The county is seeking public comment on the upcoming Silver Spring Recreation & Aquatic Center, which is scheduled to open next year in downtown Silver Spring.
A public forum will be held at the Silver Spring Civic Building at 1 Veterans Place on Thursday, November 3. Beginning at 7 p.m. and following a brief presentation, residents will have the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback.
Members of the community who are unable to attend the public forum may submit their feedback via a survey.
The Silver Spring Recreation and Aquatic Center is a nearly 120,000-square-foot facility with three pools, a community center, a fitness center, and a gym. The aquatics segment will include a competition pool, a lap pool, and a recreational pool.
The $55 million project, the first county recreation center in downtown Silver Spring, is set to open in late spring or early summer at 1315 Apple Ave., a few blocks north of the Metro station, Montgomery County Recreation facilities & aquatics division chief Melanie Sassie told the Source last June. “This is not just a pool, it’s a monster,” Sassie said. “It combines an aquatic facility and a large recreation center. We do not have this kind of space down county.”
The center is part of a larger development of the Elizabeth Square apartment complex from the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County in partnership with Lee Development Group. That project calls for 887 residential units and 6,000 square feet of retail space in two apartment buildings that will flank the rec center.
The complex is also to be home to the Montgomery County Sports Hall of Fame, and the county has commissioned a larger-than-life sculpture of Olympic gold medal winner Dominique Dawes for the facility.
Photo courtesy of Montgomery County Government Department of General Services