Why do they allow all the tear downs in Bethesda?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lived in a tiny Bethesda split level for a decade. Amazingly it hasn’t been torn down but it’s a matter of time and it will not be a loss. It was not cute or charming. We moved rather than rebuild.

If someone rebuilds it’s unlikely they will put more people in the house. Families are getting smaller not larger. I live in sumner now and the houses were built to accommodate catholic families with 5-6 kids. Very few, if any, families in our neighborhood are that large now.

Split levels were an unfortunate invention, that is true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county LOVES these hideous monstrosities as the county does get more in taxes. Bethesda gets nothing but reduced quality of life.

Also benefitting - local realtors and builders getting rich off of these high priced sales and pocketing it all. Other Nethesda residents , again, get nothing but a reduced quality of life.

Now when people, especially older residents, are looking for a small house there aren’t any because the builders have bought them all.

Please explain how a larger house on your street gives you a "reduced quality of life."

New poster - but there used to be attractive brick homes to see walking down the street and now there are hideous beige monstrosities with haphazard triangles all over them for ‘style’. The trees and yards are gone and instead there is a big beige box. Many of the new residents come home & you never see them after they drive into their garage & the door goes down - that has changed the character of the neighborhood. The people that live in those homes often leave after just a few years to ‘trade up’ homes which is also different.

To clarify - the front of the house has the triangles all over it , the rest of the House is just a giant beige box. Because, you know, you only need ‘style’ in the front.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who is the “they” in your question? Bethesda is just a geographic area. There is no Bethesda government. Some neighborhoods do have covenants that prohibit tear downs. But the housing stock is pretty old. Some of these houses need to be torn down.

"They" is MoCo government.

"They" have the power to impose housing regulations.

For the most part, they do not.

Hence: Teardowns, McMansions, and socioeconomic segregation.

RE old housing stock needing to be torn down, those who live in charming towns and villages in e.g. New England would beg to differ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county LOVES these hideous monstrosities as the county does get more in taxes. Bethesda gets nothing but reduced quality of life.

Also benefitting - local realtors and builders getting rich off of these high priced sales and pocketing it all. Other Nethesda residents , again, get nothing but a reduced quality of life.

Now when people, especially older residents, are looking for a small house there aren’t any because the builders have bought them all.

Please explain how a larger house on your street gives you a "reduced quality of life."

New poster - but there used to be attractive brick homes to see walking down the street and now there are hideous beige monstrosities with haphazard triangles all over them for ‘style’. The trees and yards are gone and instead there is a big beige box. Many of the new residents come home & you never see them after they drive into their garage & the door goes down - that has changed the character of the neighborhood. The people that live in those homes often leave after just a few years to ‘trade up’ homes which is also different.

So, the impact the *house* has on your "quality of life" is that you don't like the way it looks as you walk down the street. You prefer the "attractive brick homes" of yesteryear. (The fact that the people don't comport with your definition of friendly, or move after a few years, has nothing to do with the type of house that is built.)

I would submit that if the appearance of your neighbor's house truly impacts your quality of life, you either (i) lead a pretty charmed life and are looking for something to complaint about, or (ii) are oversensitive to the point that medical intervention may be beneficial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who is the “they” in your question? Bethesda is just a geographic area. There is no Bethesda government. Some neighborhoods do have covenants that prohibit tear downs. But the housing stock is pretty old. Some of these houses need to be torn down.

"They" is MoCo government.

"They" have the power to impose housing regulations.

For the most part, they do not.

Hence: Teardowns, McMansions, and socioeconomic segregation.

RE old housing stock needing to be torn down, those who live in charming towns and villages in e.g. New England would beg to differ.

NP. That is the person you quoted's point. Bethesda does not have a government, or historic district like Rockville, Gaithersburg, Frederick and other towns have. The county is the only point of regulations and they do not care if there is a charming home is being destroyed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who is the “they” in your question? Bethesda is just a geographic area. There is no Bethesda government. Some neighborhoods do have covenants that prohibit tear downs. But the housing stock is pretty old. Some of these houses need to be torn down.

"They" is MoCo government.

"They" have the power to impose housing regulations.

For the most part, they do not.

Hence: Teardowns, McMansions, and socioeconomic segregation.

RE old housing stock needing to be torn down, those who live in charming towns and villages in e.g. New England would beg to differ.

NP. That is the person you quoted's point. Bethesda does not have a government, or historic district like Rockville, Gaithersburg, Frederick and other towns have. The county is the only point of regulations and they do not care if there is a charming home is being destroyed.

PP, it sounds like you need to live in DC, in a historic preservation district, where aesthetics is controlled by a quasi-government board. But if you stay in Bethesda, please get it through your thick skull that one person's "charming home" is another person's outdated eyesore that is not well suited for modern life. You do not get to dictate aesthetic preferences to your neighbors. If you like the houses so much, buy them, keep them as is and rent them out.

[Anonymous]

Although it wasn't always true, these days Bethesda is a place that attracts people with little imagination. That's why it's the McMansion capital of MD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county LOVES these hideous monstrosities as the county does get more in taxes. Bethesda gets nothing but reduced quality of life.

Also benefitting - local realtors and builders getting rich off of these high priced sales and pocketing it all. Other Nethesda residents , again, get nothing but a reduced quality of life.

Now when people, especially older residents, are looking for a small house there aren’t any because the builders have bought them all.

Please explain how a larger house on your street gives you a "reduced quality of life."

Well, if you have a house that's built almost entirely over the lot (which many of these McMansions do), it reduces privacy for all involved because your neighbor is literally on top of you. Plus it looks ugly. McMansions are often taller which changes the character of the neighborhood. McMansions shouldn't be on 5.5K lots. It's just disproportionate and ugly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of the housing stock in Bethesda is not that "charming". There are also plenty of young families in these tear downs, these neighborhoods are filled with kids. People have money here (or their families do and are willing to help on down payments). I agree that some of the new mcmansions are terrible, but many times, the homes they are replacing were not that great to begin with. I think it is better growth and development policy to encourage people to teardown rather than take build new in green space in the outer burbs.

+1

+2

People live differently nowadays, and there are only so many additions one can make before the additions no longer make sense. As other PP stated, it is cheaper, in the long run, to knock down the old house and build proper space for today's way of life. You are paying for the land. There are plenty of areas of the country where the old houses are large, beautiful and useful - but the D.C. area is not it.

3rd. I live in one in McLean and trust me, these were not build like a Vanderbilt mansion in Rode Island, they were also bad quality made with cheap materials. The old and quality houses are in NY area, even in Baltimore not in DC. These houses are past their useful life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who is the “they” in your question? Bethesda is just a geographic area. There is no Bethesda government. Some neighborhoods do have covenants that prohibit tear downs. But the housing stock is pretty old. Some of these houses need to be torn down.

"They" is MoCo government.

"They" have the power to impose housing regulations.

For the most part, they do not.

Hence: Teardowns, McMansions, and socioeconomic segregation.

RE old housing stock needing to be torn down, those who live in charming towns and villages in e.g. New England would beg to differ.

NP. That is the person you quoted's point. Bethesda does not have a government, or historic district like Rockville, Gaithersburg, Frederick and other towns have. The county is the only point of regulations and they do not care if there is a charming home is being destroyed.

PP, it sounds like you need to live in DC, in a historic preservation district, where aesthetics is controlled by a quasi-government board. But if you stay in Bethesda, please get it through your thick skull that one person's "charming home" is another person's outdated eyesore that is not well suited for modern life. You do not get to dictate aesthetic preferences to your neighbors. If you like the houses so much, buy them, keep them as is and rent them out.

You have issues, and are replying to multiple people. I did not stay in Bethesda. It's an ugly area with too many people (who mainly have attitudes like yours).

"well suited for modern life"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who is the “they” in your question? Bethesda is just a geographic area. There is no Bethesda government. Some neighborhoods do have covenants that prohibit tear downs. But the housing stock is pretty old. Some of these houses need to be torn down.

"They" is MoCo government.

"They" have the power to impose housing regulations.

For the most part, they do not.

Hence: Teardowns, McMansions, and socioeconomic segregation.

RE old housing stock needing to be torn down, those who live in charming towns and villages in e.g. New England would beg to differ.

MoCo would either have to declare the area a historic district, or downzone the parcels to limit FAR, change setbacks, etc (since existing zoning allows mcmansion sized houses). The latter, IIUC, would require monetary compensation for lost value, and MoCo is just not going to spend money that way (and few other local jurisdictions would). An historic district would limit lots of things homeowners want to do with their houses, and is unlikely even if a case could be made for the area being historic.

The other way to prevent Mcmansions, paradoxically, would be to UPZONE to allow townhomes, which in a place close to metro would likely pencil out better for developers than Mcmansions do Iand better at countering SES segregation, put more households close to transit, etc) , but AFAICT the very neighbors who don't like the mcmansions, often do not like TH's either.

[Anonymous]

I like charming homes. I own a little beach bungalow in a small town in the Northeast. The town next to it is a Bethesda type place, my town is a big pain in the ass to build. First resident only parking one car per house on street. Want to build good luck no parking allowed. We also have a three story height restriction, we also banned new commercial properties and new multifamily housing in 1985.

In 1985 condos, apartment buildings, commercial properties were built like crazy in town next to us. My town 33 years later homes sell for a lot more. We have the access to their amenities with none of headaches.

Bethesda will end up this way. So popular folks won't want to live there. In Manhattan no one wants to rent in Times Square same concept. Too busy and annoying to live there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county LOVES these hideous monstrosities as the county does get more in taxes. Bethesda gets nothing but reduced quality of life.

Also benefitting - local realtors and builders getting rich off of these high priced sales and pocketing it all. Other Nethesda residents , again, get nothing but a reduced quality of life.

Now when people, especially older residents, are looking for a small house there aren’t any because the builders have bought them all.

Please explain how a larger house on your street gives you a "reduced quality of life."

Please explain how townhouses on your street reduces your quality of life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of the housing stock in Bethesda is not that "charming". There are also plenty of young families in these tear downs, these neighborhoods are filled with kids. People have money here (or their families do and are willing to help on down payments). I agree that some of the new mcmansions are terrible, but many times, the homes they are replacing were not that great to begin with. I think it is better growth and development policy to encourage people to teardown rather than take build new in green space in the outer burbs.

If you are worried about pushing people to the outer suburbs, shouldn't you support upzoning the parcels to allow THs? Having more units on them would keep more people closer in, closer to transit, etc - and people moving to THs are more likely AFAIK to be transit users than McMansion residents, and less likely to be wealthy (even new large luxury THs)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like charming homes. I own a little beach bungalow in a small town in the Northeast. The town next to it is a Bethesda type place, my town is a big pain in the ass to build. First resident only parking one car per house on street. Want to build good luck no parking allowed. We also have a three story height restriction, we also banned new commercial properties and new multifamily housing in 1985.

In 1985 condos, apartment buildings, commercial properties were built like crazy in town next to us. My town 33 years later homes sell for a lot more. We have the access to their amenities with none of headaches.

Bethesda will end up this way. So popular folks won't want to live there. In Manhattan no one wants to rent in Times Square same concept. Too busy and annoying to live there.

You win the Yogi Berra award. Do you know what units in TS in NY rent for?