Parking
Olde Towne Gaithersburg: He who hesitated was lost
During the now-defunct credit bubble, legacy walkable urban places in Montgomery County enjoyed renovation and investment unparalleled in decades. Silver Spring received a brand new commercial development that catalyzed a better reputation and increased foot traffic. Investment in Bethesda accelerated beyond its already fast pace. Wheaton got a renovated mall and new residential development for the first time in decades. Takoma Park saw an increase in property values and commercial vitality.
Historic train station in Olde Towne Gaithersburg. Photo by Seth Gaines.
Most dramatically, downtown Rockville recognized that its experiment with 20th century-style "urban renewal" was a miserable failure and restored a human-scale street grid while providing incentives for walkable urban development in its Metro-adjacent location. The only legacy downtown that didn't get in on the action was Gaithersburg, whose historic downtown is known as Olde Towne Gaithersburg. According to the Gazette, Gaithersburg is now seeking advice from developers how to revitalize their downtown.
Most of the land within the corporate limits of Gaithersburg currently sits underneath car-dependent suburban sprawl built between the 1970s and the 1990s. However, Gaithersburg was once a major agricultural stop on the B&O Railroad, whose tracks share a right-of-way with the Metro Red Line between Silver Spring and Union Station. Consequently, Gaithersburg possesses a walkable, urban historic downtown with a human-scale street grid. However, preexisting suburban sensibilities blocked new investment during the development boom years of the middle of this decade:
"We didn't build anything," said Councilman Henry F. Marraffa Jr., pointing to meticulous planning rules, political intractability and overconfidence among city leaders who he says "placed too many conditions" on projects. The city now has more than 4,000 apartments, condos, townhouses and single-family homes approved to be built, but many are years from development, he said.Parking minimums are another specific example of suburban sensibilities that are currently stifling growth:Marraffa sat on a previous council that in 2001 passed a first-ever moratorium on residential development, designed to last one year, citing a need to review the city's master plan. Developers and schools added capacity elsewhere. Now the city is looking to developers to learn how to lure builders during the recession and lending crisis.
Malcolm Van De Reit, a former developer with JPI and now president of White Oak Properties in McLean, Va., cited three other obstacles to Olde Towne development. He said parking ratios tied to new projects should be reduced; land assemblage for large projects is challenging in part because of landowners' expectations on pricing; and city leaders must be sensitive to the changing economy and developers' need to be cost-conscious.As Mr. Van De Reit said, parking minimums provide a sizable disincentive to a developer who wishes to invest in an urban-friendly project. Without new investment, a city or town stagnates and declines. That is exactly what happened in our major cities, including Washington, DC, from World War II to the end of the century. Hindsight has taught us that preventing all development is just as destructive in the long term as promoting poorly planned development."Most developers right now are going back to basics, so they're not going to be moving too far out of their comfort zones as far as spending a lot of money on ... bells and whistles," Van De Reit said.
An existing parking ordinance does not reflect an urban model or the way apartment communities operate. It asks developers to build parking and has caused some projects to crumble under their own weight or lose financing through delays in planning processes, he said.
Olde Towne Gaithersburg, like every walkable urban place in the region and the United States, needs to adopt a zoning and planning framework that makes sense in a human-scale environment. Gaithersburg already has neighboring communities in its own county to learn from. Neighboring Rockville would be an excellent place to start due to proximity, similar demographics, and similar infrastructure, though without a Red Line Station. Like Rockville, as an incorporated town, Gaithersburg has more control over land use planning. Unincorporated Wheaton, Silver Spring, and Bethesda are all governed and planned at the county level.
It's one thing for a dedicated livable/walkable communities and mass transit activist to suggest such a course of action. The point is driven home even more acutely when members of the business community say the same thing:
Developers have suggested a more flexible ordinance in Olde Towne, "an urban model," used in downtown Rockville or Bethesda, Van De Reit said. The current requirement forces structured or partially below-grade parking at costs not justified by Gaithersburg rents.While seeking feedback from developers can be a positive part of the process, as Richard Layman says, a request for proposals isn't a plan. There's no subsitute for a carefully crafted plan that combines ideas from planners, developers and residents. Gaithersburg should bear that in mind as it moves forward with much-needed planning to leverage its most valuable asset.
 | Cavan Wilk became interested in the physical layout and economic systems of modern human settlements while working on his Master's in Financial Economics. His writing often focuses on the interactions between a place's form, its economic systems, and the experiences of those who live in them. He lives in downtown Silver Spring.  |
Comments
@ggwash
- Young kids try to assault me while biking
- Focus transportation on downtown or neighborhoods?
- Metro bag searches aren't always optional
- Community stories show the shift to a walkable lifestyle
- Endless zoning update delay hurts homeowners
- DDOT agrees to repave 15th Street cycle track
- Redeveloping McMillan is the only way to save it
by kenf on Apr 13, 2009 3:52 pm • link • report
1. Yes, Kentlands is inside Gaithersburg city limits.
2. They actually have a pretty darn good adopted master plan for Old Town.
3. Old Town Gaithersburg is geographically smaller than Silver Spring, Bethesda, Wheaton or Rockville. There is less opportunity for large development there. Also, since it's closer to residential neighborhoods, NIMBYs show up all the time.
4. There was a fairly sizable redevelopment in the 1990s.
5. There are actually 1 or 2 projects under construction.
6. Old Town Gaithersburg has MARC, but unlike Silver Spring, Bethesda, Wheaton and Rockville, there is no Metro. That is a big deal.
7. On top of the master plan, there is/was a fully approved, large scale redevelopment (considering the location). If it's not currently under construction, the recession is the main culprit.
... Now, all that having been said, the fundamental problem that Gaithersburg doesn't understand is that Old Town isn't a destination, and the only way to make it one is with much higher density. The problem is there aren't many places in Old Town to put much higher density, especially without Metro.
by BeyondDC on Apr 13, 2009 4:29 pm • link • report
But while I'm here, one more thing: The lack of Metro in Old Town Gaithersburg is one good reason to support ACT's realignment of the Corridor Cities Transitway.
by BeyondDC on Apr 13, 2009 4:32 pm • link • report
by JTS on Apr 13, 2009 9:25 pm • link • report
Excellent post. I think that Old Town Gaithersburg is perhaps the only place in the DC area where a standalone MARC station accommodates decent TOD. Much higher density (a la Silver Spring or Bethesda) might cripple that, even if the ACT alignment of the Corridor Cities Transitway gets built there.
I think perhaps better models would be old Takoma Park (the area around Carroll and Philadelphia) or downtown Hyattsville (the EYA Arts District and vicinity), neither of which are *directly* served by a Metro station. Riverdale Park might also be a good model, as it is served by MARC and may get a future light rail (Purple Line) like the CCT in Gburg. In MoCo, Kensington is a good model of doing the best you can with MARC and no Metro, however it's a bit highway heavy.
by Dave Murphy on Apr 14, 2009 12:43 am • link • report
Those legacy downtowns aren't there because of MARC. The MARC stations are there becuase there is already an historic 19th century train station there. I don't see either of those downtowns as being supported by the commuter rail. They're relics that have adapted.
The CCT could very easily support increased densities in Olde Towne Gaithersburg, provided that it's rail and not BRT.
As for Hyattsville, its historic downtown could easily support more density as it is now due to its location. The reason why it hasn't happened is a mixture of political will (disorganized support from the county) and market forces turning against them. Should the economy ever recover, and/or gasoline prices resume their expected climb, Hyattsville will fill in more.
by Cavan on Apr 14, 2009 9:51 am • link • report
cf. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2009/04/05/a_model_for_quincy/
although the printed copy has some great line drawings which are not present in the online version.
This relates to the < arel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/27/AR2009022701328_pf.html ">Lewis article about Poplar Point. If the city really wants to "fix itself," it's going to have to put in a lot of upfront effort. Developers aren't in the business of making communities as much as they are in the business of making money, and they invest in making community for the most part only to the point where the marginal returns on profit remain positive.
Close to home in MoCo, Rockville and Silver Spring offer interesting alternative visions on how to go about revitalization. In DC, Columbia Heights is another vision.
Dan's point about density though is tough, because in this market, getting the financing to go forward on such projects is practically impossible. Which again is why the Lewis article is relevant to how Gaithersburg could shape its approach.
Plus of course, they need to make transit and the CCT the city's number one priority.
Oh, and if you haven't read these two ULI publications:
- Reinventing Suburban Business Districts
- Reinventing America's Suburban Strips
you need to. There are links in my blog. (The points, while focused on suburban places, are relevant to virtually all revitalization processes, although ULI also has one on urban places also.)
by Richard Layman on Apr 15, 2009 12:20 pm • link • report
Other issues include the limited capacity of the street system getting in and out of the Diamond & Summit area. This might be mitigated just a bit when (I'll avoid saying "if" for now) the Archstone project is built, as Teacher's Way will be completed along the north side of the project. But Summit Ave from 355 up through the railroad crossing to Diamond and East Diamond especially between Summit & Russel remain significant bottlenecks.
Parking is, I think, less of an issue than people make it out to be. The City owns a sizable garage near the train station, and it has spare capacity that can be used to offset parking requirements; the Chris' project was approved with *no* private parking. While yes, the ordinance probably is an anachronism, it remains true that the City routinely grants waivers. They're not above using the waivers as a lever to get concessions, however -- clearly this isn't the same as a right spelled out in the law.
As far as conflict with the community is concerned, I'm not sure that it's so much of a nimbyism issue as it is one of the loss of space for less-desirable uses. Generally, the greenfield developments in the City over the past few years have been allowed to proceed with all undesirable and less-desirable uses excluded, including affordable housing. This has left Olde Towne as one of the few places in the City where you find concentrations of affordable (actually run-down) housing. All proposals to tear down any of those properties are met with resistance from affordable housing advocates, and the City has implemented generous relocation assistance programs for those who are forced out. Because of the lack of diversity in housing in Olde Towne, that area was exempted from the City's affordable housing policy when the latter was enacted a couple of years ago, but that doesn't stop the complaints. I think that it's also true that the proximity of the huge greenfield developments has sucked up a lot of the development energy in Gaithersburg over the past couple of decades, which hasn't done Olde Towne any favors. Redevelopment is just harder than laying out new neighborhoods on idle farmland.
Note that Olde Towne has also been designated an Enterprise Zone by the State, so there are now significant tax advantages to developing and expanding businesses in this area. It remains to be seen how much of an impact this will have.
Honestly, one of the main things that Olde Towne needs right now is people walking around the streets with money in their pockets, ready to spend. Archstone could have a major impact here, and the hope is certainly that if that project really gets underway, some new commercial/retail development will be close on its heels. The Wye site proposal likewise includes a major residential component. On the fringes of Olde Towne, there is a proposal for a residential redevelopment of the old Giant Food shopping Center at N Summit & Girard, and two new residential projects on West Diamond, near the 355 Bridge. All of these are sizable multifamily projects, with perhaps a few more townhouses here and there. I think that density is on its way, but the economy is making it difficult to get (re)started.
by rd on Apr 15, 2009 3:30 pm • link • report
by Cathy Drzyzgula on Apr 15, 2009 5:36 pm • link • report
I find that extremely dangerous, especially with snow and ice. Doesn't this concern anyone else?
by michael mccarthy on Dec 26, 2011 12:25 pm • link • report
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