First the backstory. The Ourisman Honda dealership located along the Capital Crescent Trail in Bethesda began a construction project last year that included a new garage.
The disagreement over the garage dates from last year, when a resident filed a complaint with the county about how close the steel-frame garage sits to the trail. Officials say the garage’s steel columns stand inside the county’s 10-foot-wide easement, which runs parallel to the trail. The county in November ordered a halt to construction on the structure, and since then, officials and business owners have been sorting through legal complexities stretching back decades.
So, it's likely that Ourisman has made a big mistake and built onto property that the county owns. The "easiest" solution would be for them to tear it all down and rebuild it on land they all own. But this would also be the most expensive with almost all that expense being wasted. Ourisman would be out a lot of money and the County would be no better off. And it won't be that easy, because Ourisman will fight it in court. So then both Ourisman and the County will lose more money and the county might lose the land. What if there were a way for Ourisman to spend less money and for the County to be better off? That's what's being negotiated now.
The board gave its blessing to a proposed deal worked out between the county and the car dealership: Ourisman Honda could keep the three-level garage expansion it started constructing last year, even though the structure overlaps onto the trail’s right-of-way. In exchange, the business across would have to provide a public plaza at Bethesda Avenue and widen the trail from 14 to 16 feet along its property line.
Chairman Casey Anderson urged the dealership to view the garage wall facing the trail as a blank canvas rather than an eyesore and suggested it could become a mural or other form of public art.
I feel pretty confident that this solution meets that minimum requirement - Ourisman spends less and the trail is made better. But it's a good question - and one I can't answer - as to whether or not the County is letting them off easy. Could they squeeze more out of Ourisman? I suspect they could, but I don't know how long it would take and how much man power it would require.
I feel like this resembles the best deal and that lemonade is definitely being made here. Is it enough lemonade? Is it sweet enough? I don't know. But I sure would go for a tunnel from the south side of Bethesda to the future tunnel on the east side of Woodmont though.
Hopefully the deal also includes some kind of guarantee/statement saying the land Ourisman built on returns to the trail when the garage is torn down.
But yeah, this seems like a win-win for both sides. Making them tear down the garage and rebuild it would have been an expensive fight for little gain.
Also, did the "Friends" of the Capital Crescent Trail have anything to say, ever, on this matter? No? Shocking!
Posted by: MLD | August 01, 2017 at 02:52 PM
I gave up on the "Friends" when they endorsed "safety improvements" that the county made a few years ago that included speed limits for cyclists. As far as I could tell the changes did nothing for safety and only inconvenienced cyclists.
Posted by: contrarian | August 02, 2017 at 10:02 AM
Are you talking about "FOTCC" or the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail?
Posted by: washcycle | August 02, 2017 at 10:30 AM
I'm talking about "FOTCCT", the anti-transit group of Chevy Chase residents masquerading as a "save the trail" group. For some reason the Purple Line seems to be the only issue surrounding the trail that they actually care about.
Posted by: MLD | August 02, 2017 at 12:58 PM
Oh sorry, I was asking contrarian. I think CCCT supported the speed limit, while FOCCT are unaware that the trail goes west of Wisconsin Avenue.
Posted by: washcycle | August 02, 2017 at 01:03 PM
AFAICT, Maryland exists solely to make Virginia and DC feel better about their bike infrastructure. Even when they have a good thing, they manage to eff it up and allow a car dealership, of all things, to build a parking garage on top of it.* And leave it there. Don't let me get started about the Bethesda tunnel/detour.
No, I'm not still bitter about the Cross-County Connector bike trail being tossed because of environmental considerations, why?
*Admitted hyperbole.
Posted by: DE | August 02, 2017 at 01:24 PM
You're right, I was confusing Friends with CCCT.
Posted by: contrarian | August 02, 2017 at 11:47 PM