Reply to Why do they allow all the tear downs in Bethesda?

Forum Index » Real Estate

Reply to "Why do they allow all the tear downs in Bethesda?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]Bethesda resident who bought a house and tore it down. Lots of misinformation in this thread.

Development is BY RIGHT, like in DC and most other parts of the country. What this means is the County doesn't arbitarily enforce regulations like denying a permit because it doesn't "fit" into the neighborhood.

MC DPS (permitting office) enforces the existing regulations down to the inch. In Bethesda, they almost never grant variances (exceptions) either. You'll know when one is granted because you'll see a huge white sign posted about the hearing date, and notice you very rarely see those. I think they still have one hanging in front of the house by the Exxon on Goldbsboro Road (the house where some famous actress used to live). Notice that's been sitting there for years empty -- they need a variance to build and they can't get it.

Most parts of Bethesda are zoned R-90 (90 foot setback) and MC DPS won't let you violate that. They will check. Same with side and rear lot line setbacks. It may seem close, but it's within the zoning.

Also the new houses increase taxes because property taxes are based on assessed value, and the new houses assess higher.

We have an 8,000 sq/ft house and our energy bills are about the same as my friend's house who lives a few blocks away in a 1950's house of 2,000 sq/ft, depending on the month. New houses are  much more energy effiicient since we've learned a lot more about energy efficiency in the past 60 years.

The reason houses are built so big is economics. The land in Bethesda is so expensive, so  a lot along is going to be $800k+ (see the link to the house on Radnor Road posted earlier in the thread). So if you buy a lot for $800k, and spend $500k on a new house, you'll be building a small house of 2,000 sq/ft and low-end finishes. Not many people want to pay $1.3mln for a small house with cheap finishes. Instead, they'll pay $1.8mln for a larger house with better finishes. If the lot costs were only $200k, the situation would be much different.

As for trends, I don't see Bethesda going downhill any time soon price-wise. All this development is being done due to demand. The location is good in terms of being near Metro, highways, airports, and major population centers. The schools are some of the best in MoCo also.

Regarding environmental impact, the new houses, unlike old houses grandfathered in, are faced with strict stormwater rules such that no stormwater can be fed into the sewer system -- it goes into dry wells instead. There's also a rain tax based on non-permeable property area, and a tree tax if fewer than X trees (based on lot size) are there. I believe the tree tax is used to plant trees elsewhere for those who want them, but not sure what happens to the rain tax.
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics