A second downtown Bethesda landowner is bucking the mixed-use development trend.
An application is before the Montgomery County Planning Board requesting permission to add 2 floors to the Sleepy's mattress store building on Wisconsin Avenue. The store is near the new Bethesda Post Office, and across a public alley from the Strathmore Apartments.
The applicant seeks to retain the surface parking lot, and add an elevator and handicapped van parking space.
Planning Board staff is recommending approval under the condition that the applicant make sidewalk, alley, lighting and parking lot improvements.
This sounds fine to me, but I have 2 small concerns:
The staff's proposal to screen the parking lot from view of the sidewalk, and the apartments in back, does raise safety issues. One of the advantages of roadside surface parking is the ability of passing motorists, pedestrians, cyclists and police to note any criminal activity taking place in such lots. Given that the lot has been there for years, is it really necessary to "hide" it? I would think shielding the apartments from headlights might make sense. But screening the street side doesn't.
The other concern is that the Planning Board staff report notes stair access from the lot to the alley. And that a lower-level business tenant can be reached from the alley via that staircase. However, a disabled person could not. I'd be interested to know if there is an alternative access method for customers with disabilities.
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