The Silver Spring Penguin

Image: The Galaxy project site (red) and its neighbor, The Aurora condos. Courtesy of MNCPPC.

UPDATE — A development project planned for Eastern Avenue will offer less parking to future South Silver Spring residents, the county’s planning board decided. What’s unclear is how the decision will affect current South Silver Spring residents.

In a unanimous Dec 3 vote, the planning board agreed to shrink residential parking at the proposed Galaxy development project from a previously approved 257 spaces to 191 spaces, or 66 fewer parking slots. Chalk up the change to “current market conditions,” planning board documents stated.

The two buildings that comprise the project will plant a combined 241 units onto Eastern Avenue at 13th Street, planning department documents read. Do a little math, and that means 50 units must go without the matching personal parking spots.

But developer RST also offered parking at The Galaxy to residents of the adjacent Aurora building, which it rehabbed from vacant office space to 145 condominium units in 2005.

Since then, Aurora residents have parked their cars either on Eastern Avenue, where they’re subject to tickets from The District’s police department; on 13th Street, which requires drivers to feed parking meters until 6:00 p.m.; or in the county’s Kennett Street garage, which charges $95 per month, a web page for Silver Spring’s parking-lot district declared.

According to planning board documents, the developer will honor its agreements with 75 owners at The Aurora to offer private parking at The Galaxy. However, it’s unclear how those 191 approved parking spaces will be distributed among those 75 neighbors and The Galaxy’s 241 potential residents.

Technically, RST isn’t required to offer any private parking, planner Sandra Pereira told board commissioners. The Galaxy’s buildings, which will be constructed in two phases, are just around the corner from the Kennett Street garage and a few blocks from the Silver Spring Metro station, she pointed out.

Planning commissioner Amy Presley had another concern on her mind: If The Galaxy’s parking garage shrank due to market conditions, what was preventing the rest of the phased-in project from doing the same, she asked the developer at the Dec 3 hearing.

“What if market conditions change again? Is it possible that the phase-2 building drops off completely?” she asked. “We’re going to be left with a hole on Eastern Avenue.”

Lots of multi-building projects move in phases, legal rep Bob Harrison responded. And it was RST’s intent to finish the entire project, company rep Scott Copeland added.

Copeland did not say when construction on The Galaxy would begin.

Edited on Dec 15, 2009, in an effort to bring sexy back. — JD