Community Corner

Montgomery County Council Approves Chevy Chase Lake Plan

The plan includes 120-foot-tall buildings and two stages of development.

The Chevy Chase Lake Sector's future as a transit-oriented neighborhood gained new certainty this week, with the Montgomery County Council's approval of a development plan.

On Tuesday, the council voted, 8-1, on a plan that outlines future development for the neighborhood, which spans across Connecticut Avenue from Newdale Road and Chevy Chase Lake Drive to the south, to Manor Road to the north.

The Chevy Chase Lake plan has been in the works for several years, and has progressed from the county planning department to the county planning board and the Montgomery County Council.

Top issues under consideration in the plan to redevelop the sector—which includes the 1960s-era Chevy Chase Lake East shopping center and an office building, both owned by the Chevy Chase Land Company—were development pace, building heights and the amount of new housing to be permitted.

Cutting through the sector is the Capital Crescent Trail and the proposed path of the Purple Line, a light rail to connect Bethesda with New Carrollton. With a Purple Line stop planned in the middle of the Chevy Chase Lake Sector, county planners and the council see an opportunity for transit-oriented development as well as a chance to make the sector more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly, according to a statement issued Tuesday by the council.

"At the same time, this plan protects the character of the surrounding residential community," Council President Nancy Navarro (D-Dist. 4) of Silver Spring said in the statement.

On Tuesday, the council voted to:

  • Reduce the maximum height of new buildings in the Chevy Chase Lake East shopping center from the 150 feet recommended by the planning board to 120 feet. 
  • Reduce heights (from what was recommended by the planning board) on properties closest to existing homes, including on Newdale Road, Arman’s gas and service station (at the southwest corner of Connecticut Avenue and Manor Road) and the eastern part of the Housing Opportunities Commission property east of Connecticut Avenue and along Chevy Chase Drive.
  • Allow development of a mixed-use community in the Chevy Chase Lake East shopping center including retail, commercial and residential development.  
  • Require the redeveloped Chevy Chase Lake East shopping center to include "public open space and amenities that make it an appealing destination for the entire community," according to the council statement.
  • Recommend mixed-use zoning for most of the other properties in the Chevy Chase Lake shopping area.
Development in the center will occur in two phases:
  • The Chevy Chase Lake East shopping center, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a mixed-income project for the Housing Opportunities Commission may begin development, as soon as the properties are rezoned as part of an upcoming Sectional Map Amendment.
  • All other property owners will need to wait until construction of the Purple Line begins before applying for development approvals. "This will ensure that a significant portion of new development will be completed at approximately the same time that construction is completed on the Purple Line," according to the council statement.
Other changes coming to the neighborhood with the Purple Line will include two new bridges over Connecticut Avenue (one for the train and the other for the Capital Crescent Trail) and an elevated Purple Line station platform (with elevators, access gates and shelters). 

The planning department and council also recommended that a new street be built to connect Manor Road and Chevy Chase Lake Drive under the elevated rail line. The street would offer alternative access to the Purple Line station for buses, rapid transit vehicles and vehicles dropping people off at the station, the council statement said.

Navarro, Council Vice President Craig Rice (D-Dist. 2) of Germantown and council members Phil Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg, Roger Berliner (D-Dist. 1) of Potomac, Valerie Ervin (D-Dist. 5) of Silver Spring, Nancy Floreen (D-At large) of Garrett Park, George Leventhal (D-At large) of Takoma Park and Hans Riemer (D-At large) of Silver Spring voted to approve the plan.

Councilman Marc Elrich (D-At large) of Takoma Park voted against the plan.
 


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