Planners Envision Chevy Chase Lake Sector Development
County planning staff presented the planning board with drawings of what the Chevy Chase Lake sector could look like if built up according to staff-recommended densities and heights, or according to property owners' requested densities and heights.
At a Sept. 6 Montgomery County Planning Board work session, county planning staff presented drawings of what the Chevy Chase Lake sector could look like if built up according to staff recommendations for height and density.
Planning staff also presented drawings illustrating what the sector could look like if built up according to the heights and densities requested by property owners in the Chevy Chase Lake sector.
Property owners—the Chevy Chase Land Company, the Housing Opportunities Commission (which owns the Chevy Chase Lake Apartments), the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the owners of the Newdale Mews Apartments along Newdale Road—all have asked for additional building density and height, according to the staff's work session presentation.
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See the drawings attached to this post to see what the additional building heights and densities could look like.
The planning board will hold a public hearing on the Chevy Chase Lake sector plan on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012, at 3:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Montgomery County Planning Board building (8787 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring).
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Read more about the Chevy Chase Lake sector plan on Chevy Chase Patch:
- Chevy Chase Lake: Is There a Middle Ground for Height? (July 24, 2012)
- Planners Suggest 'Traditional' Look for Chevy Chase Lake (July 26, 2012)
- Chevy Chase Land Company Hits Reset Button on Development Plans (Sept. 13, 2012)
Carol
9:49 am on Monday, September 17, 2012
Wow, I much prefer the staff recommendations--so much more in scale.
sylvia
2:28 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
I agree with Carol that the staff recommendations are far preferable and interesting to consider. However, even those allow for out-of-scale, intrusive development along single family homes in the Newdale Mews section. I also wonder how this area can handle the increased density with the current school and transportation resources. None of this development should move forward unless the Purple Line is funded and a plan is made to address public school crowding.
JB
5:02 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
I thought the staff plan was already over-built and wildly out of proportion with what the Chevy Chase Lake area can handle from a traffic or schools perspective. I am astounded that the Planning Board is considering INCREASING that plan. If anyone was listening to the public comment, they'd be moving the other direction.
lewis murray
6:34 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
So much for taking into account the overwhelming objections of local residents to the various Chevy Chase Lake proposals on the table. Of the several hundred public comments noted by the Planning Commission on its site, only a handful supported the Commission's work, and they looked rather suspect, given that the language was for the most part virtually identical and almost gratuitously complementary. The only real reasons for this impending destruction of one of Montgomery County's loveliest communities is the greed of the Land Company, and the political ambitions of the Housing Opportunities Commission. II really do question why the Public Hearings were ever held, as it seems the decision makers in the County knew what they wanted to do from the outset. One can only conclude that "politcal cover" was the only purpose of these pointless exercises. Lewis Murray
jag
12:21 am on Tuesday, September 18, 2012
You can't honestly think the "before" photos look better than the "after" photos.
Of course the Commission won't take into account the objections of people like you who stand in the way of anything being built. The "destruction" of the crap lining Conn. Ave. by actually injecting some people/amenities. Oh the humanity. HOC is surely doing the devil's work!
John
4:24 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
I couldn't agree more with your views. I also agree with jag regarding the before and after look, although for me the worsening traffic factor materially outweigh the before and after look. Having provided that explanation, I very much hope that nobody groups me in that group of persons who "stand in the way of anything being built." In conclusion, the develpers will benefit, the appearance of the area involved will be greatly enhanced, and the traffic will become even far worse than it is already,
Behrad Behbahani
8:54 am on Tuesday, September 18, 2012
That rendering is identical to the corner of Woodmont Ave & Elm St in Bethesda.
lewis murray
10:41 am on Sunday, September 23, 2012
l.r. ....So much for giving credence to the claim that there is NO intent to build a BETHESDA II at Chevy Chase Lake. If it quacks like a duck, it is a duck.....
karin
10:43 am on Monday, September 24, 2012
KM..... I think downtown Bethesda has a nice charm, Bethesda Ave. 25 years ago was horid looking. I think most of the people bitching will be the same who walk to the new stores, and enjoy the new eating locations. Conn. Ave at the lake looks like Route 1 with the ugly store fronts, gas stations etc. Keep it simple make sure the schools are in line, make sure the building is tasteful, keep the Dave and Buster all night shack don't come in, and sit back and watch your values soar in the years to come.
karin
10:45 am on Monday, September 24, 2012
Very true
Clemencia
4:40 pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
All one needs to do is sit in traffic on Conn Ave, East-West Highway or Jones Bridge to know that this infrastructure cannot support additional development. It seems like the planning board needs to see it for themselves, drawings and studies don't tell the whole story.
John
5:49 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Well Clemcia, I don't think your suggestion would satisfy Valerie Erwin. She recently proposed a bill to for the County to spend $1,000,000 for a third rapid transportation study, and for it to be a no-bid study. It may be that she wants one of the lanes on Connecticut Ave. and/or Jones Bridge to become a dedicated bus lane. Regardless of whether her proposed study pertains to Connecticut Ave., or Jones Bridge Rd., perhaps this demonstrates how our decision makers go about attempting to justify their decisions after they make them (see comments above by lewis murray).