Zoning Change Would Only Affect Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad Site

It would allow rescue squad to apply for zoning to develop up to 280 apartments on its site, but critics of change say it's "a special law for a special case."

September 10, 2014 11:27 a.m.

A proposed zoning amendment before the Montgomery County Council would enable the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad to obtain zoning to develop a building housing up to 280 apartment units and ground-floor retail on its lot in Bethesda.

However, critics of the amendment urged the council to vote against it at a public hearing Tuesday, saying that it’s a special law for a special case.

The rescue squad is attempting to amend zoning regulations to allow the TS-R, or Transit Station Residential zone, to be applied to properties within a Central Business District, such as downtown Bethesda. The rescue squad is located just on the outer edge of what is defined as downtown Bethesda for planning purposes.

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Currently the rescue squad’s site is zoned R-60, which allows single-family housing, but the TS-R zone designation would allow up to 280 apartment units and groundfloor retail to be built there. The TS-R zone is primarily permitted within 1,500 feet of a transit station and can also be specifically recommended for a site. The rescue squad is about 3,500 feet from the Bethesda Metro.

The rescue squad is seeking to redevelop its property at the corner of Battery Lane and Old Georgetown Road in order to pay for a new station at the site. Currently the 90,000 square-foot site is largely composed of a surface parking lot and the current rescue squad building. Brooke Davies, the rescue squad’s president, said in April they are considering a new residential building at the current location of the rescue building, while a new station would be built nearby on the site.

Planning board Chairman Casey Anderson told the council that the TS-R zone is intended for areas where multi-family housing already exists or where it’s intended in the future. He said the planning board voted last week to approve the amendment because the burden will still remain on the rescue squad to prove the site should be rezoned.

However, Steve Teitelbaum, a representative of the Battery Park Citizens Association, told councilmembers that the zoning change would only apply to the rescue squad site because it’s the only property that filed a TS-R rezoning application before the May 1 deadline to file under the old zoning guidelines. The TS-R zone will be eliminated at the end of October when zoning code rewrites approved in March go into effect.

Teitelbaum said that because the zoning amendment would only apply to the rescue squad site, “it’s a special law for a special case and therefore illegal under Maryland law.”

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Jim Humphrey, a member of the Montgomery County Civic Federation, agreed with Teitelbaum’s assessment and said he won a case against a similar zoning change in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

“We’re confident this zoning text amendment would not survive judicial scrutiny,” Humphrey said, adding that state law prohibits zoning code changes that would only be applied to a single site in a county.

Patrick O’Neil, the land use attorney representing the rescue squad, said that if the change is approved, the rescue squad would still be required to apply to have its property rezoned under the new amendment, which would require additional scrutiny from the Montgomery Planning Board and County Council to ensure that the zone would mesh with the surrounding community.

The council’s Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee plans to review the proposed amendment Sept. 22.

 

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