Bethesda developer The Artery Group will be back before the Montgomery County Planning Board tomorrow afternoon to vie for final approval of a sprawling 314-acre "planned community" at the Prince George’s County line in Burtonsville.
Bounded by Sandy Spring, Greentree and Old Gunpowder Roads, the so-called Fairland Community will bring 365 homes, a community center, public open space, "an extensive trail system," and a new, 11-acre elementary school site intended to divert students from currently overcrowded Burtonsville Elementary. A dramatic metamorphosis from its genesis as a golf-centered townhouse community, the project will include 46 moderately priced dwelling units of affordable townhouse and duplex residences, according to Lisa S. Schwarz, Senior Planning Specialist for the Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs. The rest of the homes on site will be detached, single-family units, to be built in three phases.
The history of the development dates back to 2004, when it was first approved by the Planning Board with a plan calling for a golf course and 400 homes on the Montgomery side of the county line. Despite support from area residents and inroads on a proposed land swap with Montgomery County for construction of the golf course, the project’s encroachment into a neighboring jurisdiction led to a veto from the Prince George’s County Council. With the developer getting a mulligan for the golf plan, tomorrow’s hearing concerns Artery’s recently amended, links-free development scheme; Planning Board staff have already lent their approval to the proposal - a move usually indicative of an impending green light from the Board itself.
The Fairland Community is precisely the kind of large-scale development Artery typically pursues in the metro area's far-outlying suburbs. In conjunction with Clark Capital Realty, they were responsible for The Pinnacle, a $55 million, 328-unit garden apartment complex in Germantown. The developer is also currently working on Arora Hills, another 1330-unit “neo-traditional” planned community in Clarksburg, with Beazer Homes and NVR.
6 comments:
Why are we still designing sprawly neighborhoods with no interconnected street grid? We really don't need more suburbia.
But yet no one Complains about the Sprawling Development in Eastern Loudon County and Fairfax County.
again why dont they rebuild some of the decaying suburbs around silver spring/tacoma park instead of making more sprawl
@ Akil
Maybe because Silver Spring and Takoma Park are not in PG County
Akil said...
again why dont they rebuild some of the decaying suburbs around silver spring/tacoma park instead of making more sprawl
RE: Been there done that; The End Resulted in two Words: Historic Preservation.
Fairfax County and Loudon County continues to make Sprawling Development, but no one is confronting them on that.
Que, from my understanding this new development isnt going to be in PG so I dont get your point
Post a Comment
Commercial ads will be deleted, so don't even think about it.