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5 things to know about the Eastern Silver Spring Communities Plan.With the Purple Line expected to open in late 2027, Montgomery County planners are developing a new master plan for a 2,100-acre, densely populated section of eastern Silver Spring that aims to prepare the area for the addition of the light-rail line.Since 2023, Montgomery Planning staff have been working on the Eastern Silver Spring Communities Plan, drafting recommendations on zoning and land use, transportation, housing, parks and the environment, economic development and urban design.The plan is expected to set a vision for the area’s future development for decades to come.The plan is bordered by Colesville Road, University Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue and will include three future Purple Line stations, the Piney Branch Road, Long Branch and Manchester Place.Project manager Lauren Stamm told Bethesda Today on June 2 that the plan is an opportunity to prepare for the investment in development that the completion of the Purple Line is expected to attract to the area.“I think there’s a lot of excitement about what could happen in eastern Silver Spring,” Stamm said, noting that there are also planned improvements to bus rapid transit on Route 29 (Colesville Road), New Hampshire Avenue and University Boulevard.“It’s really an opportunity for us to think about what development should look like, if it does happen, in the future, with this big sort of drive and push coming in the near term,” she said.In late February, Montgomery Planning released preliminary recommendations for the plan.Planners are expected to submit their proposed plan to the Planning Board this fall, followed by review and public outreach before the board sends its plan to the County Council, according to Stamm.According to the online document, the plan area sits inside the Capital Beltway and is one of the most densely populated parts of the county, with 36,766 residents.That is more than 10,000 people per square mile.The area’s residents are racially and ethnically diverse, according to Montgomery Planning, with 39% identifying as Hispanic, 27% identifying as Black, 21% identifying as white, and 10% are Asian.In addition, 60% of residents speak a language other than English at home, the document says.Throughout the community engagement process, Stamm said she has heard mixed opinions about the Purple Line opening, from concerns, particularly that the area may become unaffordable for residents and business owners after the light-rail line’s arrival.Stamm said community members within the area have lived through nearly a decade of construction for the Purple Line, and while that investment is coming, they told planners they feel “neglected” and “left behind.” While crafting the plan’s recommendations, Stamm said planners were considering how to ensure that the people who live in the area will be able to remain there.“The hope is that when development happens, it’s development that benefits the people who live in this area today and those who might want to live there in the future,” Stamm said.“How do we make sure that people who live here and through this arduous construction get to benefit from that investment?But also we’re creating the opportunity for more people to live in a transit-accessible, great location with parks.” Here are five things to know about the plan: 1.There are four major zoning recommendations.The recommended zoning changes are centered on creating opportunities for more housing, especially near transit, according to planners.One zoning change focuses on the main corridors within a quarter mile of the Purple Line – areas that currently are primarily zoned for single-family homes.Planners are recommending changing the zoning of properties in those areas to a Commercial Residential Neighborhood (CRN) zone.According to Stamm, those corridors would allow property owners to build duplex, triplex or quadplex homes as well as townhomes or small apartment buildings with 10 or fewer units.Another recommendation is focused on rezoning institutional properties, such as places of worship, community centers and senior housing, to CRN or another zone called Commercial Residential Town (CRT).Among the properties planners have recommended for rezoning are the YMCA Silver Spring, the Korean Community Service Center of Greater Washington, Victory Oaks Senior Housing, St.Camillus Church and Takoma Academy Seventh Day Adventist Preparatory High School.Stamm said the proposed rezoning would allow property owners and developers to have more “flexibility” to update their existing buildings, expand services or build housing if they want.“We’ve seen more and more in recent years that a lot of these institutions are really interested in both continuing to do the thing that they do … but that their spaces are outdated, and in order to reinvest in their institution, they might need a development partner, or to build housing in order to be able to do that,” Stamm said.Residents can explore the plan’s zoning recommendations, including two other zoning recommendations that focus on housing and retail, especially in the Long Branch neighborhood, by using an interactive online tool.YMCA leaders do not plan to redevelop the organization’s Colesville Road property despite community concerns.Community members say they are concerned about the proposed rezoning of the YMCA property at 9800 Hastings Drive in Silver Spring, specifically targeting the zoning’s 120-foot maximum height limit.In the neighborhood near the YMCA, lawn signs posted at several homes say, “No 10-story apartment building on the Y!” Pamela Curran, president and CEO of the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington, told Bethesda Today on Wednesday that there are no plans for developing housing on the YMCA Silver Spring property.She noted the organization’s leadership recognizes the YMCA’s importance to the community, which it has served for about 75 years, and does not plan to leave.While Curran said she would like to have a new building for the YMCA, any planning would require a process that includes community input.Those plans also likely would not involve housing, she added.“We’ve been a good neighbor while we’ve been there, and so we’re not going to abandon the community just to develop a building or housing or anything,” Curran said.Stamm said planners are aware of community members’ concerns about the height recommendation for the proposed rezoning.Preserving and creating affordable housing According to Stamm, the plan contains recommendations that aim to preserve existing affordable housing and incentivize developers to build new affordable housing in the designated area.Stamm noted these recommendations resulted from fears expressed by many community members that they might be displaced due to increasing rents upon the arrival of the Purple Line.One of the plan’s main recommendations is no net loss of deeply affordable housing, which refers to units available to residents making below 50% of the Area Median Income, which is the midpoint of the county’s income distribution.The area median income for a family of four in 2026 is $166,100.Planners are recommending that at least 15% of units in all new housing projects proposed for the area must be designated as moderately priced dwelling units.They also recommend that housing developers be urged to prioritize development of deeply affordable units, and that existing residents of properties that may get redeveloped be given the right to return.Small businesses With the upcoming Purple Line and expected investment in the areas near its stations in the county, Stamm said the plan includes recommendations aimed at supporting existing small businesses in the plan area to ensure they can remain if redevelopment were to occur.Those recommendations include offering incentives to help existing businesses remain or to relocate to affordable retail spaces.Another recommendation involves supporting the establishment of a commercial land t