Portion of Emory Grove redevelopment project advances at MoCo planning board
Housing plans aim to right wrongs of urban renewal on the historically Black community
By
Elia GriffinAugust 5, 2026 11:40 a.m.
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A project that aims to right the wrongs of urban renewal in Montgomery County’s Emory Grove community is beginning to make progress after a portion of the redevelopment received Planning Board approval on Thursday.
Rev. Tim Warner, the senior pastor of the Emory Grove United Methodist Church in Gaithersburg and the founder and president of the Heritage Emory Grove Community Development Corp., told Bethesda Today on Tuesday that he and other community members were “overjoyed” to see progress being made Thursday.
“People need to understand that this was not imagined yesterday. We’ve been working on this over the last decade,” Warner said. “We think we are in the midst of doing something that will have lasting impact for lots and lots of families.”
At its weekly meeting, the board reviewed a preliminary plan, site plan and forest conservation plan amendment for the Emory Grove Village development. The plans for the community located just outside the City of Gaithersburg’s limits are one piece of a larger redevelopment strategy rooted in social justice, housing affordability, and ownership.
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The Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC) of Montgomery County and Burtonsville-based Hailey Development are behind the project’s plans. The plans call for the demolition of a 51-unit apartment building, Camp Hill Square at 17825 Washington Grove Lane, and for the development of 156 residential units. Of the total housing units, a minimum of 30% (47 units) will be moderately priced dwelling units and all will be for sale.
In all, the approved development plans set the stage for the construction of 80 townhouses, one duplex and two multi-family buildings with 74 units. The site sits at the intersection of Washington Grove Lane and the Midcounty Highway.
Before the board voted unanimously for the Emory Grove Village plans, Board Chair Artie Harris said the development would provide “greatly needed affordable housing” for the community.
“It’s great that all of this is coming together, and look forward to phase two,” Harris said, noting that Emory Grove community members have been waiting for this project for a long time.
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Emory Grove is a historically Black community founded by formerly enslaved people in 1864. At its peak, the tight-knit community had about 500 people living on about 300 acres, according to the Heritage Emory Grove website. The community became well known for hosting religious camp meetings and was a site where thousands of African American worshippers traveled to for gatherings.
Later, the community was home to Johnson’s Park, a community gathering and entertainment space for many of the county’s Black residents during the segregation era, according to Montgomery Parks. The park featured a premier ballpark that hosted Negro League baseball games and a dance pavilion where such stars as James Brown and Ike and Tina Turner performed.
The community was transformed by the county’s urban renewal policies in the 1960s and 70s, which promised modern utilities such as sewer lines and new housing for residents, according to Montgomery Parks. In the process, about 125 homes, the community’s only grocery store and other businesses were razed, according to HOC.
“Emory Grove was decimated as a result of this government‐sponsored sewer extension that used federal funds and forced an Urban Renewal Plan on the community,” a statement of justification for the redevelopment project states.
After the sewer line was placed, a large single-family subdivision was built, but original residents were largely unable to afford to move into the new homes, according to the statement. Many descendants of founding Emory Grove residents were displaced.
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“What it left here was a razed community, a lot of disappointed people and the disappointment has been lingering here for decades in this town,” Warner told Bethesda Today on Tuesday.
The Heritage Emory Grove master plan, which Warner’s Heritage Emory Grove Community Development Corp. is behind, reenvisions the community with new affordable housing options and senior housing that would allow for the repatriation of former residents.
“What we tried to imagine here … is a new town based on the ethics of the old one,” Warner said. “Where every child was raised by every adult, where there was always enough to eat for everybody here, where there was a strong sense of community and for our church.”
The board’s approval of a site plan Thursday represents the first phase of implementing the master plan. The site plan lays out plans for the first phase of development, including the construction of 80 townhouses and one duplex. The second phase, which will come in a separate site plan, will contain the 74 multifamily units.
Included in the first phase site plan are also several green, open spaces throughout the property, including a central community park, a terraced garden area with an open lawn, a linear open lawn area and a pedestrian plaza with picnic tables and seating.
In the coming months, the board is expected to review another portion of the development, a project called Heritage Emory Grove. The plans call for the construction of 39 townhouses on land next to the Emory Grove United Methodist Church and were reviewed by the planning department’s Development Review Committee on July 28.
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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine