Planning Board Approves Montgomery Mall Expansion

SILVER SPRING, MD – Following four hours of testimony, the Montgomery County Planning Board on Thursday tentatively approved an expansion proposal for Westfield Montgomery, a 40-year-old mall near Bethesda. The plan will enlarge Macy’s, relocate the Sears Automotive Center, and add a promenade with freestanding retail shops and restaurants with outdoor seating.

The board’s tentative decision included conditions offered by a citizens’ group to address pedestrian safety as well as the size and look of a parking garage along Westlake Drive. Based on that input, the board required the developer to expand a bike path and to step back the top floor of part of the parking garage and to add additional façade treatment to reduce its visual impact on the surrounding community.

The board planned to incorporate those revised conditions before finalizing their vote later on Thursday.

The citizens group met with the developers and worked out the improvements a few days before the board hearing. The bike lane improvements will require review by the county Department of Public Works and Transportation.

Westfield Montgomery, better known as Montgomery Mall, sits on 60 acres at Democracy Boulevard and Westlake Drive. Developers proposed approximately 60,000 feet of additional retail, including 25,000 square feet recently acquired from an existing strip mall.

“The applicant and the community have worked well together to come up with a project that everyone seems to be happy with,” said Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson. “That’s to be highly commended.”