A shopping center in the historically Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Kemp Mill will no longer be subject to potential upzoning in the University Boulevard Corridor Plan, a Montgomery County Council committee decided Monday.
The rezoning plan, drafted by Montgomery Planning officials, aims to allow for more residential development and public transportation along a three-mile stretch of University Boulevard between Four Corners and Wheaton. The stated goal of the plan is to introduce more types of housing, alleviate traffic congestion and reduce traffic-related deaths.
While members of the council’s Planning, Housing and Parks Committee are divided on the plan — with council members Natali Fani-González and Andrew Friedson expressing support in the meeting, and council Vice President Will Jawando taking issue with many aspects of the proposal — the full group agreed to redraw the plan’s proposed boundaries so that the Kemp Mill Shopping Center would not be directly impacted.
While the plan does not allow the county to seize private homes or claim eminent domain, members of the historically Orthodox Jewish Kemp Mill neighborhood expressed concerns about residents and businesses being displaced or priced out of the community, either through a change of ownership or closure.
The shopping center includes the Shalom Kosher grocery store, a kosher bakery and multiple kosher restaurants, including Ben Yehuda Pizza.
“All these businesses are a huge resource to the community and if any of them were to go out of business either temporarily due to the transition of the property or permanently due to economic factors ... it would take away a huge community resource that is vitally important to the Jewish community,” the Kemp Mill Civic Association wrote in a letter to the Montgomery County Planning Board in February, following the drafting of the plan.
Friedson, who is Jewish, said Monday he could relate to the concerns raised by the residents of Kemp Mill and has shopped for kosher food for holidays in the shopping center, which is why he supported the boundary change.
“The shopping center is very important to the [Kemp Mill] community, but it really serves the entire region from a kosher dining and kosher food option standpoint,” Friedson said. “It is something that is extremely culturally significant.”
Proposal sparks tension
While the committee easily agreed to exclude the Kemp Mill Shopping Center from the potential rezoning, the council members were unable to come to a consensus on how to address other aspects of the plan, which they deferred to future committee meetings.
The plan would allow rezoning in certain parts of the University Boulevard corridor to permit more types of housing — such as town houses, duplexes, triplexes and small apartment buildings — than are currently allowed.
It would also allow mixed-use developments and require more of what the county calls moderately priced dwelling units (MPDUs) for new residential projects in the corridor. While the potential for increased development is a widely discussed part of the plan, it’s not its only focus. The proposal also recommends new bus rapid-transit lines, pedestrian walkways and bike lanes.
“There are seven neighborhood organizations within the plan area that provided testimony themselves in opposition to the plan. I think that’s just important to note,” Jawando said Monday.
The plan has faced significant criticism from detractors, including County Executive Marc Elrich, who say that it emphasizes creating more density in development rather than prioritizing affordable housing.
“[The plan] is focused on creating as much housing as possible without adequately addressing the other essential elements of a master plan. Its focus on only part of a road explains why the boundaries have proven so controversial,” Elrich wrote in a Sept. 2 letter to the council. “The narrow, artificial boundaries not only divide and truncate established neighborhoods but also undermine any analysis of the other essential elements of a master plan.”
Elrich cannot veto zoning changes, so his direct power over the plan is limited. However, he has used his platform to publicly express his disagreement with the proposal, including by personally testifying during a council public hearing earlier this month.
The corridor plan process comes after the council passed the controversial More Housing N.O.W. legislative package, which amended the county’s zoning code to allow more “missing middle” development in certain zones near public transit.
Fani-González expressed frustration about the discussion, saying that the committee should focus on the University Boulevard Corridor proposal at hand and not dwell on the previous controversy over More Housing N.O.W., which Elrich also opposed.
She also argued that a large portion of residents living in the corridor may face access issues when it comes to receiving information and their ability to testify.
She pointed out that the M12 bus route, which travels along the corridor, serves about 11,000 riders every weekday, and that 89% of them are people of color. She said that members of the working-class community she represents in the corridor have expressed a desire for improved public transit options, but are not always able to organize in groups to testify at hearings.
“This is a community that is waking up really early in the morning, working two or three jobs,” Fani-González said. “And you’re not going to see them sitting here [at a council meeting]. They’re working. And I know this community very well, because it used to be me. When I lived in Langley Park on University Boulevard, I would take this bus.”
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