Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett speaks at the Oct. 5 groundbreaking of the Ripley District project. (Photo: TBD Staff)

The big project that broke ground last month in the Ripley District may be getting a bit smaller.

The Montgomery County Planning Board will consider on Thursday changes to the development at 1150 Ripley Street that have been proposed by developer Washington Property Company.

Those changes [PDF] include small reductions in the number of units and size of retail and public use space.

The development's site plan currently calls for 318 units, likely to be apartments, with 309 parking spaces and 7,200 square feet of retail space. Now Washington Property Company is proposing building 286 units, 293 parking spaces, and 6,840 square feet of retail space.

The developer is also asking for a reduction in the public use and amenity space, going from 20,168 square feet to 19,667 square feet, which is really to accommodate the widening of Dixon Avenue's curb.

The changes will likely be approved; planning board staff recommends it, writing in their report that the reduction in public use space is minimal, especially given the fact that the developers will be constructing a major public art project and an extension from Ripley Street to the Silver Spring Transit Center.

"The proposed modifications to the site plan will not alter the overall character or impact of the development," reads the staff report. "These modifications will not affect the compatibility of the development with respect to the surrounding neighborhood."

But it's still good to know when changes are made to a project as major as this, which is intended to rebrand this industrial part of Silver Spring as “the new horizon in the heart of Silver Spring."