Instead of an aging strip mall on Georgia Avenue, Glenmont residents want a town center with trees, shops, homes, a quiet spot to sip some coffee and, of course, easy access for walkers and drivers alike.
They, along with community business owners, shared that vision with Montgomery County planners Saturday during an early discussion of the Glenmont Sector Plan.
“We really need to overhaul the shopping center,” said Amanda Bernhardt, president of the Greater Glenmont Civic Association. It needs better stores, better access.”
Bernhardt said she only goes to the Glenmont Shopping Center for groceries since it’s the closest to her house. She suggested places like Starbucks, Chipotle or Panera Bread would be good additions.
One of multiple such plans being worked on, the Glenmont version, which was last updated 15 years ago, will map future growth in the area centered near Georgia Avenue and Randolph Road.
Planning staff will present their preliminary recommendations to the Montgomery County Planning Board in April and release a draft in June. The study area covers 600 acres and includes the shopping center, the Glenmont Metro Station and nearby single-family home neighborhoods.
The shopping center, which sits between Georgia Avenue, Randolph Road and Layhill Road, has an asphalt parking lot with anchor stores like CVS Pharmacy, Staples and a Shoppers grocery store. In between are about 20 small businesses like a discount store, an international market, a beer and wine shop, a Chinese restaurant and an arcade.
“We need something nice there that people are going to want to go to,” Bernhardt said. “A lot of stores there are very low-end … People only come to Glenmont to get through Glenmont in order to get to someplace else.”
Mike Fisher, who owns a stretch of the shopping center from the arcade to the grocery store, Country Boy Market, said he would like to see the vision for an updated town center come to fruition.
“We want to work with planners to make the best place for the community and for the owners,” he said.
Fisher, who has owned the property for 25 years, said businesses in the strip mall are worried about how plans could affect them. Their anxiety is premature, though, he said, since actual changes are years away.
“They are concerned because they thing it is happening now,” Fisher said. “They don’t know when it is happening, but it’s probably 10 or 25 years down the road.”
Those at the meeting also wanted more pedestrian lighting in surrounding neighborhoods. Some suggested painting the nearby water tower with a sign or picture to represent Glenmont.
“Some of the things we have heard before, but some of it was new ideas we need to consider,” said Michael Brown, senior planner for the sector plan.
Anne Gerlach, 43, of Glenmont, said she would like to be able to bike near her home, but can’t because there are no pedestrian or bike paths and traffic is heavy.
“You take your life into your hands when you are trying to cross Georgia Avenue and Randolph Road,” she said.
ktousignant@gazette.net
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