The apartment complex proposed for Falkland Chase’s north parcel could have a street-level park. But area residents are worried about another street-level issue: traffic.
At an economic development committee meeting Wednesday night, Nelson Leenhouts, co-chairman of Home Properties, said the 1.5-acre on-site park (below) on East-West Highway near 16th Street would be lowered six feet to align with the public sidewalk.
The change, suggested by the public, would allow more direct access to the park and its adjacent retailers, Leenhouts said. One of those retailers would be a Harris Teeter supermarket.
Shoppers would be allowed to park at one of the apartment complex’s 350 public spaces. Residents of the proposed 1,059 apartments there would have their pick of 1,050 private spaces.
Access to all 1,400 parking spots would be off East-West Highway between Colesville Road and 16th Street, through one driveway (below).
That tidbit made some meeting attendees nervous. One Summit Hills resident, who did not give her name, said traffic on East-West Highway at 16th Street was bad enough without perceived congestion from the Falkland North project.
Accidents at the intersection are frequent, she said, especially when westbound drivers on East-West Highway try to blast up a brief incline in the rain.
Others worried that surrounding roads wouldn’t handle the volume. However, two traffic studies concluded that volume would not be an issue, Leenhouts said.
The project’s density and proximity to the Silver Spring Metro station is meant to encourage mass-transit use. Residents would likely park their cars in the garage and leave them there during the work week, said Gary Stith, Silver Spring’s regional director.
A hearing on the north parcel’s possible historic preservation hits the county’s planning board Oct 18.
Images courtesy of Home Properties.
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The rental market in downtown is desperately in need of some competition.. increases have been in the 5-15% range the past few years at the buildings in town. As long as they’re going to be rentals (which seems unlikely to change in the current / looming real estate market) bring it on. I think the premise that most residents will ride metro is rather accurate. I drive to work twice a week (to baltimore) and there’s certainly no flood of cars coming out of our garage at rush hour, most people transit it to work. Much more of a “flood” walking out the door if anything. Was similar in my last building.
I lived in Summit Hills for 2 years, just moved out last month. The traffic isn’t so bad in the morning rush hour as it is in the afternoon, East-West is gridlocked from about 5-7 with commuters coming home from the west (Bethesda). One big problem could stem from those same commuters making the left hand turn into the development across the two lanes of traffic…this is a problem already existing in the left hand turn onto 16th and the left hand turn onto Colesville, and this area would be inbetween the two. Also, lets not forget that for at least the first several Sunday’s that entrance/exit will be gridlocked with cars coming into the Harris Teeter.
Did Home Properties give a reason there isn’t a second access point into the garage? It seems that there could be one from the access road on the North side of the property, but the grade change might mean that at that level, it would enter through what is currently planned to be revenue-generating apartments. What about an exit only from a second location? Is it about security being easier to manage from a single ingress/egress point?
Woodsider wrote:
You got it, dude!