Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Montgomery County Council’s Economic Development Committee (ECON) held a work session on October 8, 2026, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to discuss the modernization of urban districts and placemaking organizations. Chair Natali Fani-González emphasized the need for countywide pride and equitable support across all districts, including emerging ones. The session included presentations from county staff, representatives from urban districts, main streets, business improvement districts, and regional service center directors. Discussions focused on funding models, transitioning to community-led models, and ensuring sustainable, locally owned placemaking efforts.
Staff Presentation on Urban Districts and Placemaking Ken Hartman-Espada, Assistant Chief Administrative Officer, provided a historical overview of the county’s urban districts (Bethesda, Silver Spring, Wheaton, and Friendship Heights) and alternative models such as main streets (e.g., Long Branch, Tacoma Park) and business improvement districts (e.g., Pike District Partnership). He noted that the parking lot district revenue, historically used to supplement urban districts, has declined, leading to greater reliance on the general fund. He proposed considering a transition of county-run urban districts (Wheaton and Silver Spring) to community-led models, with the county retaining heavy maintenance responsibilities. He stressed that any transition must be community-driven and locally funded.
Placemaking Organization Presentations Representatives from several organizations described their work and challenges:
Regional Directors’ Perspectives
Councilmember Discussion
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. My name is Natalie Fanny Gonzalez work. Welcome to the Economic Development Committee work session for October 5th. This is an exciting one, especially because this committee has been talking about you know modernizing our urban districts and placemaking since we were pretty much created. I do want to recognize Mr. Ken Harman as Bada, because you have been an allied on this quest to change the way we handle this type of um efforts, which are clearly critical for economic development throughout the county. And I do want to also emphasize that sometimes people say, well, we only have you know four urban districts, and we have all these events in these areas. Many of these events, if not most of them, especially the big ones, are really countywide. For example, the one coming up in Wheaton is the barbecue competition. Uh first time ever in Montgomery County. I'm so excited, but it's really a countywide event. The end uh another example that doesn't officially have an urban district is in Germantown, Oktoberfest. It's not a county event. No, but I go there. So um so it's it's just this idea that we need to ensure and make sure that when we are promoting our districts, it is countywide because we are one county. We are one government. When Burton's Bill does something and it's amazing, we all need to take pride. When Germantown is doing something amazing, we all take pride. Poolsville, Silversprint, and so forth. So that's the idea, and that's something that I have been pushing since I became chair of this committee, including uh ensuring that other places like German town, like Burton's feel, like what else the other one only get funds for place making. And even in I say that as a person who has an urban district, I see it as a responsibility to ensure that there is love and money across the county because it does make the county um stronger. Again, all these events are part of the economic development portfolio that we have. And the other beautiful thing is that each of each of these districts, they all have different unique characteristics. Wheaton is very different from Germantown and Burton's feel. And that's a great thing, because we're not just a monolithic county. We have so many differences and backgrounds, and and that's what makes Montgomery County so special. And if you missed the Visa Montgomery strategic plan work session that happened two weeks ago at this point, I think it was two weeks ago. You should watch it and you should read that strategic plan because it was probably one of the best strategic plans that I have seen in this county. And it does have a reflection of what the urban districts and main streets and placemaking uh efforts were doing in this county and how we can move forward. We did have a joint committee work session at with the with uh TNE, I think it was like a year and a half ago at this point. Um, and it was basically based on the parking lots and the funding that we get. That's a really an old model. It made sense 30 years ago. Doesn't make sense now. Um so that's the reason why we have these work sessions, and we're in great timing too, because we have a new administration coming in. And uh I think transition time is always very exciting because having new blood um is always a good thing, I think, just to check things up. Um with that, I'm gonna turn it to uh our our council staff to kick us off, and then we're gonna go through the agenda. And I know there are pretty amazing, awesome people who are in this room today. Honestly, this is a powerful site right now. The diversity and the love that we see in this room with so many people representing our county from chambers of commerce, you know, regional directors to you know, people who really uplift our community, it's pretty awesome. And the nonprofits, obviously, I just saw you and you just reminded me, nonprofits to say. So I'm gonna turn it to you to kick us off and then go through the packet and then QA at the end.