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Gaithersburg and Rockville are poised to reap vast economic and cultural benefits at their borders over the next 30-plus-years as envisioned in the Gaithersburg West master plan. But leaders from both cities fear that the county's efforts so far in creating the blueprint to manage that growth falls short in considering its neighbors.

In recent letters to the County Planning Board, Rockville Mayor Susan Hoffmann, Gaithersburg Planning Commission Chairman John Bauer and Gaithersburg Planning Director Lauren Pruss praised the plan's working draft, which calls for more than 15 million square feet of development, 40,000 new jobs and 5,000 new homes in a 900-acre area in Shady Grove. Rockville called it a "strong and forward-looking approach" while Gaithersburg deemed it a "well thought out and thorough document which champions the elements of smart growth."

When it comes to the plan's proposals for housing and traffic, however, Gaithersburg and Rockville leaders are calling for far more detail and in some cases, reconsideration of fundamental assumptions on density and mass transit.

Officials from both cities want more specifics and coordination on other impacts such water and sewer systems, emergency services, community centers, schools and libraries — but worry most about the traffic that will spill onto their city's streets.

"If it's a few feet outside the city limits, it's still going to affect the city," said Gaithersburg City Councilman Michael A. Sesma, echoing comments of Rockville Mayor Susan Hoffmann. "Unless it's down on paper, unless the covenants are there, no one is going to be able to guarantee our residents that it won't have considerable impact on what's going on."

In the letters, officials agree that the plan needs to spell out a scenario in the event that the state does not realign the Corridor Cities Transitway through the heart of the planning area, or if it fails to find funding. And while lauding an effort to divide construction into stages triggered by infrastructural improvements, they worry that those phases do not mention how the 5,000 new residences fit in to the requirements.

Gaithersburg's concerns start with the 130-acre Belward Farm on Darnestown and Muddy Branch roads, where Johns Hopkins University wants to build as much as 6.5 million square feet of research and office space.

The Gaithersburg West draft limits development at Belward to 4.6 million square feet and calls for several nearby roads to be widened to six- and eight-lane highways, requiring the construction of five overpass-style interchanges.

Those interchanges stray from Smart Growth principles, Gaithersburg planners say, and are in one case "unfeasible." As Gaithersburg's March 24 letter points out, families are already living in homes on the land needed for the interchange at Diamondback Drive and Sam Eig Highway.

At the top of Rockville's concerns is the housing needed for the tens of thousands of residents that would move to the area. Too much of the infrastructure is deferred to the third planning stage, while two-thirds of growth is in the second stage, Hoffmann wrote in her March 31 letter. With or without the CCT, Hoffmann sees that translating into traffic running through Rockville communities, especially along Darnestown Road, Key West and West Montgomery avenues and the ramps for Interstate 270 as well as "secondary roads" such as Fallsgrove Boulevard, Blackwell Road and the Wootton and Watts Branch parkways.

"It's a brilliant plan and we think it's going to be very useful to the whole county," Hoffmann said in an interview. "It's just frightening: how's that all going to be handled?"

The Montgomery County Planning Board will hold five work sessions on the Gaithersburg West master plan before finalizing its recommended draft. The County Executive would then make comments and transmit it to the County Council, which must hold at least one public hearing before making its final decision. That is expected for the fall. The planning board work sessions are at 8787 Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring.

-2 p.m. April 23: transportation analysis and Quince Orchard area recommendations;

-May 14: environmental analysis, design guidelines, districts, zoning and the Corridor Cities Transitway;

-May 18: continuation of previous session;

-May 28: Economic analysis, implementation and staging;

-June 11: continuation of previous session