No Parking: Zoning Commission Approves The Bond at Tenley

• January 15th 2013

by Shilpi Paul

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The Zoning Commission unanimously supported plans for a 60-unit residential project with ground floor retail on Monday night, according to a tweet from Ward3Vision.

The Bond at Tenley, which will be developed on the space formerly occupied by Babe’s Billiards at 4600 Wisconsin Avenue NW (map), is particularly notable because the developers are not building any parking with the development. As we reported last year, developer Douglas Development aimed to mitigate neighborhood residents’ fears by arranging for rental parking at a nearby garage with empty spaces, as well as set up those who moved into the building with a one-year subscription to Capital Bikeshare and Zipcar, and a $50 Metro card.

While Douglas needed to go through a series of approvals (culminating in the zoning go-ahead last night) in order to get permission to skip parking, the proposed changes to the zoning code could make buildings without parking more likely in the future. According to the current plan, several neighborhoods will no longer require a minimum number of parking spaces with each new development.

The idea behind taking away parking minimums is that without them, the market can decide how much parking is necessary. Developers will still be free to build spaces if they seem necessary, but will keep from spending money to create parking spaces that will go unused.

For The Bond at Tenley, Douglas is creating a five-story addition on the building that used to be Babe’s home, and unit sizes will range from junior one-bedrooms to two-bedrooms. They are aiming to develop the building to LEED silver specifications, with a vegetated roof and a stormwater management system.

Douglas Development’s Paul Millstein told UrbanTurf that they hope to file for permits within 5 months and start construction in about 10 months.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/zoning_commission_approves_the_bond_at_tenley/6520.