Community residents and business leaders alike voiced overwhelming support Tuesday during a County Council public hearing in Rockville for Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich’s (D) proposal to create a development district in the White Oak neighborhood of Silver Spring.
Passage of Elrich’s proposed legislation would allow the county to enter into its first-ever tax increment financing plan with a private company to fund the long-awaited $2.8 billion Viva White Oak redevelopment project.
“This is more than just another project. This is a long overdue promise to invest in and revitalize eastern Montgomery County,” said Stephanie Helsing, president and CEO of the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce. “The use of the [financing] plan will allow this to happen without impacting county resources or services.”
Viva White Oak — once named LifeSci Village — is a long-planned community that would be near the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s White Oak campus at 10903 New Hampshire Avenue and Adventist HealthCare White Oak Medical Center at 11890 Healing Way. To be located on 280 acres, the development is expected to include up to 12.1 million square feet of commercial, residential, retail and public space. According to a May county news release, the development is expected to generate 17,000 construction jobs, 9,000 permanent jobs and an estimated $62 million in annual county revenue once completed.
Nearly 5,000 homes, including apartments, are expected to be built, along with new retail, hotel, and medical office space, according to the release. The plan also “reserves land for a new elementary school, active parks, bike lanes, and community trails, all while protecting more than 18 acres through forest conservation.”
If approved by the council, the public-private partnership with Baltimore-based MCB Real Estate would allow the county to use tax increment financing to subsidize the project. According to a May news release from the county, local governments use this type of funding mechanism “to pledge future property tax revenues from within the project area to fund core public infrastructure such as roads, utilities, and open space, without impacting existing County resources or services.”
MCB Real Estate entered into a contract with the county government to redevelop the Viva White Oak property in 2023. The proposed redevelopment has faced several site plan hurdles as well as changing partnerships between developers and the county since 2021.
“It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity and is supported by the community,” said Theresa Stegman, vice president of MCB Real Estate during Tuesday’s hearing.
Council President Kate Stewart (D-Dist. 4) noted Elrich’s proposal must move through several steps before final approval. Tuesday’s public hearing was focused on a resolution to enable the creation of the development district. If the resolution passes, the next step is for the proposed development district to be reviewed by the county Planning Board. Following the board’s review, Elrich will review the Planning Board’s draft of the development district and prepare a fiscal report, which the council will review and vote on as a separate resolution.
“This is new for us,” Stewart said.
Investing in the East County
Supporters of the project said Tuesday the plan offers a creative way to finance an overdue project.
“The project will deliver much needed economic growth and job creation in East County and accelerate and foster innovation throughout the county and even the region,” said Brian Levine, vice president of government affairs for the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce.
Rachael Evans, chair of Friends of White Oak, a nonprofit that advocates for community engagement and growth in the area, said the plan would be a way to invest in a part of the county she sees as neglected.
“For years I have noticed several parts of Montgomery County grow, including downtown Silver Spring and Bethesda, with strong support from the county,” Evans said. “In contrast, there has been little investment for developing the East County.”
While all speakers at Tuesday’s hearing supported the general proposal, some expressed reservations about specific aspects.
Barry Wides, president of the North White Oak Civic Association, said residents of his neighborhood generally support development in the area, but they have concerns about traffic management and want the project to include funding for roadway expansion. He said rush hour is particularly challenging for area drivers.
“We think that the creation of the FLASH bus with dedicated lanes on [Route] 29 could potentially facilitate access to the Silver Spring Metro for users,” Wides said. “However, for commuters unable to use mass transit, the loss of the traffic lane and traffic increase involved with Viva White Oak would further worsen a bad situation.”
Elrich has praised Northern Virginia’s special taxing districts, which allow the collection of taxes in those districts to fund transportation projects. He has said he wants to emulate this taxing mechanism in order to invest in transportation infrastructure without relying on the county’s operating budget base. But Montgomery County leaders can’t implement similar taxes unless the Maryland General Assembly passes legislation that would enable them to do so.
The tax increment financing mechanism may be the closest Elrich can get to this type of funding method, unless state law changes. According to county officials, independent analysts have reviewed the proposal and confirmed that the financing plan would not affect the county’s general budget fund or bond rating.