Developers of a large housing and retail center off Interstate 270 say they will protect a cemetery where the remains of Germantown’s earliest settlers are buried.
The Poplar Grove project proposal includes 540 housing units, offices and shops on 19 acres in the center of one of the county’s fastest-growing regions — near Montgomery College’s Germantown Campus, Holy Cross Germantown Hospital, Germantown Center and the Milestone shopping center.
In updated documents filed with the county Planning Board, the development group said the cemetery will be preserved and circled by a public park, called Waters Memorial Park, to provide a “quiet, contemplative green space in a high-density area and a respectful setting for the graves of the site’s early inhabitants.”
The project has been on the drawing board for years and initial plans to remove and relocate remains from the cemetery met a backlash from some residents.
The remains of Zachariah Waters, his wife and three children, who lived in the area from the mid-1700s to mid-1800s, are in the cemetery. Waters was the property’s first settler, according to Planning Board documents.
The 1.2 million-square-foot development would join other projects like Gaithersburg’s Crown Farm neighborhood, and continue rapid development along the I-270 corridor.
The property, largely undeveloped and described as a rolling meadow, is also near Black Hill Regional Park.
Land is expected to be split almost evenly between residences and mixed-use development, with up to 350 multi-family units and 190 townhouses. About 500,000 square feet is dedicated to non-residential uses such as public and private parking, amenities, office and retail areas.
Designs include approximately 30 buildings ranging from one to 14 stories. Office buildings are proposed to be tallest and sit on the north end of the property and retail buildings to the south measuring between two and four stories.
A representative for the project’s developer, Arlington, Virginia-based Dewberry Engineers Inc., declined comment.
The project is split into five districts to be developed in three phases over 12 years.
Forecasting an “economic downturn” during that time, the application says developers will need support from government agencies to come to fruition, but does not elaborate.
“In order to overcome market fluctuations, yet have the runway to find makers/local producers and coordinate the financial means to bring them into the maker spaces, the Applicant will need substantial time and effort,” the development application says.
“During this time, there could be further complications such as increasing construction costs, different market demands, new makers to try to incorporate into another maker concept, different building needs due to maker processes, and other issues that could extend the time necessary.”
Included in the plans are new residential roads, gardening and urban farming, orchards and a walking trail circling the property. Many of the features will be along Poplar Grove’s main Garden Street “which will become the project’s defining feature and a landmark for … the upcounty area in general,” the development proposal says. About 22 percent of the project’s total area is dedicated to public green space.
Caitlynn Peetz can be reached at caitlynn.peetz@moco360.media
