Suburban redevelopment versus 'family feel'

In recent years, probably no region in the US has seen as much suburban, mixed-use redevelopment as metropolitan Washington. At locations close to Metro rail stations, a much more urban style of development has come into being: shops, restaurants, entertainment, and housing, organized largely around walkable streets.

But there's an undercurrent of displeasure about what's been lost. When the University of Maryland studied the effects of redevelopment in downtown Silver Spring, it found that "some merchants lost business during construction, struggled to adjust to the change in the market and could not compete with national chains," The Washington Post reports.

Now, some of the residents and business owners in Wheaton, Maryland, are expressing concern that a similar kind of redevelopment in that Montgomery County community could drive out many of the mom-and-pop stores.

"It is kind of junky-looking now," one Wheaton resident acknowledged recently, but it's also "comfortable," with its mix of Asian markets, Latino shops, and other family-owned enterprises serving an ethnically diverse clientele.

The Post says more than 50 businesses and seven nonprofit groups have formed the Coalition for Fair Redevelopment of Wheaton in an attempt to get the county to help the small businesses survive the disruptions of redevelopment, including an anticipated drop-off in business and parking restrictions during construction. The possibility of rent increases is also on some businesses' minds.

The redevelopment planned for Wheaton contains many improvements over current conditions. Land will be used more intensively, and the central business area should become more walkable. A public-private partnership has plans, for instance, to put more than 250 apartments on top of stores on what is currently a county-owned parking lots. Three office buildings are to be constructed over Metro bus bays, the newspaper says.

The question is whether the flavor of the area will be homogenized by the incoming wave of investment and physical improvement.