Executive Director’s Recommendation Commission Meeting: May 7, 2015 PROJECT Aboveground Parking Garage (MILCON P116) Naval Support Activity Bethesda 8901 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Montgomery County, Maryland SUBMITTED BY United States Department of Defense Department of the Navy REVIEW AUTHORITY Advisory per 40 U.S.C. § 8722(b)(1) NCPC FILE NUMBER 7666 NCPC MAP FILE NUMBER 3101.00(38.00)44128 APPLICANT’S REQUEST Preliminary and final approval of site and building plans PROPOSED ACTION Approve with comments ACTION ITEM TYPE Consent Calendar PROJECT SUMMARY The Department of the Navy has submitted preliminary and final site and building plans for a new aboveground parking garage at the Naval Support Activity Bethesda (NSAB). The project is for the construction of an approximately 243,750-square-foot garage to accommodate 650 vehicles. The garage will be located at the existing H-Lot parking area on Stokes Road within the installation between the existing Navy Lodge to the east and the Child Development Center and bowling alley to the west. The site contains an existing asphalt surface parking lot of approximately 0.77 acres. A small, temporary-built, pharmacy building is also located at the site and will be demolished as part of the project and not replaced. The proposed parking garage will be approximately 254 feet long by 156 feet wide. Primary vehicle access will be from Stokes Road within the installation into the north face of the garage; this access will include three lanes—one entrance, one exit, and one a reversible. A secondary road will be west and south of the proposed garage and tie-in with the adjacent bowling alley rear access, the Child Development Center access road, and the Navy Lodge parking lot. Entrance and exit lanes into the west side of the garage will be provided from this secondary road and another 45 surface parking spaces, to replace existing surface parking spaces at the site, will also be accessed from this secondary road. KEY INFORMATION • The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 called for the development of a Comprehensive Master Plan to provide sufficient world-class military medical facilities and an integrated system of healthcare delivery for the National Capital Region. The proposed parking garage supports the mission identified in this master plan for the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) by providing additional parking for WRNMMC visitors and patients.
Transcript
Executive Director’s Recommendation Commission Meeting: May 7, 2015
PROJECT Aboveground Parking Garage (MILCON P116) Naval Support Activity Bethesda 8901 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Montgomery County, Maryland SUBMITTED BY United States Department of Defense Department of the Navy REVIEW AUTHORITY Advisory per 40 U.S.C. § 8722(b)(1)
NCPC FILE NUMBER 7666 NCPC MAP FILE NUMBER 3101.00(38.00)44128 APPLICANT’S REQUEST Preliminary and final approval of site and building plans PROPOSED ACTION Approve with comments ACTION ITEM TYPE Consent Calendar
PROJECT SUMMARY The Department of the Navy has submitted preliminary and final site and building plans for a new aboveground parking garage at the Naval Support Activity Bethesda (NSAB). The project is for the construction of an approximately 243,750-square-foot garage to accommodate 650 vehicles. The garage will be located at the existing H-Lot parking area on Stokes Road within the installation between the existing Navy Lodge to the east and the Child Development Center and bowling alley to the west. The site contains an existing asphalt surface parking lot of approximately 0.77 acres. A small, temporary-built, pharmacy building is also located at the site and will be demolished as part of the project and not replaced. The proposed parking garage will be approximately 254 feet long by 156 feet wide. Primary vehicle access will be from Stokes Road within the installation into the north face of the garage; this access will include three lanes—one entrance, one exit, and one a reversible. A secondary road will be west and south of the proposed garage and tie-in with the adjacent bowling alley rear access, the Child Development Center access road, and the Navy Lodge parking lot. Entrance and exit lanes into the west side of the garage will be provided from this secondary road and another 45 surface parking spaces, to replace existing surface parking spaces at the site, will also be accessed from this secondary road.
KEY INFORMATION
• The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 called for the development of a Comprehensive Master Plan to provide sufficient world-class military medical facilities and an integrated system of healthcare delivery for the National Capital Region. The proposed parking garage supports the mission identified in this master plan for the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) by providing additional parking for WRNMMC visitors and patients.
• The proposed aboveground parking garage at H-Lot was included in the NSAB Installation Master Plan approved on November 7, 2013, by the Commission as a guide for future reviews of individual site and building projects.
• No new parking spaces beyond those approved by the Commission when it approved the NSAB Installation Master Plan are included with the new garage; as such, the installation will maintain its approved development track to 2018 with a parking ratio of one parking space per 3.25 employees (or 1:3.25). This parking ratio conforms to the Commission’s recommended parking ratio of one parking space per 3 employees for suburban federal installations within 2,000 feet of a Metrorail station.
• The architectural expression and design details of the proposed aboveground parking garage are consistent with other recently built parking structures at the installation, with the exterior structure composed primarily of light–colored pre-cast concrete wall panels with a vertical emphasis that echoes the Art Deco styling of the WRNMMC.
• The south central location of the proposed aboveground parking garage at the installation is an area that has seen or will see a number of new construction projects adjacent to Jones Bridge Road, including three new installation gates, a new Child Development Center, and a proposed expansion of the Navy Lodge. With this new construction, the landscape that surrounds the installation and buffers its uses and visual impacts against the adjacent neighborhoods continues to be degraded in this area.
RECOMMENDATION The Commission:
Approves the preliminary and final site and development plans for the Aboveground Parking Garage at Naval Support Activity Bethesda, Montgomery County, Maryland.
Recommends that the Department of the Navy develop a comprehensive approach to maintaining and enhancing the landscaped buffer at the southern perimeter of the installation per the Landscape Framework of the Installation Master Plan to improve the installation’s environmental and visual characteristics in consideration of its residential and institutional neighbors to the south.
The Naval Support Activity Bethesda is located at 8901 Rockville Pike in Montgomery County, Maryland, just northeast of the Bethesda Central Business District. The campus is comprised of approximately 243 acres and is roughly bound on the west by Rockville Pike, on the northeast by I-495, and on the south by Jones Bridge Road. Land uses in the immediate area include the National Institutes of Health (NIH) main campus across Rockville Pike to the west, Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart and medium-density residential housing to the north, Rock Creek Park and North Chevy Chase Park to the east, and the Columbia Country Club and medium-density residential housing to the south across Jones Bridge Road. The Medical Center Metrorail station is located on the western side of Rockville Pike and serves both NSAB and NIH. The installation boundaries and immediate surroundings are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Naval Support Activity Bethesda location map (Source: Department of the Navy)
The topography of the installation includes gently sloping areas where development is concentrated, and some areas of moderately steep terrain. The installation is divided into development clusters related to medical, administrative, permanent housing, temporary housing, community services, and education. Building 1, the central tower block designed by Paul Philippe Cret in the Art Deco style, is the prime landmark structure of the installation due to its architectural distinction and association with both President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the installation’s achievements in the practice of military medicine. It is the key structure connected with the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the primary tenant at NSAB, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The WRNMMC was founded in Bethesda in 1940 as the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) and was originally composed of the Naval Hospital, the Naval Medical School, the Naval Dental School, and the Naval Medical Research Institute. Over the years many expansion and renovation projects have made it one of the largest medical facilities in the country. From the Medical Center’s inception to May 2010, the facility was called NNMC. In May 2010, the Navy changed the management of the installation from the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery to the Commander of Naval Installations Command, at which time the entire facility became NSAB. The hospital continued as NNMC until August 15, 2011, when in accordance with the 2005 Base Closure and Realignment Act (BRAC), tertiary (sub-specialty and complex care) medical services from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC were relocated to the NNMC. With the transfer and integration of these services with existing functions, the medical center was renamed the WRNMMC. WRNMMC is now the premier Department of Defense medical center offering intensive and complex specialty and subspecialty medical services for personnel from all military services and serves as the military’s worldwide tertiary referral center for casualty and beneficiary care.
Figure 2: Aerial view of Naval Support Activity Bethesda
Building 1 and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center is in the foreground. (Source: Department of the Navy; NSA Bethesda Final Installation Master Plan, October 2013, p. 17)
With this distinction for WRNMMC, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 called for the development of a Comprehensive Master Plan to provide sufficient world-class military medical facilities and an integrated system of healthcare delivery for the National Capital Region. In the NDAA, Congress recognized the construction of WRNMMC (and the new Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in Virginia) as an opportunity to provide such facilities, and defined world-class as “incorporating the best practices of the premier private health facilities in the country as well as the collaborative input of military healthcare professionals into a design that supports the unique needs of military personnel and their families.” The current proposal for the aboveground parking garage supports WRNMMC’s goal of achieving distinction as a world-class military medical facility. The proposed garage will allow the Navy to move 400 existing employee parking spaces from two garages adjacent to the WRNMMC (in Buildings 54 and 55). The Navy will then designate these newly available parking spaces for use by patients and visitors to the Medical Center.
Proposal
The Department of the Navy has submitted preliminary and final site and building plans for a new aboveground parking garage at the NSAB. The project is for the construction of an approximately 243,750-square-foot above ground parking garage to accommodate 650 vehicles. The garage will be located at the existing H-Lot parking area on Stokes Road between the existing Navy Lodge, Child Development Center (CDC), and bowling alley. The site contains an existing asphalt surface parking lot of approximately 0.77 acres with approximately 164 parking spaces; it also houses a small, temporary-built, pharmacy building. The pharmacy building will be demolished as part of the project and not replaced. The proposed parking garage will be approximately 254 feet long by 156 feet wide and oriented to the northwest. Primary vehicle access will be from Stokes Road into the north face of the garage and include three access lanes—one entrance, one exit, and one reversible. A secondary road will be west and south of the proposed garage and tie-in with the adjacent bowling alley rear access, the Child Development Center access road, and the Navy Lodge parking lot. Entrance and exit lanes into the west side of the garage will be provided from this secondary road and another 45 surface parking spaces, to replace existing surface parking spaces at the site, will also be accessed from this secondary road. Pedestrian access will be provided by stair towers in the northwest and southwest corners of the parking garage. Elevators will be located adjacent to the northwest stair tower. Sidewalks will tie the stair towers into the existing site and will include crosswalk markings at roadway crossings. Sidewalks will be reconfigured for the Navy Lodge to accommodate the parking garage and new at-grade parking.
Figure 3: NSAB Installation Master Plan – Figure 5-2 Future Building Development Plan
(Source: Department of the Navy; NSA Bethesda Final Installation Master Plan, October 2013, p. 119)
Three segmental retaining walls will be used on the site. One wall will be constructed as a grade separation between the new roadway on the west side of the garage and the bowling alley. Another will be constructed to the south to separate proposed at-grade parking spaces with the existing site level near Jones Bridge Road. The third wall will be constructed near a proposed bioretention area on the southeast portion of the site.
The landscape is designed to reinforce the facility’s entry from Stokes Road and complement existing landscapes in the vicinity. A one-foot-wide inorganic rock cobble mulch setback (no vegetation) around the parking garage building will be provided. Landscape plant species and design will match or be compatible with species provided in adjacent areas of the site. Due to proximity to the CDC, landscape species for the proposed parking garage will be specifically selected to be suitable for children and will include only plants that are non-toxic / non-poisonous and that do not contain thorns, spikes, sharp foliage, or toxic seeds or fruits. Five mico-bioretention filters are planned with plants and a soil mix designed in accordance with the Maryland State Best Management Practices (BMP) Design Manual. Overall, a one-to-one replacement of existing trees at the site is proposed. Land disturbance for the proposed garage is approximately 109,720 square feet of what is currently surface parking areas and maintained landscaping. The site does not fall in a 100-year floodplain or delineated wetlands, and therefore is not be anticipated to adversely impact floodplains or wetlands at NSAB. Stormwater management will be configured to meet Maryland Department of the Environment as well as EISA 438 Regulations. Stormwater will be collected to the maximum extent feasible within the site and directed to the five micro-bioretention filters mentioned above, which are planned to be located north of the bowling alley, north of the parking garage, to the east of the garage, and on the southeast portion of the site. For construction, an erosion and sediment control plan will be submitted to the Maryland Department of the Environment for permitting.
Figure 6: Landscape Plan (Source: Department of the Navy)
Construction is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2015; the project cost is approximately $15,835,000.00 and it is fully funded.
II. PROJECT ANALYSIS/CONFORMANCE
Executive Summary / Analysis
The Department of the Navy has designed the aboveground parking garage at H-Lot in a manner that supports the mission of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and that is in conformance with the approved Naval Support Activity Bethesda Installation Master Plan. The design of the garage also respects the installation’s historic resources and continues the Art Deco design features that are prevalent within the nearby medical center campus and National Naval Medical Center Historic District. As such, staff recommends that the Commission approve the preliminary and final site and development plans for the Aboveground Parking Garage at NSAB, with an additional comment as described below. As previously noted, the proposed garage at H-Lot was included in the NSAB 2013 Installation Master Plan approved by the Commission on November 7, 2013, as a guide for future reviews of individual site and building projects. The master plan calls for a new 500-space garage to be constructed at H-Lot, this includes 400 new spaces and 100 spaces to replace existing surface parking at H-Lot. (Construction of the proposed garage will allow the Navy, per the master plan, to move 400 existing employee parking spaces from two garages adjacent to the WRNMMC—in Buildings 54 and 55. The Navy will then designate these newly available parking spaces in Buildings 54 and 55 for use by patients and visitors to the medical center.) During the advancement of the H-Lot garage program, the Navy determined for development efficiencies to add another 150 new parking spaces to the planned 500-space garage. The Navy proposes to take these additional 150 parking spaces from a second garage approved in the Installation Master Plan for the University Expansion project at a site near to H-Lot (designated location “2A/2B” on Figure 3 above). This will, in effect, reduce the available new parking spaces approved in the master plan for the University Expansion from 400 to 250). As such, although the proposed garage at H-Lot is 150 parking spaces larger than that approved within the Installation Master Plan, no new parking spaces beyond those approved by the Commission are included with the new garage; NSAB continues to maintain the Installation Master Plan’s development track to 2018 with a parking ratio of one parking space per 3.25 employees (1:3.25). Further, the architectural expression and design details of the proposed aboveground parking garage are consistent with other recently built parking structures at the installation, with the exterior structure composed primarily of light–colored pre-cast concrete wall panels with a vertical emphasis that echoes the Art Deco styling of the WRNMMC.1
1 At it’s July 2010 meeting, the Commission approved a 1,220-space parking garage with similar styling and materials as this current garage proposal (see NCPC File No: 7123); that garage is now constructed approximately 500 feet north of this proposed garage site.
The south central location of the proposed aboveground parking garage at the installation is an area that has seen or will see a number of new construction projects adjacent to Jones Bridge Road, including three new installation gates, a new Child Development Center, and a proposed expansion of the Navy Lodge. With this new construction, the landscape that surrounds the installation and buffers its uses and visual impacts against the adjacent neighborhood to the south continues to be degraded. The Installation Master Plan’s Landscape Framework plan proposes that landscape design guidelines contained in the Installation’s Appearance Plan for Natural/Naturalized Woodlands be applied to the landscape buffer at the southern perimeter of the installation in consideration of the installation’s residential and institutional neighbors. As such, staff recommends that the Commission recommend that the Navy develop a comprehensive approach to maintaining and enhancing the landscaped buffer at the southern perimeter of the installation per the Landscape Framework of the Installation Master Plan to improve the installation’s environmental and visual characteristics in consideration of its residential and institutional neighbors to the south.
Comprehensive Plan for the National Capital
The proposed aboveground parking garage at H-Lot at Naval Support Activity Bethesda replaces existing parking and provides new parking to support the mission of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The project does not modify existing land use patterns at the NSAB. As such, the project is not inconsistent with the policies of the Comprehensive Plan for the National Capital.
Relevant Federal Facility Master Plan
The proposed aboveground parking garage at H-Lot at Naval Support Activity Bethesda is included in the 2013 Installation Master Plan, approved by the Commission on November 7, 2013. The scope of the project has been expanded to include 150 parking spaces approved within the master plan for the University expansion project—effectively reducing the approved number of parking spaces for that project from 400 to 250 spaces. The project is included in the 2013 Transportation Management Plan (TMP) for NSAB that was approved at the November 2013 Commission meeting in conjunction with the Installation Master Plan. Development of the project is consistent with the 2013 TMP parking projections and NSAB will continue to meet a planned parking ratio of one parking space per 3.25 employees in 2018.
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
The proposed aboveground parking garage at H-Lot at Naval Support Activity Bethesda was included in the Medical Facilities Development and University Expansion Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) at NSAB, for which the Record of Decision (ROD) was signed by the Navy on August 29, 2013. This parking garage was analyzed in the EIS as one of two parking garages totaling 900 parking spaces. During subsequent design development, the H-Lot garage capacity was increased from 500 to 650 parking spaces. The additional capacity was taken from the second of the two garages analyzed in the EIS to ensure no net change in the impacts as identified in the 2013 ROD and TMP. The proposed access pathways for these two garages are the same; therefore, no
localized change in transportation patterns relative to the 2013 EIS/ROD is anticipated. The additional 150 spaces will be accommodated within the overall garage footprint as analyzed within the EIS; as such, no direct impacts beyond those disclosed in the 2013 EIS/ROD are anticipated. NCPC does not have an independent NEPA responsibility for federal projects outside the District of Columbia.
National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA)
During development of the Installation Master Plan and associated Environmental Impact Statement for the Naval Support Activity Bethesda, the Navy consulted with the Maryland Historic Trust (MHT), as the Maryland State Historic Preservation Office. The MHT, in a letter dated January 16, 2013, noted that many of the undertakings identified in the EIS are within the National Naval Medical Center Historic District, which is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. However, the letter further provided the Navy with a concurrence from the MHT for a determination of no effect on historic properties for this proposed aboveground garage project at H-Lot. NCPC does not have an independent NHPA responsibility for federal projects outside the District of Columbia.
III. CONSULTATION As stated above, this project was included in the Medical Facilities Development and University Expansion Environmental Impact Statement for the Naval Support Activity Bethesda, which was made available for public review and comment. Further, on June 11, 2012, the draft Installation Master Plan and draft update to the installation’s Transportation Management Plan were referred by NCPC to the Maryland State Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse). In June the Clearinghouse referred the draft TMP to affected agencies for review and comment. Following technicalities, the Clearinghouse subsequently referred the master plan to affected agencies for review and comment in August of 2012. The affected agencies that received the documents for review include: the Maryland Department(s) of Transportation, the Environment, and Natural Resources; the Maryland Military Department; the County of Montgomery; the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission; and the Maryland Department of Planning. Staff received recommendations on the draft update to the TMP from the Clearinghouse on August 16, 2012 and recommendations on the draft master plan from the Clearinghouse on October 31, 2012. The recommendations were forwarded to the Navy and considered by staff in the review of the Installation Master Plan.
