But that is exactly what Sheridan's attorney, Jody Kline, says in his letter to planning staff. The study still isn't done, WES is conducting its own new traffic circulation study for its campus, and Sheridan, their engineers, and Parks Department staff still have to work out details on a public amenity the project will provide for Capital Crescent Trail users.
Most notably, Kline adds that "it is not clear when all of the work described above can be completed." He therefore is asking for an indefinite extension.
Will the Board take this at face value, or consider the possibility that this is a stalling tactic, to delay the project until after passage of a Sectional Map Amendment in the Westbard Sector Plan process later in 2016? According to attorney Norman Knopf, who represented the surrounding community when Sheridan's senior housing plan for the site was approved in 2008, passage of the SMA could remove the binding elements from the project. Most notably among those elements, was the requirement that the building remain as senior housing.
Without that provision, the building could become a 121-unit luxury residential building for all ages, adding to the 3000 such units that could be added to the "Westbard" area through passage of the new sector plan in 2016. That number shot even higher last Thursday, when the Board added more than 100 additional units to the draft plan, in a 75' building on the low-rise, suburban Little Falls Library site.
Rendering via Montgomery County Planning Department
What are the heights in Westbard now?
ReplyDelete5:47: With the exception of the non-conforming high-rises, which are grandfathered into the new zoning code, the allowed height across Westbard is 45'.
DeleteHow many non-conforming gradfathered buildings are there above 45'?
Delete45' is too high! Tear down the non-conformers.
ReplyDelete"8-story tower"
ReplyDeleteLOL
Only underground housing allowed. Westbard Mole People unite!
ReplyDeleteTroll People aside (just punt them over a 75' building), I find it odd that folks do not appreciate that the ambiance of a street or neighborhood does shift significantly with these height differences, regardless of actual footage or technical definitions of towers. Development studies in Europe found that the ideal building height, so far as comfort goes, is around 4 stories. It feels cozy and spacious. People are happier.
ReplyDeleteAs unrealistic as it sounds, I so wish an expansion could just be built ex nihilo, rather than established communities being taken over by ... progress. Wishful thinking.
I get that it shifts the ambiance, but demand and needs shift too. And it's shifting to higher density everywhere. Not just in Urban cores. Cities are gorier t taller and denser. As are the sbuburbs and exurbs.
DeleteThere's a difference between building INTO a community and OVERTAKING a community.
ReplyDelete