Statement on Wheaton Draft Sector Plan

The statement below was presented to the Montgomery County Planning Board by Russ Burnett of Wheaton, MD, on behalf of the Montgomery County Sierra Club.

July 19, 2011

The planning board draft of the Wheaton sector plan is based on a vision of Wheaton as bigger and better but fundamentally the same sort of place that it currently is. In this regard, it is similar to the public hearing draft of June, 2010. As we noted in our statement on that earlier draft, this vision of Wheaton is not what Montgomery County needs Wheaton to be, nor does it serve the needs of a large number of Wheaton residents.

The County needs to address the current concentration of jobs in the west and housing in the east. The Sierra Club has warned of the consequences of this east-west jobs-housing imbalance on many occasions. Furthermore, the need for balanced land use among the corridors was a major conclusion of the 2001 Transportation Policy Report, which is cited in most newer master plans. The need for more job relative to housing growth in Wheaton and the Route 29 Corridor has been noted in all iterations of the Council's 10-Year Transportation Plan.

To address this problem, Wheaton needs a stronger, more diverse economy, and more professional jobs, so that the Georgia Avenue corridor becomes a "complete community" and not just a residential-and-retail community for car commuters to the I-270 Corridor. Unfortunately, whereas the plan does contain a "revitalization strategy" for Wheaton, this revitalization strategy rests on growth in retail and a nighttime economy, and gives short shrift to higher-paying office jobs.

The planners say there is no demand for office buildings in Wheaton, but lack of demand was not met with resignation in the I-270 Corridor. When demand for commercial development and growth of good jobs seemed insufficient in Germantown and in Gaithersburg West, ambitious master plans were adopted, and the County's promotion machine moved into high gear. Jobs were created, and the east-west jobs-housing imbalance increased. To those who were concerned about this imbalance, the answer from the Planning Board and Council members was that the new master plans for Wheaton and the Route 29 Corridor would reduce the inequity.

Now, far from reducing the inequity, the plan for Wheaton takes it as a given. To justify the view that a robust office market cannot be developed in Wheaton, the plan cites "competition from other County and regional locations." It seems that the County's success in growing good jobs in the west is now being used as a rationale for giving up in the east.

The lack of professional jobs in Wheaton is not just bad for Montgomery County. It is bad for Wheaton. Wheaton is an economically diverse community, to be sure, and its lower-paying retail jobs are important. But, as the plan notes, Wheaton residents are also well educated. Nearly 70% have at least a bachelor's degree, and over one-third have a graduate, professional, or doctoral degree. As the plan says, "Wheaton residents are just as likely to have an advanced degree as anyone in the County." I am one of these Wheaton residents. We are candidates for higher-paying office jobs, but, to find such jobs, we currently have to commute south into Washington or west to the I-270 Corridor. Wheaton's residents would be well served by an office market closer to home, and vice versa.

To clarify this discrepancy between job types and education in Wheaton, we recommend that the next version of the plan include not only a graph of education levels but also a table of job types and whatever is known about pay levels. We expect such a table would show that jobs, both current and forecast, are principally retail, restaurant, and service jobs that pay substantially less than the County average. Instead of settling for this forecast, the plan should seek to develop a job market that is commensurate with the high levels of education of Wheaton residents. If well managed, high value growth would benefit the existing residents, not drive them out.

We are encouraged by the County Redevelopment Program, described in the plan. As the plan notes, development of 10 publicly owned properties around the Metro station can be used to spur broader and more sustainable economic growth in Wheaton. What the plan doesn't emphasize, however, is that development of these properties can be used to spur growth of an office market, in particular. Representatives of B. F. Saul, the developer selected for the WMATA Triangle and Parking Lot 13, have said that they see potential to grow an office market. They have spoken of jump-starting an office market by recruiting a federal agency to move into Wheaton. We whole-heartedly support this idea, and we urge that the sector plan be revised to incorporate this sort of thinking to a greater degree. The goal should be growth in professional jobs in downtown Wheaton, which of course offers transit access for the workforce. Such jobs would be the foundation for better incomes in the area, more demand for new urban housing, and more prosperous retail.

We urge planners and policymakers to adopt a plan in which Wheaton reaches its potential as a major Metro-accessible urban center, with a complete job market as well as a range of housing options. Wheaton has the potential to be the County's next great example of "smart growth," and we urge planners and policymakers to embrace this vision.

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