I attended the public meeting on the development of Lots 31 and 31A in downtown Bethesda. County parking lots are situated currently on the surface of both lots which are located opposite the Barnes & Noble at the intersection of Bethesda Ave. and Woodmont Ave. In other words, this is an incredibly valuable piece of land in the epicenter of Bethesda.
The development plan includes the construction of an underground parking lot with 1450 parking spaces (1150 public and 300 private). The parking lots will have two exits, one on the east side of Woodmont Ave. and one Bethesda Ave (east of Woodmont Ave.) There will be 250 residential units ranging in size from 600 to 3500 square feet for a total of 332,500 square feet. Thirty workforce housing units are included in the project. There will also be 40,000 square feet of retail space at street level.
The development plan should make the pedestrian crossings at Bethesda Ave. and Woodmont Ave. narrower and easier to cross that the current intersection. The impact on traffic of narrowing Woodmont and expanding the parking lots is far less clear though seems ominous. The plans also include a bike drop location and enhanced access to the trail behind the building, roughly equivalent to the current secondary access behind the parking meters on the lot. More information about the development plan (from the developer) can be found at www.lot31development.com.
Construction of the parking lot will entail closing Woodmont Ave. between Bethesda Ave. and Miller Ave (the latter is just north of Leland St.) for an estimated two year period between Summer/Fall 2008 and Summer/Fall 2010. The public garage is projected to open in Winter/Spring 2011. The retail spaces should open in Summer 2011 and the residential spaces should be completed in Summer/Fall 2011.
The two-year closure of the garage will have a major impact. The developer admitted that no planning had occurred to deal with the impact on traffic in response to a question from myself. They said that this was something to think about after final approval for the project had been received and were cavalier about the traffic problems which would will when they close the street. One got the impression that they didn't think this was an important question, at least in their initial responses.The developer had also not considered that the Woodmont-Leland connection was the major connection between the Town of Chevy Chase and downtown Bethesda. Indeed, it is the only way Town residents can cross Wisconsin into the central section of Bethesda (not to mention the nearby Giant Supermarket) without turning first on to Wisconsin.
The Montgomery County Department of Public Works and Transportation needs to give serious consideration to the impact on traffic patterns and on how to deal with the issue most effectively since this is hardly a short-term problem if Woodmont will remain closed for two years. It is amazing that no plan yet exists to deal with this issue.
Additionally, the temporary loss of all of the short-term parking in the existing parking lots probably means that more of the spaces in the major lot with entrances at Elm St. and Bethesda Ave. need to be allocated to short-term parking. The County should also see if it is possible to lease other open lot spaces nearby as temporary long or short-term parking to alleviate the pressure caused by the construction.
