Montgomery Mansion May Be Sold To School

Sandberg said her agency included the estate on its review list several months ago. "It just seemed like a site ripe for redevelopment," she said.

The site is one of seven properties nominated for the registry that the county Planning Board is expected to rule on in coming weeks.

Not all residents said they would object to a private school on the site. "Depending on how much land they'd need to use, maybe," said Cathy McKaig, who was exercising one morning last week in Fleming Park, adjacent to the Grosvenor property. "My neighborhood is opposed to it, though. We got a mass e-mail about it last night."

Bryan, too, said a smaller school might be acceptable -- one with limited traffic and playing fields that didn't consume too many trees. But she also noted that private schools are embroiled in controversies with neighbors across the region.

"We don't know what they have planned," Bryan said. "What we do know is that private schools get neighborhoods up in arms about traffic. They tend to start out small but then grow and grow and grow."

The mystery school that is considering the property has already hired a public relations consultant to help ease neighborhood concerns. Jeanne Allen Strother, of the Washington-based Allen Company, said she expects residents to be pleasantly surprised when her clients' identity and their plans are unveiled.

"This neighborhood should rest assured that this is not your typical we're-going-to-come-in-and-change-everything kind of transaction," she said. "My clients will embrace the natural landscape and integrity of the neighborhood."

But the veteran development fighters in the area say that proposed projects always look harmless in the planning stages.

"Every development plan is a thing of beauty," said Norm Knopf, a lawyer who represented Wildwood in several previous battles. "You can hardly see the buildings for all the trees in the drawing. But they are worthless as a predictor of the ultimate reality."