The Montgomery County Planning Board has approved $4.9 million in initial funding for a mixed-use downtown development in Silver Spring that will combine the headquarters of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission with condos, apartments, shops, restaurants and a grocery store.

Construction for the SilverPlace Project is scheduled to start in September 2010, and will convert the parking lot adjacent to the Montgomery Regional Park and Planning Office at Georgia Avenue and Spring Street into office, residential and retail space.

The rebuilt headquarters will sit in the same location as the current “obsolete and overcrowded” building at 8787 Georgia Ave. It will also expand into what is now a parking lot, which was acquired in 1998 in a land swap with the county, according to an agreement with the land developers. The new headquarters will consolidate 400 staff, currently working in six locations.

The development plan was heavily criticized this summer by residents in the nearby Woodside Park community, who demanded community members’ involvement before public monies were appropriated. Now that an initial agreement with land developers has been reached, the county will seek community input.

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“The first stage is a series of design workshops where professional developers and consultants will convene with the community,” Planning Board spokeswoman Nancy Lineman said after the SilverPlace plan was approved Thursday.

The public input phase will begin in January and conclude in May 2008. Officials say the full cost of the project will not be determined until the design phase is completed at the end of 2008.

Completion funding for the development will be requested in February 2009. A portion of the planning office’s funding will be the money gained from the developers’ purchase of the part of the land that is designated for private use.

khill@dcexaminer.com