Derwood Steadies on Cusp of Change

ICC, Shady Grove Metro Developments Concern Residents

To the extent that a neighborhood just minutes from Interstate 270 and a busy Metrorail station could be considered secret, Derwood has remained relatively undiscovered.

"A lot of people really don't know where Derwood is," said Joan Wheeler, an associate broker at the Potomac office of W.C. & A.N. Miller Cos. who has sold houses in Derwood for 30 years and owns property there. "Derwood was just a little tiny post office for a long time."

Derwood refers to ZIP code 20855, an amorphous stretch between Rockville and Gaithersburg just northeast of Route 355. Tall, dense woods flank both sides of Redland Road, a main corridor. There are rolling meadows, lush woods and winding lanes. Houses aren't that old, but they look old in the style of farmhouses, bungalows, Victorians and Colonials. They sit on largish lots -- from a quarter of an acre to two acres -- occasionally marked off by a picket or split-rail fence. Stand-alone mailboxes at the curbs contribute to a somewhat rural feel.

"When people ask us where we live, we say Rockville," said Linda Kennedy, a newcomer to Derwood. "Sometimes it's on a map, and sometimes it isn't."

Kennedy and her husband, Michael, who are empty-nesters, had been looking for a historic neighborhood like the one they left in Buffalo, but they compromised on a split-level in the 1970s-era Candlewood Park subdivision.

"The trees are big; the landscaping is grown in; the lots are large," said Kennedy, a volunteer at the Montgomery County Historical Society. "We liked that it was at least 30 years old and somewhat settled."

Construction of the Shady Grove Metro station in 1984 brought this once-rural outpost closer to suburbia. In the early 1990s, the completion of the I-370 spur provided a direct expressway link between the neighborhood and the rail station.

Single-family and townhouse developments sprang up in former cow pastures, and cornfields turned into parks. More kids filled neighborhood schools, roads got wider, and traffic increased. The new homes brought an influx of new residents who are more ethnically diverse. Churches along the main roads, for example, announce their services in various languages and represent a variety of faiths.

While some residents say they mourn the loss of countryside, they also say they appreciate the easy access to jobs, recreation and shopping. At one end of the neighborhood is Lake Needwood, a 75-acre county park that offers boats for rent, fishing, and trails for biking and hiking. Derwood includes at least three other large parks with walking trails, playground equipment, tennis courts and manicured fields. There are a few golf courses nearby, too.

"There's still an awful lot of traffic, but it's a really nice neighborhood for the time being," said Susan Payne, another newcomer, who was out walking the loop of Redland Park with a friend. Payne, a part-time nurse and a mother of three boys, said her family moved two years ago from Aspen Hill to be closer to her sons' private school and to Metro. Her sons enjoy playing in an empty field and woods adjacent to their house.

A major local issue is the proposed intercounty connector, which as drawn would run through Derwood. The long-debated highway is being planned as a six-lane toll road that would run across Montgomery County into Prince George's County, linking Interstates 270 and 95. In Derwood, it would swallow up some homes in one of the oldest subdivisions, Cashell Estates.

Bruce Kosian, 73, is among many neighbors fighting the project. He and his wife have lived in their Cape Cod on Overhill Road for 47 years, dating to when there were still cows across Redland Road and long before there was talk of a new highway.