A once-controversial seven-story apartment building planned for West Lane in Bethesda will head to the Planning Board for key approvals next week.
The amended preliminary and site plans are recommended for approval by county planners, and will likely get the nod from the Planning Board on Thursday, Sept. 11. The Planning Board has already held extensive discussions about the project, which required zoning changes and faced a good bit of opposition from neighboring townhome and condo owners.
But planners said they received no correspondence about this stage of the project’s approval process.
The planners’ report also includes new rendering of the development, from D.C.-based SJG. It will be a seven-story, 120-unit apartment building at 4831 West Lane, less than 1,000 feet from the Bethesda Metro.
The project will mean consolidating four single-family home lots into one lot. After pressure from surrounding property owners and some on the Planning Board, the developer made some changes to the design — including stepping back the top of the building farther from the curb.
Residents in the townhomes and condos surrounding the site, sandwiched in between Arlington Road and Woodmont Avenue, said the original massing of the building would block sunlight, cause traffic issues, wasn’t compatible with the existing neighborhood and wasn’t in accordance with the 1994 Bethesda CBD Sector Plan.
The majority of Planning Board commissioners agreed that the revisions were adequate for a building so close to the Bethesda Metro station.
Renderings/Photos via Montgomery County Planning Board
