Md. Garden Apartments Could Fall
By Hannah Lepow | Online Only | July 28, 2008
In a rapidly developing suburb of Washington, D.C., a plan for a high-rise apartment building could mean the demolition of almost half of a 22-acre garden apartment complex built in 1937.
On July 10 more than 20 residents of Montgomery County, Md., testified at a public meeting held by the county's planning board. The subject: the fate of the Falkland Chase Apartments in Silver Spring.
The planning board staff recommended to all board members that part of the 450-unit complex be placed on the master plan for historic preservation, leaving a 182-unit parcel vulnerable to development.
"We are absolutely unhappy with this recommendation," says Mary Reardon, preservation chair of the Silver Spring Historical Society, which nominated the property to the National Register of Historic Places. "We want to save all of Falkland."
The board has yet to vote on the staff's recommendation, which could happen this fall. Now the Silver Spring Historical Society is trying to make sure that everybody who didn't get a chance to testify can do so. The record for the public meeting closes on July 30.
Robert Kronenberg, the supervisor of the project plan review for the Montgomery County Planning Department, says that the proposed development on the north parcel "could be a good idea if it's designed right."
The current proposal includes a mixed-use 14-story building that would include 1,059 rental units, at least 133 of which would be moderately priced. The design also includes public amenities and a grocery store, which Kronenberg describes as "good for development."
Reardon says a high-rise is out of place. "We are not desperate for more housing," she says. "We've lost a number of garden apartment properties. If you want to get housing, don't destroy housing to get it."
After the planning board's vote this fall, the case will move to the county executive, who will have 60 days to consider the matter. Then it will go to the county council, which will hold another public hearing before making the final decision.
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Comments
Submitted by Bob T at: August 5, 2008
Are we losing our focus? These buildings are neither architectually distinguished nor historically significant..... Why is a 'Social Imperative' becoming a part of the criteria for inclusion as a property for preservation or justification for denial of owner use & enjoyment?
Submitted by Lolly at: August 1, 2008
I have seen this wonderful old project, it is lovely well kept garden in the middle of what is rapidly becoming a large urban area of bumper to bumper cars on top of black ashalt in a concrete neighborhood.
Submitted by Jerry A. McCoy / Silver Spring Historical Society at: July 31, 2008
To learn more about historic preservationists attempts to save the Falkland Apartments, please click on http://www.silverspringvoice.com/archives/copy/2007/03/features_thenAgain0307.html
Submitted by Anonymous at: July 30, 2008
Save Falkland! ALL OF IT! Robert Daniel