Density of Urban Village Proposal Raises Concern

The site, at the northwestern end of Metro’s Red Line, includes a sprawling transportation complex with more than 5,000 parking spaces and stops for two dozen bus lines. It also features a cluster of warehouses and nondescript government offices and is home to enough vacant lots to attract builders who find few opportunities like it elsewhere in the county. Nearby is old Derwood, where both aging and remodeled houses sit next to a vehicle emissions station.

Now, the County Council wants to change that vision dramatically. The council is scheduled to vote next month on a master plan to turn the area into an urban village, with housing, office buildings and shops amid tree-lined streets and parks. “It’s like total change,” said Pat Labuda, who lives a mile from the Metro station. “It’s hard to envision it all.”

If approved, the Shady Grove plan would convert the mostly industrial area — part of a broader 2,000-acre community — into a housing center that could draw as many as 12,000 new residents.

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