For example, in Equity One's presentation to the media and several neighborhood associations, 75-80' were the tallest structures proposed. While the plan shown for the Westwood Shopping Center property was a great improvement over what planners had recommended, and over what many had feared might be proposed there, the new heights being requested along Ridgefield Road and the other side of Westbard Avenue are significantly higher than the public was led to believe - 125' for 5110 Ridgefield Road and 5471 Westbard Avenue, and 150' for 5353 Westbard Avenue.
Capital Properties is also requesting 150' for 5325 Westbard Avenue.
Look what else is hiding in here - Montgomery County Government is now requesting 75' for the current site of the Little Falls Library. This would set up a scenario where County elected officials could make a public-private partnership deal with a developer who had made campaign contributions to redevelop the site. You could end up with a 75' (and higher, with developer incentives that earn greater density) urban building on a corner surrounded by suburbia.
63 comments:
Yaaaay! Stick it to those NIMBYs and greybeard busybodies.
734am - the ones who are letting you and your ilk live in their basements?
The "Westbard" area residents need to push back if they want to stop this.
This is going to be really nice! Looking forward to shopping here.
Vast majority of people living there don't want this plan and certainly not these heights!
Dyer has reported extensively on the residents pushing back.
The developer's research seems to indicate that people want to move there and want this. The planners seem to think this is a good idea. Area residents like it. So the current residents seem to be in the minority.
Fortunately Montgomery Country is fairly progressive on minority rights.
I'm pretty sure that NIMBYs don't count as a "protected class".
11:03: What's the difference between "area residents" and current residents"?
And where in the world are you getting the idea that residents support the plan in any large number? There's no public hearing or written comment numbers that show such widespread support as you're claiming.
10:08: It's not the shopping that people are concerned about.
I live on river by 495 and support this!
All accounts from the public meetings and written testimony confirm that area residents are strongly AGAINST the plan. Presumably they will against it even more with greater building heights.
The plan will results in overcrowded roads and schools. In return residents might get a....wait for it...Chipotle out of it. Not a good deal.
So you're saying lots of people need housing and they are going to build it for them there? Nice!!
I am moving to the area for a job and would love to be there if it was available.
For each person against this, where do they propose they build this housing instead?
Montgomery County is full. No more vacancies. As the population dies off we can allow people in. One child per family. No more fertile young couples allowed to buy houses. Must prove you are sterile.
Where was the "community" when Washington Episcopal School was planning a 97' building? The "community" is full of hypocrites.
Any plan should include substantial improvements for public transit options. I don't know if the current plans include any of that.
I'm in favor of a staggered approach. Moderate build up of Westbard should increase demand for new transit options, like increased bus access to Metro. Eventually, the character of Westbard may indeed change, but Dyer is right that making a drastic change immediately is inappropriate.
Ok. It's all over. G money just said dyer is right. :)
3:21: You make it sound like there's a federal mandate to build housing. We're under no obligation to do so, particularly in a fully-developed community far from Metro.
4:01: Most people had no idea that was being rammed through at the time.
1:25: Yes, I've noticed a majority of residents who support the plan coincidentally live far away from the Westbard sector.
Dyer 6:54 not true. Hypocrites. I know many of the same people who are fighting against Westbard were infact the same people supporting the WES development. Hypocrites.
You make it sound like there's a federal mandate to limit housing. We're under no obligation to do so, despite in a fully-developed community far from Metro.
I live in Silver Spring and would love to live in Westbard. More housing development gives me an opportunity to do so. For all the great reasons current residents wanted to move there before me. Selfish of current owners to say now that they are in the door is now locked and things should stay exactly as is. Have they seen what Bethesda looked like before they moved in? And the way it was before that? The world moves and changes - and if you don't like it, speak up sure which they are doing now, but more people want or need it and it'll happen. Particularly in a democracy hopefully overcoming minority special interest groups.
How do you know that?
11:20 PM Betsy, you can live on Westbard Avenue right now. Park Bethesda and Westwood Tower would be happy to rent you a place today. :)
Hundreds if not thousands more would like to move there too. Beyond the capacity of the abailable housing.
Neither building is at capacity. Park Bethesda is actually a pretty good deal. There's a discount compared to downtown Bethesda or Friendship Heights since the apartments on Westbard Avenue are not walkable to Metro.
It is probably safe to assume the developers know more about the numbers than we regular citizens do. They wouldn't want to build there if there wasn't demand.
Even downtown DC is not "fully developed". It's ridiculous to claim that just because a sprawling 1960s suburb was built on land that used to be farmland, then that must be its final state for all time to come.
Olney is a community that is "far from Metro". Westbard is not. Walking from Friendship Heights is a bit long for most folks to do on a regular basis, but a free shuttle bus would work just fine. And if they built a shortcut between the big curve on Willard Avenue, and River Road near Little Falls Parkway that would knock off at least a quarter-mile from the walking distance.
Save the bowling alley!
Great, point is if Betsy wants to move there, she can right now.
Wonderful apartments, condos and townhomes right on Westbard Ave.
Maybe a half dozen listings on Redfin right now. What about the hundreds of others that would like to move to this area?
11:26: What about the thousands who want to live in Potomac or Burning Tree? Interesting that there are no development plans there, where the developers and attorneys actually live.
10:26: "Supporting the WES development?" I've never talked to any actual resident who supports the WES development.
6:54: The single-family homes that dominate the area are not going anywhere, so the area is indeed fully developed. You do realize that your idea of transit-oriented development away from Metro is a complete violation of smart growth principles? That's what's potentially groundbreaking about the draft Westbard plan - with a stroke of the pen, the Planning Board and County Council will announce to the world that they have abandoned smart growth and TOD in favor of a new model.
You should join the Bethesda back in the day Facebook group. You wouldn't imagine all the houses and stores got knocked down for a new model.
Glad they did the big condo on river road in Potomac. Good spot for density.
It's all coming down the line. Just look up 270 and see how development has grown areas. Even past the past metro stop.
And you've certainly talked to them all. To the point you are the authority on the topic for sure.
What if Betsy wants shiny and new?
@ 2:17 PM - Actually the brothers used to belong to that group. But they both got banned for spamming this blog there.
I didn't know you could get banned. It was that bad? Is that why they don't allow outside links or provide source links now?
2:43: I haven't been banned from any Facebook groups. Total BS from you. You should be banned though, for posting spam links to stories on competing websites that have nothing to do with Bethesda "back in the day" like the recent cell phone sting.
7:29: I haven't heard that, but if it stops spam links like 2:43 has been posting on there, then good. Now if they can just make that same policy change for outside spam links in Ken Hartman's newsletter.
2:17: Westbard isn't near the Bethesda Metro station. If a house is knocked down in Springfield or Sumner, etc., it gets replaced with another single-family home. That's not really a change. Change is when you completely transform the character of a neighborhood, which is a violation of basic planning principles.
2:19: Good spot for density? It's nowhere near Metro.
How can one's own comment one one's own newsletter be "spam"?
"Change is when you completely transform the character of a neighborhood, which is a violation of basic planning principles."
Dyer needs to read this book:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Moved_My_Cheese%3F
8:56: When "one's own newsletter" is actually paid for by taxpayers. And they're not comments, they're hyperlinks to non-government websites.
9:02: So you would suggest a prisoner of the Castro regime read "Who Moved My Cheese?" regarding the change in his life? You've got a job waiting for you in North Korea. Illegal or immoral change is never justified by junk literature.
So Westbard NIMBYs are now the moral equivalent of Cuban or North Korean political prisoners?
Wow. He's cracking up before our very eyes. Strong work, Skeptics.
Oh yeah that newsletter that dyer says is illegally advertising external links. And then insists he should also be included in such illegal linkage.
how does this comment make any sense to anyone? Leap much?
Remember when he disparaged a reader for going off topic?
"Mein Fuehrer, Steiner..."
"Steiner was unable to launch the counterattack."
Aaron needs to join Back in the Day.
He thought the madonna of the trail statue in bethesda was a monument to the yoga toned pop star. Yikes.
Hull took him aside and got him up to speed eventually.
And the Shill's shift has started.
@ 5:59 AM - Thanks for the Friday morning chuckle. Yoga toned pop star--too funny.
Actually I meant is that what you don't allow links here. Because you got banned for it as was suggested?
5:12: I've never been banned from any Facebook group. How would I get banned from my own website?
If Ken Hartman can somehow "spam" his own blog, then certainly Dyer can get banned from his own.
How come you don't post there anymore? Your stuff would work well there
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