Rock Creek Hills Local Park is the recommended site for a new Bethesda-Chevy Chase middle school.

Wednesday’s recommendation from a committee of residents, parks, school officials and others will be included in a final report to Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua P. Starr and the school board.

The recommendation comes 10 months after the Kensington park’s selection as the site of the school was met with criticism, prompting the superintendent to order a new review of potential school sites.

The park’s potential use as a school site will be discussed by the County Park and Planning Commission March 15. Residents can weigh-in from March 12-26. Starr is expected to release his recommendation in late March or early April, followed by a school board vote.

Members of the public on Wednesday expressed concern with increased traffic, losing a public park, and the cost of building a new school, estimated at $46.5 million.

“I am a little uncomfortable saying we should choose one park over another,” said Rock Creek Hills resident Lynne Kaplan. “All that money is going to go into a school that is going to be too small from day one.”

The school is needed to alleviate overcrowding at Westland Middle School in Bethesda, the B-CC cluster’s only middle school. Sixth-graders at Chevy Chase and North Chevy Chase elementary schools would also attend the new middle school.

Rock Creek Hills park at 3701 Saul Road is a 13.3-acre park with 11 buildable acres. Facilities include a playground, two soccer fields, and two tennis courts, plus woodland.

It is owned by the Department of Parks, but was the former site of Kensington Junior High School. Being a former school system property, the rights to the property can be reclaimed by the school system.

Also considered was 31-acre North Chevy Chase Local Park at 4105 Jones Bridge Road. It has approximately 30 buildable acres and is owned by the Department of Parks.

“The loss is we may not be able to find another piece of land to replace the community that is losing it,” said Brooke Farquhar, supervisor of park and trail planning for the county Department of Parks.

In April 2011, a Montgomery County Public Schools-commissioned committee reviewed 10 sites for a new middle school, ultimately recommending Silver Spring’s Rosemary Hills/Lyttonsville Parks. After protests from those living near the park, the school board approved a feasibility study for the committee’s second-most preferred option; Rock Creek Hills.

While the county Board of Education decided in April that Rock Creek Hills would be the site of the new school, Starr called for re-starting the process Nov. 2 due to mounting concerns from nearby residents, County Council members, and officials with Department of Parks who said they were left out of the decision.

jablamsky@gazette.net