A project with 62 town houses and an apartment building of up to 200 units could get key approvals when it goes before the Montgomery County Planning Board later this month.
The Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC) of Montgomery County is partnering with Bethesda-based developer EYA on the project, which would be the first major development to follow new land use rules in the 2013 Chevy Chase Lake Sector Plan. The planning board is set to review the proposal July 30.
The project would make way for 62 town houses and a 112-foot-tall apartment building along Chevy Chase Lake Drive on property that is now an HOC-owned batch of 68 garden apartments.
The town houses would be a maximum of 50 feet tall and built in eight rows separated by four newly constructed private alleys. The town houses would be built in the first phase of the project, with the apartment building and a half-acre public park part of the second phase.
Via Montgomery County Planning Department
Since the project’s first approval almost a year ago, EYA and HOC have proposed adding 12 feet to the height of the apartment building that would allow for about 25 more units.
Planning Department staff recommended that the extra height be allowed since the project will provide more moderately-priced dwelling units, or MPDUs, than the 12.5 percent required.
HOC must also guarantee that 20 percent of the units in the project be affordable to those earning between 61 percent and 100 percent of the area’s median income. MPDUs must be affordable to those earning less than 60 percent of the area’s median income.
Of the 68 apartment units in the HOC’s existing apartment buildings, 21 are affordable.
The half-acre park will be handed over to Montgomery Parks, which will program, operate and maintain the space.
