MY THOUGHTS ON THE DOWNTOWN BETHESDA PLAN DOCUMENT RELEASE

The "scope of work" downtown Bethesda plan document released yesterday by the Montgomery County Planning Department contained no surprises, primarily restating familiar Census data and geographical boundaries. We're great, we're smart, we're rich, etc.

Here are my thoughts thus far:

1. Why did I not receive any emails regarding the document release, and related public meeting? I filled out a form when I attended the "kickoff" meeting a few months ago, including an email address. Of course, I knew about the document and meeting because I am actively following the process. But had I been a citizen not doing so, I would have had no idea - as of this hour - that these two items had been announced.

2. The document refers to 26 approved development projects in downtown Bethesda. What are those projects? Is there a list they can link to, and what is the criteria for terming something a "project?" I know a lot of projects are left over from the real estate bubble. But 26? 26 new residential or office buildings? That sounds a bit exaggerated. Where are they?

3. The scope of work document also provides no evidence that the Post-It notes filled out by attendees of the kickoff meeting were thus far taken into account. What I see listed under "The Plan Process" are the same things that were "allowed" to be verbally announced at the meeting, and then were parroted in most local media reports in the days afterward. If a Post-It note falls in the middle of the forest... At some point, other issues have to be addressed, such as the vanishing gas stations of downtown Bethesda.

4. I think when we are talking about public space, the number of public plazas under development has been left out of the discussion. There are several pedestrian plazas on the boards, including the just-opened plaza at the Gallery Bethesda apartments, the Bainbridge Bethesda plaza between St. Elmo and Fairmont Avenues, the Westin Bethesda hotel complex and the JBG project between Wisconsin and Woodmont Avenues. In my opinion, we need a greater focus on how the plaza at the Bethesda Metro Center was unceremoniously stripped of its use as a gathering space - including the embarrassing shutdown of the ice rink. And how that is going to be corrected. The lapse of the Metro Center plaza is one of several ways downtown Bethesda has shifted off course since the turn of the century.

Public parks, and making sure any redevelopment of the Apex Building site retains or expands the quasi-public space at the corner of Wisconsin and Elm Street outside the Regal Cinemas, and the Woodmont plaza at Bethesda Row are other major public space issues to be discussed in detail.


The schedule laid out suggests formal public input will be limited to none, before a set of recommendations are presented for public comment in the Spring. Hence my concern about the Post It notes and gas stations, among other things. The next formal opportunity for official public comment, according to the document, is the public hearing on the plan draft before the Planning Board in October 2014.

Based on the schedule, the plan will be approved or denied by the next County Council in 2015.