Is this the end of the Silver Spring Fillmore saga? About a week after withholding funds for Live Nation's Fillmore music hall in downtown Silver Spring, Montgomery County Council members voted yesterday to approve $2 million more for the project. A week ago, we wrote that the Council voted to hold back the money to wait for some answers to questions about the project, but worried that their delay could cost them some or all of the $4 million the state was set to spend. Now the Council has gone ahead and approved their full share.

The project, which will be owned by the county, looks set to go forward now, with Live Nation paying $7,500 a month in rent. The state of Maryland has earmarked $2 million of its $4 million.

Montgomerty County executive Ike Leggett, who has been defending Live Nation's deal with the county, issued a statement congratulating the Council and saying the facility will give the county a $1.6 million benefit per year.

"As we move forward with the next steps of the project, I want to thank the County Council for their support and thanks also to the Silver Spring community, whose input in our open process helped shape a project that will enrich our County's live music scene and help complete Silver Spring revitalization," the statement said.

Council vice president Phil Andrews said the vote would "send a clear message to the state that we support this project" while Council member Roger Berliner said he opposed the deal: "This is not just a faulty process, but a faulty project."

Seth Hurwitz, head of I.M.P., which owns the 9:30 Club and operates the Merriweather Post Pavilion, also issued a statement. After the Live Nation deal was announced following the collapse of talks with the Birchmere, Hurwitz offered the county a deal for a concert hall that would pay double the rent and require half the public funds of the Fillmore. The county demurred, saying they could not negotiate after reaching a deal with Live Nation.

In yesterday's statement, Hurwitz expressed concern that the Council put aside their questions about the deal. "Apparently [the Council] are under intense pressure to pass this through no matter what the deal is," the statement said.

Before yesterday's vote, we spoke to I.M.P. spokesperson Audrey Schaefer, who said that many details have yet to be worked out, saying the county doesn't yet own the land, there's no floor plan, and construction costs are not known. If construction costs run over the $8 million budget, the county would pay for the overage by giving Live Nation a discount on their rent.

"We continue to hope that the really hard questions are going to be asked," said Schaefer. "Plenty of people have concerns about the deal and the financial aspects of the deal don’t seem to be in the taxpayers’ interest. We believe the County Council is the body that’s elected to look under the hood of this deal."