Fighting for Open Space in Bethesda

I know this is a long post but I urge you to wade through it and then take action to save a key bit of green in the heart of Bethesda.

The Planning Board staff have issued two blows to the fight for the last bit of green space at the intersections of Bethesda and Woodmont Avenues. First, they have rejected the application that the area be considered for the County's Legacy Open Space program. Second, they issued a report recommending approval of the preliminary plan for development.

The process for the consideration of the application for Legacy Open Space, which was submitted by the Greater Bethesda Chevy Chase, East Bethesda, and Edgemoor Citizens Associations, was highly unusual. Although the developers had requested an extension for consideration of the project which still had over two months to run, the application was summarily rejected. In contrast to the usual process, the community was not consulted. Nor was the official Advisory Board on Legacy Open Space consulted.

Fifty people, including yours truly, showed up on less than 24-hours notice (!) at lunchtime to plead with representatives of Park and Planning to overturn this decision. People came from all over the area, including Silver Spring, Westmoreland, Bradley Hills, Chevy Chase West, East Bethesda, Chevy Chase DC, Edgemoor, Westgate, and River North Chevy Chase, Town of Chevy Chase, Green Acres, Hamlet, Battery Park, and Colombia Forest. Unfortunately, the head of the Legacy Open Space program was delayed and could not come until after virtually everyone had left.

Apparently, the location is not considered sufficiently unique to deem it worth saving. Ironically, though the Planning Department has spent much time, energy, and money trying fruitlessly to turn Bethesda Metro Center into an urban center, one has emerged naturally instead right at the intersection of Woodmont and Bethesda Avenues due to the presence of the trail, the bookstore, movie theaters, and so many restaurants. The intersection in front of Barnes and Noble is unquestionably the center of the Bethesda and thus a unique location.

The County has already approved a major new parking lot and development across the street from Barnes and Noble at Lots 31 & 31A. Other new condo projects are already rising in the area. The chance for preserving a bit of green and a key gathering space at Woodmont East at the last open corner of this key intersection renders the space not just unique but critical to making the emerging increasingly dense Bethesda function well.

Moreover, the Planning Board Staff Report on the preliminary plan for Woodmont East II is fundamentally flawed. Consider some of its key arguments:

* Green space here isn't needed because of Elm Street Park and Caroline Freeland Park. Except that in addition to being on the periphery of the center of the urban district rather than being in its center, the former is across Wisconsin Ave. and the latter is across Arlington Road. If the Parks Department really wants to create urban parks, it needs to step up and create one at Woodmont East.

* There is lot of other open space near the intersection. Here the report incredibly cites the extra-wide sidewalks on Woodmont Ave. for proof. Except that whenever the weather is remotely nice (i.e. anyone would want to use the open space), the area is taken up with restaurant tables so the so-called open space is actually private, profit-making restaurant space. I think that's fine but let's not pretend it is "open space".

The report further cites the existence of a few down the Capital Crescent Trail by a small drinking fountain. With a grand view of Ourisman Honda's parking garage and closed after dark, the area is primarily used for a quick rest and to water dogs while walking the Trail. It is not a gathering place.

* Any park would at Woodmont East II would have to be a hardscape park. Here the report become internally contradictory. The report argues that there are so many people that it would impossible to preserve green space. Except that the presence of so many people (and the sidewalks are often choked on Spring/Fall evenings before all this new development has already occurred) clearly indicate a need to protect open space. The inability to preserve green space is contradicted by its continued existence not to mention common sense. One could easily have a green space surrounded by hard surfaces with benches.

* The preliminary plan for Woodmont East II preserves sufficient open space. Much of the significantly smaller completely hardscape open space envisioned in the preliminary plan would not actually be open. The building have a "bar" which would go over much of the space starting at 30 feet up. While the report gushes about the "bar", it remains a conventional bar and would place much of the "open space" in uninviting shadow, and essentially extend the existing tunnel underneath Wisconsin Ave.

The small gap underneath between the bar and the tunnel would likely be in permanent shadow as well due to the height of the building in that area. Moreover, much of the edges of the space would be taken up, as they are now, by tables for restaurants, so it would also not be open in a meaningful sense. If the Purple Line is built, a tail track is envisioned in the space so the public might be left with no real open space.

The report has other flaws but I think I've gone through enough at this point. If you want to read the report for yourself, here is how you can find it:

http://mncppc.org/
Click on planning department (not board) under Montgomery (not Prince George's) County on the left side;
Click on development in the reddish "What's going on" box;
A new browser window will open, click on "next" in that window;
Enter project number of 920070070 and click on "search";
Click on search for related plans and reports;
Click on "staff reports" and then click on "search";
Click on the 88-page document from 10/29/07.

What can you do to help protect the open space?

(1) Send an email to Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson at MCP-Chairman@mncppc-mc.org asking that they reschedule the hearing currently scheduled for the middle of a workday so that working members of the community can be there and have a chance to testify.

(2) Sign up to testify at the hearing, currently set for November 8th at 2PM. You can sign up online.

(3) This project will ultimately have to be approved by the County Council which must abandon Reed Street and give it to the developers for the project to move forward. Contact the County Council to voice your opposition to its abandonment and your support for a park. You can find email addresses for specific councilmembers here.