The last time Montgomery County planners showed off their proposed updates to the Westbard Sector Plan to the community they were met with a chorus of angry residents who viewed the plan to increase density around River Road and Westbard Avenue as an affront to their suburban neighborhood.
Residents at the November meeting accused planners of not properly considering the impact that more housing and shops would have on what they described as an already-congested River Road and overcrowded local schools. There was also a sense among those who spoke that planners were favoring Equity One—a developer with plans to construct apartments, townhouses and a new retail center in the area.
Since the meeting, Equity One has detailed its plans for the Giant-anchored Westwood Shopping Center and surrounding buildings on Westbard Avenue. The developer wants to transform the aging center and its massive surface parking lot into three new town center-style retail buildings and a one-level underground parking garage. Nearby properties such as Bowlmor Bethesda, Westwood II shopping center and the former Manor Care senior living center would be turned into 75-foot-tall apartment buildings with a total of about 450 residential units.
An annotated version of Equity One's plans to redevelop the Westwood Shopping Center and surrounding properties in Bethesda, as described at a February meeting with reporters.
On a section of Westwood’s current surface parking lot, Equity One is proposing to build with residential developer EYA about 75 three- to four-story high-end townhomes. In total, the area could see about 500 to 700 residential units constructed under the plan.
Tonight, residents, who have not shied away from criticizing planners throughout the process, will have an opportunity to weigh in on the latest changes proposed for the sector plan as well as share their thoughts on Equity One’s plans. The county’s planning department is scheduled to host an update to its framework concept plan from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda.
When Equity One detailed its designs in February for the 22-acre parcel it owns along Westbard Avenue between River Road and Westbard Circle, Michael Berfield, the company’s vice president of development, said he hoped residents would see how the 75-foot-tall apartment buildings, and 50-foot-tall retail center would fit into the surrounding community.
“Our focus is really building a project that’s [built] to scale and fits in with what’s already here,” Berfield said.
Despite assurances from planners that new development would make the neighborhood more attractive, residents have been resistant to change.
Last night, at a community meeting about the county library located in the Westbard area, residents cheered Montgomery County officials who said they have no plans to relocate the Little Falls Library.
Equity One has approached the county about possibly including the public library in its new development—a move that could enable the library to move out of its 60-year-old building and give the county a potential new elementary school site at the library’s 5501 Massachusetts Ave. location.
One resident, according to an account of the meeting published on the online newswire Bethesda Now, recommended getting the pitchforks and torches out for tonight’s meeting—which provides an inkling into what planners might be in for tonight.
At the center of the debate is the rising tension between traditional suburban communities that surround the more urban downtown Bethesda core and the economic pressure to develop these areas due to what seems like an insatiable demand for new residential units in the area.
The Town of Chevy Chase is currently waging a fight against increased height limits for buildings along its borders that county planners have proposed as part of the Downtown Bethesda Plan update.
Last month, Apartment List—a website that lists thousands of apartments in the Washington, D.C., region—found that in March Bethesda apartment rental rates outpaced the District’s rate. It was the first time that had happened since Apartment List began monitoring rental rates in October.
Steve Robins, a land-use attorney at Lerch, Early & Brewer, who detailed The Lenkin Company’s plan to develop a 200-plus unit apartment building on St. Elmo Avenue at a community meeting in Bethesda last week, said developers believe the local market for apartments continues to grow—even as more high-rise buildings pop up in White Flint and downtown Bethesda.
But one of the bigger questions posed by the proposed Westbard development is how can a suburban neighborhood, which does not have a Metro station, deal with increased density and the impact more people will have on its already rush-hour-packed roadways.
