RIP Newell St Streetery

Sun Tzu (D-NY) - “When your enemy is making a mistake, fix it for him at great cost to yourself.”

Is this a response to the East Silver Spring plan that just dropped or a general reaction to Montgomery County’s zoning policies

Extra points for the condescending finger wagging about it “not being the right time” despite the fact that HER ADMINISTRATION delayed it for half a decade

Nothing more Bowser than finding a simple solution for a range of DCs problems and burying it until it’s no longer feasible in order to maintain the status quo

I could not in good conscience continue to claim to be on 1920s building entrance bullshit without adding this one to the list. Rare that one entrance gets its own post, but the Belle Shore Apartment Hotel is That Girl. Architects: Nathaniel Koenigsberg & Leon Weisfeld, 1929

(I do really like their world bank hq building fwiw)

Oh hey it’s my least favorite building in dc!

Poster with text "Western springs. Land of the Burlingtons" and an illustration of a man in cowboy hat on a floatie shaped like a horse, in a river with a rainbow in the background.

Designed in 1969 by Pat Dypold, the woman responsible for many of 7-Up’s “Uncola" ads, this poster was one of a series illustrating select cities in Chicago's western suburbs served by the Burlington Northern Line. Posters were sold to the commuting public for $1 each. NUTL Poster Collection.

Yeah more of a feature than a bug to the NIMBYs

Ok just for fun my theory for why Friendship Heights is Like That:

1. The retail is along a traffic sewer
2. Retail spaces are too large and aimed at sectors that don’t generate foot traffic
3. Density is downhill from the retail and occupied by a population who find it difficult to walk uphill

Friendship Heights is about to go through a lot of change between this, the geico redevelopment, mazza gallerie, the Maggianos redevelopment (?), and the redevelopment across the street from the saks. Hopefully these projects help to breathe some life into a moribund (and kinda creepy) neighborhood

Ooh this is going to be interesting. That Saks parking lot has always been a massive waste of land.

calvin: HEY DAD, I'M DOING A TRAFFIC SAFETY POSTER. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS FOR A SLOGAN? calvin’s dad: SURE! "CYCLISTS HAVE A RIGHT TO THE ROAD TOO, YOU NOISY, POLLUTING, INCONSIDERATE MANIACS! I HOPE GAS GOES UP TO EIGHT BUCKS A GALLON!" calvin: THANKS, DAD. I'LL GO ASK MOM. calvin’s dad: WHY ? THAT'S A GREAT SLOGAN!

every day he’s vindicated

Fisk map of the Mississippi River my beloved

Acrylic painting of an orangutan standing on an orange moon floating among clouds in a blue sky

The moon monkey is here.

Vince McMahon reaction meme Panel 1 text: Markwayne Mullin Panel 2 text: reportedly fingered Panel 3 text: nostrils of colleagues and their spouses Panel 4 (laser eyes) text: during visit to Israel

oh baby

You know the old saying "you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's noses"
well...

A white poster oriented lengthwise reads in black print: 'THERE ARE FEW MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION MORE OBSOLETE THAN A 14-LANE HIGHWAY THRU A RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD' Tears on the edges of the original poster.

1/ The person in 1968 who held this poster helped give us a robust metro system and preserve DC/MD neighborhoods. This is from @dcpubliclibrary.bsky.social's collection of Emergency Committee on the Transportation Crisis materials - a local anti-highway movement.

@actfortransit.bsky.social

Like it's better than nothing but I can't imagine this will drive much transit ridership (or do much to revitalize Burtonsville's moribund downtown).

Site plan showing parking garage and 87 townhouse units

Finally, there's a proposal to build 87 townhouse units (12 MPDUs) in Burtonsville on a county-owned park and ride at the end of the US 29 FLASH line. The developer will replace the lot with a garage. This is...pretty underwhelming both in unit numbers and MPDUs, considering it's public land.

Site plan showing townhouse development replacing office and empty land

Site plan showing 1 SFH and 4 live/work units replacing an office building in Cabin John

skinny boi residential plan

Other proposals of note: a 232 unit office to townhouse project in biotech research/distressed office property epicenter the Great Seneca Science Corridor, a 5 unit live/work development in Cabin John (!), and a skinny 260 unit apartment building in Bethesda

I have mixed feelings tbh. On one hand, the existing building has terrible ground-floor uses and an office/community center will provide activation along the street. On the other hand, this building will be locked in as self storage for the near future, which is terrible land use for a lot in DTSS

Existing ground floor view of 801 Roeder Road, showing existing entrance and parking garage abutting sidewalk

Rendered view of proposed project--mirrored glass office building remains the same above floor 2, but ground floor has been replaced with office space fronting the road.

Anyway the proposal (plan no. 820260100) will convert an abandoned office building at 801 Roeder Road into a self storage facility, while carving out space in the existing parking garage on floors 1-3 for the MoCo Pride Center, an LGBTQIA+ nonprofit.

There's a pretty high chance that the ZTA was written with this specific project in mind considering it's A) extremely specific and B) located in lead sponsor Kate Stewart's district

the first floor is a charitable/philanthropic/cultural use, the office building was 90% vacant for 2+ years, the conversion doesn't prevent conversion to office/res space, and signage is limited to 40 sf (??). This doesn't apply to projects that knock down office buildings for storage facilities.

But wait there's more! We also have the first project under ZTA 25-01! Don't remember ZTA 25-01? That's because it was an extremely weird zoning amendment introduced along with the Housing NOW package that allowed conversion of office space to self storage as long as (deep breath)...

It's pretty exciting to see the first units entering the pipeline from the missing middle bill and I'll be very interested to see how their approval process goes (the Connecticut Ave proposal especially may face challenges from neighbors/recurring urbanist villain The Town of Chevy Chase

Plat showing a +/- 3000 sf addition to existing single family home

Second is a duplex proposed along River Road in Bethesda, which will add a unit to an existing home.

Plat showing existing single family home along Connecticut Avenue

Concept plan showing 6 townhouses in "slot" configuration replacing single family home

First up is plan no. 520260290, which proposes 6 townhouses and one workforce housing unit in a "slot" arrangement replacing a SFH on Connecticut Ave. The site is just south of the old 4-H convention center, which is currently being redeveloped into senior housing.

For anyone who doesn't know the DRC is an inter-agency task force group that reviews development in Montgomery County and ZTA 25-02 is the county's (extremely watered down) missing middle bill.