important civic sites.”
The Planning Department released a project timeline for the Rural Village Plan online. Public workshops and meetings with Sandy Spring residents will continue in coming months, as community feedback is essential to the plan’s success. The Planning Department anticipates completing a draft document for construction by May 2014 and organizing the project with the Montgomery County Council and Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett in late 2014.