Some Bethesda residents worry the county Planning Board’s proposed Bethesda Minor Master Plan Amendment would threaten sustainable growth in the downtown area while others are hopeful it would continue to boost investment and housing development.
That was the consensus during Wednesday night’s County Council public hearing on the draft, which updates the 2017 Bethesda Downtown Plan and includes a proposal to remove an existing cap on new development. Council members heard testimony from 19 people in person and virtually.
Rich Biedrzycki, a downtown Bethesda resident and representative of Strong Towns, a nonprofit that advocates for development reform, expressed support for the plan and removal of the development cap, saying housing was his primary concern.
“Housing with everything else follows the law of supply and demand … . If supply does not rise to meet that demand, prices will increase as long as the development cap remains in place,” Biedrzycki told councilmembers.
He noted that while some who oppose the proposed amendment and removal of the development cap have suggested raising the cap, Biedrzycki said that move would be “insufficient.”
“Developers may become reluctant to start projects if it’s unclear what and how much they are allowed to build due to a change in [the] development cap,” he said. “Additionally, if a new cap is reached quickly, more time would need to be spent by the council by amending the master plan instead of other tasks.”
For Bethesda resident David Darnes, who represents the Edgemoor Citizens Association, the amendment is “far from minor.” The Edgemoor neighborhood borders Bethesda’s central business district to the west.
“It is a fundamental change in the plan, an abandonment of the promises the plan made to keep the amount of density and development in check,” Barnes told councilmembers.
“Eliminating [the cap] may very well generate more park impact payments and other fees to help pay for new amenities,” he added. “But packing downtown Bethesda with more development density is a double-edged sword and this plan gives little attention to the potential downsides.”
Why is an amended plan necessary?
The Planning Board’s draft of the Bethesda Minor Master Plan Amendment updates the 2017 Bethesda Downtown Plan. In June 2023, county planners began the process of amending the 2017 Bethesda Downtown Plan, a 20-year vision that includes a cap on “total development in the downtown area, including existing and approved new development,” according to the Montgomery Planning website.
The 2017 Bethesda Downtown Plan resulted from a four-year collaboration among residents, property owners, Montgomery Planning staff, the Planning Board and the council, according to the planning department. The plan encompassed the planners’ vision for affordable housing, new parks and open spaces as well as pedestrian and bicyclist safety improvements in the downtown Bethesda area.
According to Montgomery Planning, the development cap of 32.4 million square feet for downtown Bethesda was nearly reached in September 2023 – six years into the 2017 plan – when the Planning Board approved a project that increased the area’s total development above 30.4 million square feet.
The 2017 downtown plan requires that once total development approval reaches 30.4 million square feet, the “County Council may require certain actions before additional development is permitted,” according to planning. This checkpoint led Montgomery Planning staffers to begin the process of amending the 2017 plan due to the uncertainty concerning approvals of future projects in the downtown area.
County planners are urging the removal of the cap because the 2017 downtown plan’s “vision of affordable housing near jobs and community amenities will not be realized” without “private development and the public investment it funds,” according to a Montgomery Planning overview of the recommendations in the proposed Bethesda Minor Master Plan Amendment. The Bethesda Overlay Zone sets the development cap and other development standards including density and heights in the downtown area.
On Dec. 20 the Planning Board unanimously voted to send its draft of the Bethesda Minor Master Plan Amendment, which includes the proposed removal of the development cap, to the council.
Bethesda resident Zac Trupp said Wednesday night he supported the proposed plan amendment. The removal of the development cap would help promote residential development as the county deals with a “housing crisis,” he said.
Trupp noted he lives in an apartment on Battery Lane in downtown Bethesda that is in “desperate need” of a planned redevelopment.
“Without this growth we will simply see the market get more and more prohibitively expensive. … . Jurisdictions that build housing thrive. And jurisdictions that make perfection the enemy of progress crumble,” Trupp said.
Bethesda resident Karin Bolte, development committee chair for the Wildwood Manor Citizens Association, said she and the association opposed the amended plan.
The current cap of 32.4 million square feet, Bolte said, “balances new commercial and residential development with corresponding public amenities, parks and green spaces.”
In addition, Bolte said she was concerned that more density would negatively impact the environment and climate due to increases in greenhouse gas emissions as well as traffic congestion.
Joy White, a member of the Chevy Chase Town Council, also testified in opposition to the removal of the development cap.
“A significant portion of the approved development remains unbuilt, meaning the impacts of the current cap are unknown,” White said. She noted that without the cap, the county would not have a process for evaluating whether the objectives of the downtown plan were being met.
White said the council recommended the county implement a “data-driven, holistic, five-year review process” of the impact of development projects that also includes community input.
“Regular reviews based on updated data would ensure that growth is managed responsibly and in alignment with both current needs and future aspirations,” White said.
Amanda Farber is co-chair of the Bethesda Downtown Implementation Advisory Committee, a group of residents and local business and property owners that coordinates and monitors the progress of development and implementation of the Bethesda Downtown Sector Plan. She said the committee supports the removal of the development cap but noted the county should require additional review checkpoints in the Bethesda Overlay Zone rules.
Farber said the checkpoints would ensure that transportation improvements and the creation of community amenities such as parks and a proposed recreation center envisioned in the 2017 plan are keeping pace with development. In addition, it would ensure that the “policies and funding needed to implement the promised infrastructure and amenities are established,” she added.
“We want to emphasize that it’s important that there be realistic assessments of where things stand, especially with so much uncertainty,” Farber said.
In the council’s hands
Following Wednesday night’s public hearing, the council’s Planning, Housing and Parking Committee will hold two committee meetings on March 10 and 24 focused on the Bethesda Minor Master Plan Amendment. Following the meetings, the council is expected to produce a final version of the amended plan to be considered for adoption by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.
On Tuesday the council introduced a proposed zoning text amendment (ZTA) at the county Planning Board’s request that would implement the recommendations in the plan amendment if they are approved.
A public hearing on the proposed ZTA is scheduled for April 1.
