CITY OF ROCKVILLE PLANNING DIVISION

STAFF REPORT

June 30, 1999

SUBJECT:

Use  Permit Application USE98-0581 ­ Wintergreen Shopping Center

            Applicant:                                 Joseph A. Lynott, P.A., Attorney for

                                                            Rockville Pike Joint Venture Limited Partnership

                                                            51 Monroe Street, Suite 701

                                                            Rockville, Maryland  20850

            Date Filed:                                February 20, 1998

            Property Location:                    855 Rockville Pike

REQUEST:

The applicant seeks Use Permit approval for the reconstruction of existing retail/restaurant space for use as a grocery store.

PREVIOUS RELATED ACTION:

STAFF RECOMMENDATION:

Approval, subject to the following conditions:

ANALYSIS:

Property Description:

This application involves the property known as the Wintergreen Shopping Center, located at the northwest corner of Rockville Pike (MD Route 355) and West Edmonston Drive.  The property was originally developed in 197____ after the property was rezoned from R-_____ to C-2.  This property as well as many others along Rockville Pike was rezoned to RPC, Rockville Pike Commercial, in 1987.  The 425,355 square foot lot was recorded at the time it was developed with the four buildings that stand today.  The two main buildings form a “U” shape around the side and rear property lines.  These buildings contain a mix of retail, restaurant and commercial uses.  Two smaller, but prominent restaurant buildings are located in the open end of the “U” along Rockville Pike. 

The site is bounded by Rockville Pike on the east, with a gasoline service station and various retail buildings across the road.  Congressional Oldsmobile/Mazda is located to the north.  A bank building, parking for the Tenley Building, a multi-tenant office building and apartments located in the Woodmont _______ complex are located to the south.  Wootton Parkway and houses within the Hungerford subdivision are located to the west.

Development Proposal:

The applicant proposes to demolish the southernmost portion of the main building and reconfigure the main parking area.  Reconstruction plans are limited to the southernmost portion of the main building.  The proposal includes plans to demolish the former Circuit City tenant space as well as the retail/restaurant spaces on the end of the building and, within the same basic footprint, construct a grocery store tenant space.  The slight increase in square footage will result in 4,916 square feet being added to the site, for a total of 150,640 square feet of gross floor area.

The proposed development plans include the following mix of uses (Gross Floor Area):

            General Retail

            Restaurant

            Total:

The height limit for base level development in the RPC Zone is 35 feet.

Parking Analysis:

The parking standard for shopping centers over 150,00 square feet in size requires one space for every 250 square feet of gross leasable area for all retail and offices uses, and includes a limit of fifteen percent of the total square footage for restaurant uses.  Any restaurant uses exceeding that percentage are required to provide additional parking.  For the proposed 150,640 square feet, six hundred and three parking spaces are required.  Additional parking above that amount is not required because the total proposed restaurant square footage is _________ for a total of _______ percent of the center.  Of the 604 proposed spaces, twelve are reserved for the disabled.

Public Right-of-Way Improvements:

Two areas of the Zoning Ordinance and the Rockville Pike Corridor Plan that this proposal does not address are the streetscape and undergrounding of utilities requirements.

Current streetscape design standards include a berm along the curb edge of the frontage and the sidewalk away from the street on the other side of the berm.  The existing berm is the reverse of  current design criteria.  For a couple of reasons, staff finds that it is not desirable to change the current configuration. The block is relatively short and is made up of three separate properties, with this one located in the middle.  To change just the middle of the block and transition it back to meet the narrow bank frontage as well as destroy an existing berm that is mature and well cared would tend to create an effect that is detrimental rather than an improvement to the Rockville Pike streetscape. 

The undergrounding of utilities has not been included as an amenity as part of the redevelopment package.  Because this project does not include a building footprint significantly different from what is already within the center and in effect only amounts to a 4,916 square foot addition, staff recommends that undergrounding of utilities not be required at this time.

Traffic Analysis:

As required for all applications that generate over a 100 additional peak hour trips, a traffic analysis was submitted and reviewed.  Attached is a comprehensive report prepared by the Transportation Planner that summarizes the traffic analysis as well as  addresses the traffic and transportation issues (Attachment I).  The State Highway Administration also commented on the proposal and offered its comments (Attachment II).  Separate areas of concern and possible mitigations were suggested.  It seems that the most compelling negative impact will be upon the W. Edmonston Drive/Rockville Pike intersection.  As a result, __________________________________

Forest/Tree Preservation and Landscaping:

The City Forester has approved the Forest Stand Delineation for this site.  The parking area redesign will require the removal of most of the trees currently within the parking lot.  A Forest Conservation Plan must be submitted that indicates where new trees will be planted to compensate for the removed trees and how trees adjacent to any construction or construction traffic will be protected during construction.

Conclusion:

At the time that the original shopping center was developed, the plans included tenant space for a grocery store.  Over the years, a couple of grocery store chains occupied the space but on both cases the tenancies were short lived.  Whatever, the reason for the failure of those ventures, it seems that site can accommodate a grocery store.  The site, however, has never functioned well with the narrow drive aisles and compact parking spaces.  This proposal essentially eliminates that problem. 

Concerns have been raised about the close proximity of the grocery store to the W. Edmonston Drive driveway.  The pick-up lane is located on the end of the tenant space farthest away from the driveway.  At that location, it provides patrons with the ability to turn onto three perpendicular drive aisles as well as the drive aisle that accesses the rear of the shopping center before being encountering the W. Edmonston driveway.  Eliminating the current stop sign at the corner of the building will also serve to keep traffic moving on this main thoroughfare.