Planners and developers are learning that public space in the Ripley District isn’t an amenity — it’s leverage.
The residential building going up at 1050 Ripley Street was designed to be 200 feet tall, 57 feet above that area’s height limit. The 1.2-acre plot also didn’t leave much room for the project’s legal obligation to public space.
So what’s a developer to do?
Planning department staffers said a $500,000 contribution to the Silver Spring Transit Center’s proposed bicycle station would have squared things. But dropping that kind of change didn’t sit well with the developer, the Washington Property Co.
“It was a rather abstract contribution,” Bob Dalrymple, the company’s rep, said at Thursday’s planning board meeting. “The problem was that it could have been spent in Clarksburg.”
Instead, the developer and planning board hammered out a deal Thursday that could cost the same amount of money and, both parties argued, would give the neighborhood more bang for the half million bucks.
The deal: The developer builds a new 250-foot-long road connecting Ripley and Bonifant streets. Throw in some streetscaping on the new road’s west side, and the planning board calls the public-space obligation paid in full.
“This is a meaningful contribution to the district,” Dalrymple said.
What remains of the 14,000 square-foot, on-site public space is a plaza and pit stop along the Metropolitan Branch Trail, which will run between the building and the CSX railroad tracks.
“It’s not going to give you a lot of open space along this bikeway,” board member John Robinson told his colleagues.
Elza Hisel-McCoy, the board’s senior planner on this project, admitted that staff okayed the plaza design based on the quantity — not quality– of space. The plaza’s safety and utility were concerns for the staff.
“The area behind the building would be very difficult to have eyes on when people aren’t bicycling there,” Hisel-McCoy told the board.
The project — plaza, new street, building and all — still must undergo site-plan review with the planning board before construction begins.
Amended June 7, 2007.
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The “pit stop” along the metropolitan branch trail would not seem particularly useful to riders because the trail terminates (or begins) at the transit center just a few dozen yards away. I’m not sure why anyone who has just started or is about to complete their ride would stop at this area.
On the subject of the Met Branch trail–I really want this project to be completed but it seems like its been on the drawing board forever and little progress has been made
[...] 143-foot limit. To square things with the planning board, the developer proposes to construct a 250-foot-long roadway connecting Ripley and Bonifant [...]
The comment attributed to Mr. Dalrymple– that the $500,000 originally proposed by M-NCPPC staff was “too abstract and could have been spent in Clarksburg”– is inaccurate. The staff recommendation stated explicitly that the money would have been contributed “toward the construction of a bike station within the Silver Spring CBD.”
The alternative approach that was ultimately approved by the Planning Board (i.e., requiring the applicant to construct the master planned road connecting Ripley Street and Bonifant Street)was proposed after the staff report was published. It represents a good outcome for Silver Spring. Hopefully we will be able to obtain alternative funding for the proposed bike station.
Glenn Kreger, M-NCPPC
Thanks for your comment, Glenn.
Our intern double-checked the audio file of last week’s planning board meeting, and Dalrymple is quoted accurately. The article also states that the $500G would have gone towards the bike station.
Here’s how the info appears in the article:
It seems both the developer and planning board are happy about getting a new street. However, planning staffers questioned the utility and security of the on-site public space, specifically the space along the Metropolitan Branch trail.
What, if anything, has been discussed to address those concerns?
I appreciate your input on this, Glenn.
PS. The spelling of Dalrymple’s name has been amended. Thanks!
David said:
The “pit stop” along the metropolitan branch trail would not seem particularly useful to riders because the trail terminates (or begins) at the transit center just a few dozen yards away. I’m not sure why anyone who has just started or is about to complete their ride would stop at this area.
David: While the Metropolitan Branch trail’s name terminates/begins at the SSTC, the actual trail will flow seamlessly into the future Capital Crescent Trail, which cyclists can take to Bethesda and on to the Georgetown waterfront. It is very likely that the pitt stop will be used extensively by riders who started in Georgetown and finished at Union Station (or the reverse).
[...] At 10:00 a.m., council members unleash a bill requiring restaurant chains to smack nutritional labeling on their menus. An hour later, they introduce a bill that would allow developers to drop cash into an amenity fund, instead of building public-use space on their sites. [...]