Why do they allow all the tear downs in Bethesda?

[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.

Now you want to regulate how people enter their houses or how long they stay?

[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.

We are not in New England, and there are no charming towns and villages here.

[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."

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.

Lobby the county to change the yard setbacks. New houses have to have permits. If construction is permitted, then yard setbacks are as required.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly, Bethesda needs more townhouse developments to allow for greater density and smart growth.

The whole region needs more TH developments to address "the missing middle" of housing for non wealthy, non poor families. Hard to imagine a place more suited than one with excellent transit and walkability.

Don't assume that townhouse developments are going to be at a price point for the missing middle. Look at all the EYA townhouse communities that are being built - they are in the million dollar range. The land is too expensive to build for the missing middle.

There are a lot of townhouse communities in transit adjacent or close in locations with large new THs for under 1 million - for example Cameron Park by Pulte in Alex, starting at 700k. Similar price for Mount Vineyard in downtown Fairfax. Eisenhower Square close to the Carlyle area in Alexandria from 924k.

Now maybe in Bethesda and similar they start at 1million. But by providing more 1 million dollar new THs. we relieve some of the demand for the older townhomes that exist, which are closer to the missing middle. And of course if we built a lot of new THs, the premium for land (driven by its scarcity, which in turn is driven by our inability to get enough usage out of it) might be reduced. And of course even million dollar THs are affordable to many people who cannot afford new McMansions in Bethesda, so all is relative.

[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.

We are not in New England, and there are no charming towns and villages here.

Chill. The Town of Kensington and Garrett Park beg to differ.

[Anonymous]

So we let folks tear down all the affordable homes and build overpriced McMansions. Now we need townhouses for newlyweds and young families as we tore down all the homes they could have afford.

We also have an overcrowded and underfunded school districts as large houses attract large families.

We already have nearby Potomac for folks who need oversized houses. They don't belong in densely populated areas with small plots and heavy traffic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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."

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.

Lobby the county to change the yard setbacks. New houses have to have permits. If construction is permitted, then yard setbacks are as required.

Yard setbacks, at least in Montgomery County, are averages. That is, you can have a porch jutting out into the border of your property and if the rest of the house is further back, MoCo DPS considers that fine. But the end result is that the new McMansion is now right on top of your backyard, fishbowl style. It's easy to say "lobby the county" but these things are not easy to change and are not likely to change given the influence of developers and their campaign contribution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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."

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.

Lobby the county to change the yard setbacks. New houses have to have permits. If construction is permitted, then yard setbacks are as required.

Yard setbacks, at least in Montgomery County, are averages. That is, you can have a porch jutting out into the border of your property and if the rest of the house is further back, MoCo DPS considers that fine. But the end result is that the new McMansion is now right on top of your backyard, fishbowl style. It's easy to say "lobby the county" but these things are not easy to change and are not likely to change given the influence of developers and their campaign contribution.

Then live with it. The agency that governs the setbacks is the county's permitting office, not any one person's individual taste.

[Anonymous]

When we first moved to the area we considered Bethesda because of its reputation, but after visiting we decided against it mainly because of the teardowns.

[Anonymous]

Bethesda these days is very nouveau riche

[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.

Glad places like London, Paris, Boston, Philly, etc., don't believe in this^^ kind of ignorant attitude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda these days is very nouveau riche

"These days"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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."

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.

Lobby the county to change the yard setbacks. New houses have to have permits. If construction is permitted, then yard setbacks are as required.

Yard setbacks, at least in Montgomery County, are averages. That is, you can have a porch jutting out into the border of your property and if the rest of the house is further back, MoCo DPS considers that fine. But the end result is that the new McMansion is now right on top of your backyard, fishbowl style. It's easy to say "lobby the county" but these things are not easy to change and are not likely to change given the influence of developers and their campaign contribution.

Then live with it. The agency that governs the setbacks is the county's permitting office, not any one person's individual taste.

There are few homeowners who would be happy about having a neighboring home of 1500 square feet on a 6000 square foot lot torn down to be replaced with a 5000 square foot home. It's bad for the environment, green space is lost because the new McMansion covers practically the whole lot and neighbors are unhappy to have a new house on top of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP go protest in front of this house and save it:

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Bethesda/7714-Radnor-Rd-20817/home/10646496

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we first moved to the area we considered Bethesda because of its reputation, but after visiting we decided against it mainly because of the teardowns.

bahahahahahha, have fun living in the crime infested areas