SPECIAL REPORT: A New Tallest For Montgomery County?
By Silver Springer • Apr 26th, 2006 • Category: Uncategorized
On April 27th the Montgomery County division of the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission will give their final approval to the site plan and preliminary plan for what will be the tallest building in Montgomery County. The project where the building is planned to be constructed is called White Flint Crossing. The location is in the North Bethesda area along Rockville Pike. “Building A” as it is technically designated will be a mixed use building of condos and retail. It will include 440 residential units with 66 (or 15%) mpdu’s, a substantial amount of moderately priced dwelling units above the minimum 12.5%. Building A will be 24 floors and 289 feet tall making it the tallest building in Montgomery county, surpassing the Washingtonian Tower and Mormon Temple in Kensignton at 275 feet and 288 feet respectively.
In related news there is more denser development planned for the county.LINK
Commentary: The Silver Spring Scene supports high-rise Transit Oriented Development over lower density types like Clarksburg but we question why such building height and density has not happened in the appropriate places like downtown Silver Spring and Bethesda and why zoning laws will not allow for such heights there. We ask readers to comment on this project and how you would feel if a building of this height was placed in downtown Silver Spring.
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How can our County’s leaders purport to be stalwart environmentalists and smart growth advocates when they blow opportunities to build higher/denser on TOD sites in urban areas, with urban infrastructure? According to the Reality Check forum hosted by the ULI and Smart Growth Alliance last year, our region is expecting nearly 1.7 million more people. Where is MoCo going to put its share? In the agricultural reserve? We should be building higher in SS. It’s the responsible thing to do.
MoCo baby, urbanist and environmentalist
It’s a wonder how no one complains about huge subdivisions like Clarksburg that are the core source of our traffic problems but will complain about a high-rise building next to a metro station that will actually mitigate traffic. No one can give a good reason about why height is so bad. The benefits far out weigh the costs.