Norman's Farm Market to add new location next to historic Bethesda Community Store

Norman's Farm Market is adding a new location close to downtown Bethesda this season. It will be in the parking lot of the historic-but-vacant Bethesda Community Store at the corner of Old Georgetown and Greentree Roads just north of Suburban Hospital. The owners say this will become a flagship location of sorts, with its ample parking and larger space for the market.

Rock Creek Bridge demolition will close Rock Creek Trail

Rock Creek Trail in Chevy Chase will temporarily close between the Ireland Trail head and Ray's Meadow Local Park for about two weeks starting Tuesday, March 26, 2019. The closure is due to the demolition of the Rock Creek Bridge, a Doug Duncan-era replacement for the old Baltimore & Ohio railroad trestle that once carried freight trains over the creek there.

A detour (shown in purple on the map above) will route trail users around the closure. At a later date, Purple Line Partners contractors will construct two new bridges over Rock Creek at this location - one for the two light rail tracks, and one for the Capital Crescent Trail. Once again you can get a sense of how a project of this width would destroy the environment if the Purple Line were extended west of downtown Bethesda to Westbard and Sumner, as the Montgomery County cartel is secretly planning to do behind closed doors.

Sidewalks proposed for Brixton Lane in Bethesda

Montgomery County is considering constructing sidewalks along Brixton Lane in Bethesda between Greyswood Road and busy Fernwood Road. The street is located in the Stratton Woods subdivision.

A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for Wednesday, April 24, 2019 at 7:00 PM at Ashburton Elementary School at 6314 Lone Oak Drive in Bethesda. If you cannot attend the meeting that night, you can email comments regarding the sidewalk proposal to DTE.Sidewalk@montgomerycountymd.gov.

Battery Lane District redevelopment plans unveiled (Photos)

Redevelopment would result

in net loss of affordable units

Brown Development unveiled plans for its massive redevelopment proposal for properties it owns along Battery Lane in Bethesda at a required public meeting last night. While the plans are controversial, the meeting was much less heated than many anticipated. But the total number of affordable units are also less than some had predicted, leaving a net loss of such units on one of the few streets in downtown Bethesda that has naturally-occurring affordable apartments.

Lots A,B,C,D and E that hold the
six properties targeted for
redevelopment

Attorney Nancy Regelin led the meeting, which lasted for over two hours. She said Brown intends to file a preliminary plan and sketch plan with Montgomery County in April. Six buildings in total on Battery would be demolished if the County approves the plans. While the developer is filing plans for all six properties together in order to present a coherent vision, Regelin said the redevelopment will play out over a ten to fifteen year period.

A microphone awaits public
comments at Imagination Stage
last night

A site plan would not likely be approved before 2020, Regelin predicted. Groundbreaking for Phase 1 would be expected in 2021.

Illustrative plan showing the
layout and landscaping for the
redeveloped properties

"We don't want to talk about a project, but a place," Aldon Properties Executive Vice-President Douglas M. Wrenn told the audience. Aldon is a subsidiary of Brown. Wrenn said that maintaining the existing buildings has become more of a challenge in the last fifteen years, although some current Battery Lane residents tell me they find conditions more than acceptable. Claiming net operating income is shrinking, Wrenn argued redevelopment is necessary to retain value in the properties while providing better housing for Bethesda residents.

Site A - 4857 Battery Lane

Wrenn promised 25% MPDUs, and went further to make an unusual promise of "workforce housing" that would be constructed with cheaper materials for those who don't qualify for MPDUs. However, even at 25%, the redevelopment will end with a net loss of affordable units on Battery Lane.

Site B - 4858 Battery Lane

There are 477 naturally-occurring affordable units on the Brown properties along Battery today. Brown is proposing to build a total of 1498 new units. But at 25%, that would result in a net loss of affordable units. There is no guarantee or requirement that Brown actually build the "workforce housing" units is alluded to beyond the MPDUs.

Site C - 4890, 4900 Battery Lane

Such midrange units, to my knowledge, have never been built and marketed anywhere in Montgomery County. Advertising housing built with lower-quality materials is certainly unusual, as well. If there is a market for this, no private developer in its own private project has so far attempted to serve it. It will be interesting to see if the Planning Board actually makes these additional workforce units mandatory, and if they end up not getting flipped to more luxury units by the time they are built.

Landscaping plan for Site D
4949 Battery Lane

Massing diagram for Site D
4949 Battery Lane

Residents attending the meeting were not satisfied with having a net loss of affordable housing on Battery. It's also notable that many who currently live in the naturally-occurring affordable units on Battery today will not qualify for MPDUs - they make too much money, but not enough to afford the market rate at newer buildings in town. That is why you rarely hear about "workforce housing" in relation to MPDUs anymore. While MPDUs were once hailed as "workforce housing" for government employees held in the highest public esteem, many Montgomery County police officers, firefighters and teachers actually earn too much to qualify for them.

Height study for Site E
4998 Battery Lane

Many attendees had practical concerns about the project, as well. One resident of an existing Brown/Aldon building asked if he should rent a P.O. Box now for his mail. A neighbor who owns a house by the Stonehall condos said she will need continued access to the alley behind Stonehall because she has no access to her property from Woodmont.

Site E - 4998 Battery Lane

Another homeowner at the intersection of Battery and Old Georgetown Road asked if Brown could assist in making that intersection safer, reporting that she sees many accidents there. She also expressed concern that such a high number of units will threaten her business of renting homes to NIH employees. I can suggest she has nothing to worry about, as prices and rents have only increased as thousands of new apartments and condos have been delivered in downtown Bethesda. It's unlikely her current tenants qualify for MPDUs, either.

Study of impact of new building
at Site E on nearby single-family home

Finally, condo owners at Whitehall were concerned about sunlight to their property being blocked. They are not only afraid they won't get as much natural light, but that the valuable trees on their property will fall ill or die without sufficient sun.

While approval is nearly certain before the developer-controlled Planning Board, public approval is still important, especially since Brown emphasized its plan to remain part of the community as a long-term owner. Amenities will play a key role. Wrenn pointed to a pedestrian cut-through to the new development from Rugby Avenue and an events space near the Whitehall property as two potential public amenities. But if MPDUs or mandatory mid-priced units can be bumped up to at least the number there today, public acceptance would most certainly be broader.

Ocado skips across the pond, and Montgomery County, in U.S. HQ search

Just months after Montgomery County's humiliating-but-self-inflicted defeat in the Amazon HQ 2 sweepstakes, even Amazon's enemies are passing on MoCo in favor of Northern Virginia. Ocado, a British partner of Kroger that specializes in online grocery sales systems, announced yesterday it will conduct its search for its future U.S. corporate headquarters from gleaming offices in beautiful and booming Tysons. CEO Luke Jensen said he was "delighted" with the Tysons choice, and that the office would open in April.

Ocado has a service called Prime Now, that delivers groceries you order online within 2 hours. If the order is small enough, it might be delivered by scooter. Kroger - which owns Harris Teeter and Ralph's - has partnered with Ocado to prepare for the increasingly-competitive world of online grocery shopping, where its greatest rival will be Crystal City's Amazon.

Northern Virginia is becoming a hub for so many things, it's hard for our super-low-energy Montgomery County Council to even keep track, much less compete. But grocery firms are one of the latest; Lidl chose Arlington County for its U.S. headquarters in the most recent example before this. One can reasonably predict the high-tax, low-energy grass of bedroom community Montgomery County won't exactly look greener from Ocado's offices high above the bustling streets of Tysons.

This is just the latest humiliation for Montgomery County officials this week. It follows another disastrous job growth report (there wasn't any), and Montgomery County's leading economic development official returning empty-handed from an expensive SXSW junket. What Montgomery's selling...they just don't want it. They just don't want it.

Brightview Bethesda nears finish line in Woodmont Triangle

Construction of the Brightview Bethesda, an assisted living apartment building at 4907 Rugby Avenue, is in the home stretch as far as the exterior goes. When complete, Brightview Bethesda will house 113 units, with independent living, assisted living, and memory care residential options.

Shelter Group is the developer, and Donohoe is the construction contractor.

Purple Line Chevy Chase Lake construction update

The Purple Line construction site running through the Chevy Chase Lake area gives an idea of the environmental destruction that would result if the light rail line were extended to Westbard and Sumner Place from downtown Bethesda. Such a plan is secretly in the works in the back rooms of the Montgomery County cartel. Pay no attention to those developers behind the curtain!!

Moribund Montgomery iced out of ICEE HQ decision by Tennessee

Montgomery County has again been on the sidelines as dozens of major corporate headquarters have made relocation decisions in early 2019. Moribund MoCo, now at rock bottom in the D.C. region in virtually every economic development indicator, just got iced out of another one. While our corrupt elected officials were dozing at the switch, high-energy Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee closed a deal for the ICEE headquarters. The beloved frozen beverage firm is moving its California HQ to La Vergne, in Rutherford County Tennessee.

"It's such a business-friendly spot," ICEE President Dan Fachner said of La Vergne, according to the local Daily News Journal. The deal also includes a distribution center, and a requirement to create 207 additional jobs with an average salary of $60,152 within the coming five years. In exchange for a relatively-paltry $690,275 tax break, La Vergne, Rutherford County and Tennessee will get a $10.3 million project, and all of the tax revenue and collateral economic benefits.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R)

"ICEE's decision to bring its corporate headquarters to La Vergne highlights how Tennessee's low taxes, skilled workforce and quality of life continue to attract world-class businesses, said Bob Rolfe, the commissioner of the state's Department of Economic and Community Development," the Daily News Journal reported.

Once again, transportation infrastructure also played a big role in the decision. While not mentioned in media coverage of the ICEE deal, the City of La Vergne upgraded Mason Road and its utilities near Bain Drive during the year-long ICEE HQ decision process in 2018. And what do you know? That's exactly where ICEE is going to locate its HQ and distribution center.

Contrast that show of infrastructure investment and goodwill by Tennessee to the moronic decision by the Montgomery County Council to cancel the biggest infrastructure project in White Flint on the very day that Amazon executives were touring White Flint for their HQ 2 search. Along with the enablers in our obsequious and apologist local media, it couldn't be more clear why Montgomery has lost every single major corporate headquarters contest over the last two decades.

Google Maps image shows 13-minute trip to
the closest airport from the future ICEE site

The La Vergne site also sits right off of Interstate 24, and along a major rail line. Smyrna Airport is only 13 minutes away from the future ICEE property, and the major Nashville International Airport is only 18 minutes away, according to Google Maps. Meanwhile, Montgomery County officials have actively blocked any attempt to build a new Potomac River crossing that would provide direct access to Dulles International Airport, leaving all major airports a long, congested drive for busy executives - which is one reason those executives always pass over MoCo in location decisions. In fact, Montgomery lost the Discovery HQ to Knoxville, Tennessee, where Discovery chose a site with similar direct airport and interstate access.

The brain freeze of an ICEE isn't nearly
as cold as the one you'll get from the latest
Montgomery County Council tax increase
this year

While Montgomery County's corrupt, developer-controlled Council and Planning Board were busy converting MoCo's office parks to residential housing for their developer sugar daddies, Tennessee state and local officials were readying theirs for household-name tenants and success. While states like Tennessee and Virginia add highway capacity (and high-wage jobs and corporations follow), Montgomery County politicians in Rockville and Annapolis are aggressively fighting Gov. Larry Hogan's Express Lanes plan for the Beltway and I-270.

An ICEE chill settles over Montgomery County,
now the moribund bedroom community for booming
job centers elsewhere in the D.C. region

“With our top-rated school district, affordable cost of living and strong local economy, companies like The ICEE Company are choosing to relocate and put down roots in our community,” Rutherford County Mayor Bill Ketron said in a statement. Contrast that with Montgomery County's rapidly-declining public schools, high cost of living and record-high taxes, and moribund local economy. It's not a winning formula, to say the least.

The clock runs out on the
Montgomery County cartel

The ICEE victory again shows how attracting one major employer has a multiplier effect. Attracting Nissan to that same part of Tennessee decades ago fueled explosive economic growth in the area. Having traveled to Nashville many, many times as a professional musician, I've been surprised at how many people I've encountered there over the years are employed by Nissan or Nissan-related businesses. Some of them live in wonderful, new suburban neighborhoods developed as a result of the Nissan facilities. 520 new Nissan-related auto parts manufacturing jobs have been added in Smyrna in the last year alone, the Daily News Journal reported. Nashville also recently became home to the parent company of Hardee's and Carl's Jr,. another corporate HQ that MoCo didn't even compete for.

We won't attract that first breakthrough corporate headquarters with the super-low-energy, Berzerkley-inspired, anti-business "new" County Council that took office just over three months ago. They haven't acted on a single one of the major crises Montgomery County faces in the many weeks since. Their press release output in recent weeks features no Bill Lee-style announcements of new high-wage jobs, but instead highlights an "Islamophobia" resolution, an outdoor patio smoking ban, and a "Racial Equity and Social Justice Policy."

Res ipsa loquitur, indeed.