Planning Board Draft now posted online reflects Board recommendations, from allocating building heights and density to identifying space for parks
SILVER SPRING, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Board, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, will hold a final work session for the Bethesda Downtown Sector Plan on Thursday, July 21, 2016 at the Planning Department headquarters (8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD). Planning Board members will conclude the session by voting on transmitting the current draft of the plan to the County Council for final approval.
Learn more about the Planning Board Draft of the Bethesda Downtown Sector Plan.
As a result of the Planning Board work sessions, the Planning Board Draft includes:
Land Use and Zoning:
- Retaining the Land Use Vision focused on developing a series of activity centers, including the Wisconsin Avenue Metro Core located around the transit station.
- Capping of overall development density, existing and future, at 32.4 million square feet.
- Maintaining existing zoning densities for most individual properties and introduction of the Bethesda Overlay Zone (BOZ) to allocate bonus density.
- Requiring BOZ bonus density to provide a Park Impact Payment, construct 15 percent moderately priced dwelling units (MPDUs) and participate in a Design Review Advisory Panel.
- Retaining Priority Sending Sites with some increased densities to create parks, preserve important community and historic resources, and preserve existing market-rate affordable housing.
- Devoting a section in the Sector Plan to affordable housing with the goal to preserve existing affordable units, provide a mix of housing options and produce new units that reach deeper levels of affordability.
Transportation:
- Removing the Norfolk Avenue Shared Street extension through Battery Lane Urban Park.
- Coordinating and aligning the Bethesda Transportation Management District with the Bethesda Urban District.
- Correcting the Sector Plan’s Street Classification Table to include additional arterials, minor arterials and removal of residential streets.
Parks and Open Space:
- Adding Fire Station 6 site as a potential open space.
- Adding Chase Avenue Neighborhood Green Expansion.
- Adding Elm Street Urban Buffer Park Improvements.
Community Identity and Urban Design:
- Revising maximum building heights based on the property-by-property assessment conducted by the Planning Board.
- Adding language and design diagrams with recommendations for the bulk, step-backs and separation of tall buildings to maximize light and air, reduce impact of shadows and contribute to the character and visual identity of Downtown Bethesda.
Background on the Bethesda Downtown Sector Plan
The new Sector Plan builds on the success of Downtown Bethesda by offering ways to strengthen its centers of activity – Bethesda Row, Wisconsin Avenue corridor, Woodmont Triangle and other established and emerging districts – over the next 20 years. Among its recommendations is a high performance area that incentivizes more energy-efficient buildings, new parks, tree-lined streets and innovative storm water management. The priority of the plan is to create a truly sustainable downtown. Other goals of the plan focus on:
-A mix of housing options, including preservation of market-rate affordable apartments and new moderately priced dwelling units in exchange for development incentives.
-New and/or expanded civic greens at Veteran’s Park, Bethesda Farm Women’s Cooperative Market and along part of the Capital Crescent Trail.
-Economic competitiveness within the region based on new development, public amenities and proximity to transit, including Metrorail and proposed Purple Line light rail.
Work on the Bethesda Downtown Sector Plan began in January 2014. Community participation was encouraged through public meetings and workshops, online surveys and happy hour events, which were intended to reach residents who don’t typically participate in the planning process.
The Plan serves as an amendment to the approved and adopted 1994 Bethesda Central Business District Sector Plan and the 2006 Woodmont Triangle amendment to that Sector Plan.
For questions or comments about the Public Hearing Draft, please contact: bethesdadownplan@montgomeryplanning.org