Taller buildings set for Fenton Village
By Silver Springer • Apr 17th, 2008 • Category: Real Estate
Before certain people start getting their panties in a bunch, it’s not exactly what you think. Evidently all of the CBD zones (or at least Bethesda and Silver Spring) can increase height if work force housing is part of a project using optional method of development (a plan with at least 20% public use space, increased height, density  etc).
Under CBD-1, CBD-2 and CBD-3 zones, workforce housing (if pursued) must be at least 10% of the of the total units, and a single person must earn a minimum income of around $48,000 annually, according to Gary Stith, Director of the Silver Spring Regional Center. This was discussed during the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory board Meeting, Economic Development arm Wednesday night.
But Fenton Village (which is mostly CBD-1) is excluded because of the current overlay zone which actually caps the height at 90 ft een with CBD-1 zoning in some places. There is no incentive to implement workforce housing if it is in the Fenton Village area.
An amendment to the zoning laws wants to change all of that, allowing buildings with workforce housing to step up to a maximum of 143’ ft. Of course this would require setbacks. At the street edge buildings can go to 60’ft, once at that level they would step back by way of setbacks, then increase the height to 143’ft only on the west side of Fenton Street . On the East side of Fenton Street 60’ft is still the maximum with or without workforce housing.
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This is absolutely the right approach. Keep the allowable height to a minimum on the east side of Fenton Street to allow a step-down to the residential neighborhood to the east, but allow greater heights for more affordable housing in the Central Business District. As I’ve written on this blog and other sites, promoting affordable housing in areas that are rich with public transportation and destinations one can walk to allows people of more modest means to save on housing costs and transportation costs (which are the second highest expense next to shelter for most households). Money not needed for payments, gasoline, or maintenance on that second car (or even a first car) can go towards vehicles that build wealth, like a down payment for a home, retirement savings accounts, whatever. I love living in near the Silver Spring CBD and in a household that needs only one car (and puts less than 3500 miles per year on that car) and I have no interest in rolling up the drawbridge behind me.
Have you seen the Silver Spring CBD Green Plan that the Planning Board will be reviewing next week? There are some really awesome SketchUp drawings of how Fenton Village could look with these higher densities AND more green space.
[quote comment="4186"]Have you seen the Silver Spring CBD Green Plan that the Planning Board will be reviewing next week? There are some really awesome SketchUp drawings of how Fenton Village could look with these higher densities AND more green space.[/quote]
Yes, does anything look familiar to you?
[quote comment="4189"][quote comment="4186"]Have you seen the Silver Spring CBD Green Plan that the Planning Board will be reviewing next week? There are some really awesome SketchUp drawings of how Fenton Village could look with these higher densities AND more green space.[/quote]
Yes, does anything look familiar to you?[/quote]
Could you be referring to the Rockville Town Center, because it does remind me of that.
I am not a natyive Silver Spring resident, but I have lived here for a few years now. I am though a Native New Yorker. Growing up in a city with tall buildings and all on top of each other makes life lonely. I like that Silver Spring is looking nicer, but growing the buildings is not the answer. If that means turning away residents from the downtown area, so be it. Overcrowding the area doesnt make it more fun and often does more damage to the area.
The additional height above 90 feet would only be allowed as needed for the work force housing units.
[quote comment="4191"]I am not a natyive Silver Spring resident, but I have lived here for a few years now. I am though a Native New Yorker. Growing up in a city with tall buildings and all on top of each other makes life lonely. I like that Silver Spring is looking nicer, but growing the buildings is not the answer. If that means turning away residents from the downtown area, so be it. Overcrowding the area doesnt make it more fun and often does more damage to the area.[/quote]
I’m sorry but Silver Spring is an odd place to move to if you’re trying to get away from urbanism and density. Small town it is not.
this is much smaller then my neighborhood
[quote comment="4197"]this is much smaller then my neighborhood[/quote]
And which neighborhood is this?
[quote comment="4190"][quote comment="4189"][quote comment="4186"]Have you seen the Silver Spring CBD Green Plan that the Planning Board will be reviewing next week? There are some really awesome SketchUp drawings of how Fenton Village could look with these higher densities AND more green space.[/quote]
Yes, does anything look familiar to you?[/quote]
Could you be referring to the Rockville Town Center, because it does remind me of that.[/quote]
No not that.
Okay, you got me, what does it look similar to? I’m actually curious.
Gently there Silver Springer,
It’s easy to react against density when you have plenty (say like on the long skinny island that is part of NYC). Mo doesn’t know what SS was like 10 yrs ago, or what its like to not have enough density.
[quote comment="4206"]Gently there Silver Springer,
It’s easy to react against density when you have plenty (say like on the long skinny island that is part of NYC). Mo doesn’t know what SS was like 10 yrs ago, or what its like to not have enough density.[/quote]
The significance of an area cannot be measured simply by sheer population or geographical size. It’s more than that; I guess America is a “small town†because the average size of a Chinese city is like 3 million people. And Silver Spring with a density of 15,600 per square mile (more than downtown D.C. , Chicago, LA, etc) is not a small town because of its intricate uses. Also Silver Spring has many assets that New York is/would salivate over.