The North Beach planning commission gave initial approval to three waterfront project site plans that will change the landscape of Bay Avenue.
At its meeting last Thursday night, the commission approved a plan for a convention center with guest suites, retail space and
a parking garage at the corner of Bay Avenue, 5th Street and Chesapeake Avenue. In addition, the commission approved a plan for two, five-unit townhouses on 3rd Street and Bay Avenue and an eight-unit townhouse on 5th Street behind Baywalk.
While all three plans had a few minor exceptions that did not meet zoning specifications, town Zoning Administrator John Hofmann explained that the commission has a second option in approving development projects if the developer lays out a detailed plan for review and the commission finds it compatible with the neighborhood. The commission can approve the plan with conditions and then recommend it to the town council, he said.
“It allows for some creativity, imagination,” he said, adding that it may produce “a better plan than if we strictly follow the rules.”
Both companies proposing the developments, RAR Development Associates of North Beach and Van Metre Cos. of Burke, Va., presented detailed proposals showing architectural drawings and dimensions on overhead slides, while explaining the site plans.
The North Beach Resort, a RAR proposal for a 22,000-square-foot resort with a convention center, 30 guest suites and a four-level parking garage, is half the size of RAR’s proposed resort years ago, said Bobby Russo, owner Ron Russo’s wife, who said she was talking on behalf of her husband because he was laid up in the hospital due to injuries he sustained from a fall while working two weeks ago.
His daughter, Elena Russo, said that the year-round center could be used for business seminars, weddings and performing arts and has an open floor plan that can be adapted. The resort will attract tourists and it will put North Beach on the map in the Washington, D.C., area, she said. The first level also will include mixed-use retail space with the intent to have restaurants rent the space.
Ron’s son, Mark Russo told the commission that RAR also plans on helping to market the resort, saying that they have plans to create a website and link to social media sites to draw people to North Beach.
“I’m as enthusiastic about this as any project I’ve done before,” said Ron Russo, who was waiting to be discharged from the hospital on Tuesday. He said the project is at a manageable scale and will bring an economic boost to the town. Van Metre and RAR worked together all winter on the projects to make them compatible, Ron Russo said.
With the development being in the Chesapeake Bay critical area and flood zone, an engineer addressed environmental issues, saying that they have reduced impervious surface areas, included landscaping and have incorporated a rain garden for each of the units in the design, “which helps with the pollution reduction.”
A few at the meeting said that they thought the project was too dense for the area and questioned the noise that will be generated from vendors servicing the restaurants. It was noted that the action by the commission was for the concept and that other issues would be addressed in the category one site plan that will be required later.
Commission members also questioned whether the number of parking spaces in the garage was enough, and Hofmann said he felt comfortable with the 212 spaces proposed. Commission member John Pauls motioned to accept the plan on the condition that the town consummate the agreement that the town will operate the parking garage, and Mayor Mark Frazer, who was present, nodded that that was the town’s intention.
Van Metre’s two townhouse projects also met approval with a few conditions, one being that the plan needed to indicate that all garages were only for vehicle parking use.
Roy Barnett of Van Metre introduced the designs of the projects, which will include landscaping with mature trees and balconies in the front. A larger condominium project was approved a few years ago for 3rd Street and Bay Avenue, but the permit has expired, and Barnett said that this design is only three stories with 30-foot-high eaves and the peaks of the roof from 37 to 38 feet high, and detached garages in the rear.
“We wanted to reduce the intensity of the use on the property,” he said.
Hofmann advocated for the new design and other residents present commented that they liked the design of the townhouses.
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Story written by Carol Harvat
Submitted photo The North Beach Resort site plan for a convention center on the corner of 5th Street and Bay Avenue, which was presented by RAR Development Associates to the North Beach Planning Commission