Planners given more time to review Bethesda Metro Center plans

‘‘We hope they put us back on schedule as soon as possible,” Harris said. ‘‘But we have not been given a new date yet.”

Calls to Planning Board staff were not returned.

While the plan sits in limbo at the Planning Board, attorneys for the buildings in the surrounding area are uniting against the project, saying it violates plans set forth in the area’s master plan.

The plans, developed by Bethesda-based Meridian Group, call for a 16-story office building above the Bethesda Metro Station, replacing a three-story office building currently on the lot. The first floor is slated to include two retail spaces, which will likely be restaurants, Harris said.

The building would sit at the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue, Old Georgetown Road and Edgemoor Lane.

The main contention among the dissenting attorneys — who represent the Chevy Chase Land Company, the Chevy Chase Bank building, 2 Bethesda Metro Center and the Clark building — is that the project does not fit into the sector plan for Bethesda’s Central Business District.

The sector plan sets forth how and where buildings should be built in the downtown area.

The new building would be located on parts of a public plaza that now exists at the site, said Gus Bauman, an attorney for 2 Bethesda Metro Center, which is located behind the Hyatt hotel in downtown Bethesda. Bauman also served as chairman of the Planning Board from 1989-93.

The buildings around the plaza conformed to the sector plan when they were built, Bauman said. He argues that 4 Bethesda Metro Center needs to follow the same precedent.

‘‘If it’s not in the sector plan, you have to change it before you do anything,” Bauman said. ‘‘And I know Meridian doesn’t want to go back to the County Council and change the [sector] plan.”

According to Harry Lerch, an attorney representing the Chevy Chase Bank building across Wisconsin Avenue from the site, Meridian is trying to increase the number of tenants the building can house by including in its calculations the square footage of streets adjacent the property.

The density of a building — its number of tenants per square foot — is determined by the overall square footage of the site, combined with the density set forth in zoning regulations.

‘‘The master plan says you can count the streets within the block, but none should be counted outside the block,” Lerch said. ‘‘We think that’s the end of the argument. End. Period.”

In October a 90-day extension, sought by the developer, was granted for the project. At the time, Harris said Meridian needed more time to incorporate public comments about the project.

At the same time, Joshua Sloan, of the Planning Board’s development review division, said the building didn’t meet some specific design standards for the area.

While technical issues seem to be at the crux of the project’s acceptance or rejection, more aesthetic issues are also at hand.

‘‘You can kiss light and air goodbye if this building goes up,” Bauman said. ‘‘It’s going to create a wind tunnel.”

As for the next step for the attorneys against the project, Bauman said the clients involved aren’t looking too far ahead.

‘‘All of our clients believe that the arguments against this [building] are so powerful it will be rejected,” he said. ‘‘Our clients have not discussed any further options.”