Victory Housing Proposal for Fleet Street

In 2005 Montgomery County called for proposals to develop the 3.8 acre site which it owns between Maryland Avenue, Fleet Street and Monroe Street for workforce housing. EYA (formerly Eakin Youngentob> Associates) was chosen to redevelop the property with a plan that evolved into building 44 townhouses (8 MPDUs, 16 workforce housing and 20 market rate), restoring 107 Fleet Street as a group house already on the site, and demolishing the other houses on the property. The County abandoned the plan after then Mayor Giammo and the City Council expressed concerns over the density. Eventually, the old homes lining Fleet Street were designated as “historic” and the County reevaluated their options, which has now resulted in a plan for senior housing while preserving some of the houses on the property.

On April 28, 2009 I attended an information session held by Victory Housing to learn about their plans for the “Fleet Street” property. My home in the West End sits a block away at the intersection of Monroe and East Argyle Streets, so I received a letter from the developer’s lawyer announcing the meeting. For several years I’ve been following the various plans for this property. As part of the City of Rockville planning process, Victory Housing must report the names of attendees and all comments to the City as a public record of this meeting.

Victory Housing has designed a “C-shaped”, 90-unit building with a Craftsman shingle-style design including a fountain, cupola, and front porch. As a part of the planning process, the nonprofit developer has been speaking with residents in the Courthouse Walk townhouse community, which borders the Fleet Street property. Victory Housing President, Jim Brown, said his organization has a history of meeting early and often with the community and had met about five times over the course of the last year with the adjacent neighbors in Courthouse Walk. They are now working on the “eight or ninth” version of the plan to balance their concerns.

Most of the mass of the 3-story building will be visible from Monroe Street but because the property goes downhill, the height will be 4-stories in the back. Their architect, Grimm & Parker, also designed the Rockville Library. The ends of the building would face the three-story Courthouse Walk townhomes and would be about the width of three townhouses. Fifty parking spots are planned which is more than required by Rockville but they expect independent seniors to have cars. Currently there are 82 trees on the site and although 43 will be cut down, they will be planting 103 new trees. Some 60 foot trees will be saved. Victory Housing’s intent is to use trees to block the neighbors’ views of the barracks. Since outside lighting is not permitted to shine on surrounding property, all lights will point down. The use for the homes along Maryland and Fleet Street which were designated historic has not yet been determined, but they could be a homes or home offices.

The response from community members present included such comments as: the building is too high, the building would completely change the character of the neighborhood, the people living in the historic homes will be isolated, the property should be kept as green space, too large of a proportion of the affordable housing in the City is in the West End, and the development will lower property values.

Victory Housing must apply for a special exception application to allow for the senior housing and for the height of the building to exceed 35 feet. This means there will be a Planning Commission meeting, a Board of Appeals meeting, and site approval hearings. The whole process would take about nine months.

A representative from the Department of the County’s Department of Housing and Community Affairs explained that the County owns very few pieces of land that can be developed for housing, so they would like to use it for housing.

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