Tuesday, April 30, 2013

BETHESDA McMansion OWNER WANTS TO REZONE HOUSE AS COMMERCIAL (PHOTOS)

The owner of a McMansion at 4705 West Virginia Avenue in Bethesda is asking the Montgomery County Planning Board to rezone the property as commercial.

Planning staff is recommending approval of the rezoning. The home is adjacent to small parking areas, a home being used as a commercial business, and a single family home zoned and utilized as residential.

The plan would require undergrounding of utilities, construction of a 5-foot-wide sidewalk, a wheelchair ramp, lighting, and other landscaping improvements. Several parking spaces would be permitted for the business on-site, but no on-street parking would be allowed.

This is an unusual proposal at the moment, as most projects in downtown Bethesda are at least partly residential in nature.

It will be interesting to see if there is any opposition from homeowners further east on West Virginia Avenue to this plan, going before the board on May 9.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So it's already being used as a business, and you're calling it a McMansion? Aren't McMansions residential?

Robert Dyer said...

As the photo shows, the structure itself is architecturally a McMansion.

Anonymous said...

Definitely has that hideous McMansion architectural style that frequently appears after a tear down in Bethesda neighborhoods.

Anonymous said...

The building is the head quarters for Sandy Spring builders, was never meant to be a home. Always planned it to be their office. If they had any balls, they would say no..

They will go out of buisness in 3 years anyway.