Thayer Avenue Condos
I haven’t spoken that much about development recently, mainly because the direct impact to Thayer Avenue has been minimal – in conjunction with the fact that I’m not as well versed as people like Silver Spring Scene, who does a much better job at this sort of coverage. But all that’s about to change.
According to recent listserv information, the ESSCA met with the development team that is turning the site currently housing the National Association for the Deaf at 814 Thayer Ave (see map above) into condominiums to review the plans that will be presented to the county on July 26 (still waiting on specifics for this meeting). At a meeting last winter, it was requested that the developer put the entrance on Thayer Ave and not on the alley that runs between Thayer and Silver Spring Ave.
Last week, we learned that the developer has no intention of changing the alley entrance as the sole artery in and out of the planned 9-story building with 100+ units (and parking to accommodate). This will exacerbate the cut through traffic onto Grove Street, as most people will probably find it easier to use the alley to get in and out of the building. Luckily, it’s not too late to stop this.
The community response to the parking meter fiasco helped put that on hold for further review, and we can try to do the same with this, but we need your help. Please contact Valerie Ervie (councilmember.ervin@montgomerycountymd.gov or 240-777-7960) and tell her the alley entrance is not the way to go.
There seems to be an ongoing turf war over the alleys. The code, supported by DWPT, evidently says that the alleys cannot be appropriated by a developer for [a property's] sole entrance, and the DWPT and the Planning Board must both agree if there is to be an exception for a developer. Your job is to tell Councilmember Erivn that an exception should not be made here.
On a different note, there also seems to be an uproar over the proposed development between Thayer and Silver Spring in what is now Parking Lot #3. Developer Robert Hillerson wants to put 3-4 nine story condos on the site with 700-800 parking spaces. Why they would need that many is beyond me, but that’s what I’ve read. ESSCA is trying to have the zoning overlay changed (which was put in place by a previous council) back to the original, limiting residential developments to six stories. 25 businesses along Fenton and neaby side streets sent a letter to ESSCA asking for the change, but the Chamber of Commerce is fighting it and Valerie Ervin, I’m told, has not responded to requests for help since January. If you want this change to take effect, please contact Valerie Ervin (with CCs to Marilyn Praisner and the at-large council members) requesting a change in the overlay zone.
I bring this to you as a mouthpiece for the community while not knowing all the details myself. Any clarification and additional details are welcome, and thanks to the many people on the ESSCA listserv for this information.
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I’m likely in the minority amongst my neighbors in that I welcome higher residential density for Fenton Village. More housing units have the potential to promote affordable housing and will give more people the opportunity to leave their car at home and walk or take transit to almost everything they need in life.
Montgomery County’s affordable housing shortage is well documented and it is become harder for teachers, firefighters, police officers, nurses to live in the county because they may make too much too qualify for affordable housing programs but not enough to afford area homes at market rates. Civil servants and others with jobs in the county are moving to Frederick County or even further out to West Virginia and driving to jobs close-in, with all of the attendent energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution that comes with a marathon commute.
Increasing residential densities has the potential to make housing more affordable in three ways: 1) allowing prices to fall as housing supply grows to meet demand; 2) allowing developers to sell their units at a wider range of price-points and still make their project work financially because they have more units to sell; and 3) increasing the overall number of moderately priced dwelling units under the county’s MPDU plan.
Building more affordable condo or apartment buildings doesn’t necessarily lower the cost of detached, single-family homes, but it would help renters and first-time homebuyers get their foot in the door.
Affordable housing in a place like Fenton Village is especially beneficial for households with low and moderate incomes because its location can help people reduce the amount of their income that they need to spend on transportation, which is second only to housing as Americans’ biggest expense.
According to the Surface Transportation Policy Project, the average American household devotes 18 cents out of every dollar it spends to transportation. Not surprisingly, households living in low-densiity, auto-oriented communities spend a greater percentage of their income on transportation as they need multiple vehicles and pay more for insurance, maintenance, and gasoline. In addition, the lower the household income, the greater the portion of income that is spent on getting around. Households earning between $12,000 and $23,000 spend 27 cents of every dollar they earn on transportation and very poor households spend 36 cents of every dollar they earn on transportation, most of it on vehicles. That’s money that could have gone towards vehicles that build income and wealth, such as savings for a home, tuition, or a retirement plan.
As for traffic congestion, I’ve become resigned to the fact that it’s not going to get any better. After Baltimore and Columbia, Slver Spring is the third most populous census designated area in Maryland. The benefits of living in an urban area come with the trade offs of living around lots of people, but at the end of the day I’d rather be at home staring out my window watching cars go by than be on the road still on my marathon commute to West Virginia and staring out my window watching homes go by.
You know, as I finished the whole diatribe, I realized I had to think about how much of this I believed in. That’s why I added the last sentence about being a mouthpiece for the community, and I’m glad you chimed in with your post.
I understand the issue with the alley, and I’m willing to agree with that perhaps. But I also made sure to say “If you want this change to take effect, please call…” when talking about the mega condos across Fenton.
Why should I care? Because the businesses care? How many of them? For good reason? How does that effect ME? Have too many people gone NIMBY crazy? I can get behind things like the whole parking meter fiasco, but I’ll make a better effort to vet information of this sort and deliver it in a more “here’s what I hear, you make your own decision” sort of way.
Thanks for the gut check, David.
Let’s leave the development conversations for all of those less interesting blogs. The last thing we want is a bunch of CAVE* people going BANANAs** on this site. We get enough of that on the East Silver Spring listserv.
*CAVE = Citizens Against Virtually Everything
**BANANA = Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything
(of course, we should not be above criticizing subpar architecture… or scoffing at the new inhabitants of said buildings.)