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Developers for a new residential and commercial project in downtown Bethesda will have to significantly rework their plans before the Planning Board gives them any further approval, commissioners said last week.

Despite criticism that the project could use more retail space and was not well thought-out, the Planning Board approved the Woodmont Central project on Thursday, just before a building moratorium takes effect this week.

"You know you have a lot ahead of you," Commissioner Jean Cryor said of the project. "I'm going to go along with it, but I could've just as easily gone the other way. Your site plan better be a lot better than this."

Cryor joined Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson and Vice-chairman John Robinson in the project's approval; commissioners Amy Presley and Joseph Alfandre voted against the project.

Commissioners hounded representatives from Donohoe Development Company—the project's developer—for nearly five hours Thursday, saying that the company needed to improve on the plans they provided.

The approval process for Woodmont Central was different than for most developments since the plan is for two separate sites: a commercial building along Wisconsin Avenue and a residential and retail space along Rugby Avenue.

The 17-story, 457-unit apartment building would be built on the corner of Rugby and Del Ray avenues, on the site of a surface parking lot and a series of small, two-story buildings.

The six-story, 90,000-square-foot office building would stand on the site of the Texaco station at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Battery Lane. Both sites will include approximately 10,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor, according to Jad Donohoe, development director for Donohoe Development Company.

Despite being noncontiguous, the two sites are being handled as one plan by the Planning Board due to a stipulation in the Downtown Bethesda Master Plan that allows for this type of development in Woodmont Triangle.

A 2006 update of the master plan included a zoning change allowing for taller buildings and grouping multiple lots to spur redevelopment in the Woodmont Triangle neighborhood, where the small lots and piecemeal ownership made it difficult for developers to acquire properties large enough to build viable projects.

Due to this stipulation, Donohoe must prove that the projects are "significantly superior" to what could have been done on the site without grouping the lots, according to Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson.

The commissioners didn't think the project was at that point yet—stating that the residential project could use its lot more effectively, incorporating more retail — but allowed Donohoe to continue the project and provide new plans, especially for the residential building, when they return for the next step. Donohoe officials and architects will now rework the design and return to the Planning Board in the coming months with a new plan. No timetable has been set yet.

Alfandre said the developers showed a "lack of effort" in the project's design.

"I don't find an inwardly-turned condo project with some throwaway retail to be a significantly superior project," he said.

Donohoe said he understood the commissioners' complaints and would try again.

"The board's message was clear: they want superior results from this project," Donohoe said. "And we're going to work to create a new standard for the Woodmont Triangle."

Complicating the issue further was a building moratorium imposed on the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School cluster, which includes the Woodmont triangle neighborhood and begins today. The schools in the cluster are already over capacity, and this project would add an additional 19 elementary school students, 18 middle school students and 15 high school students, according to Montgomery County Public Schools statistics.

Bethesda Elementary School parent Remy Esquenet said the Planning Board should look at area schools before making their decision.

"I'm all for residential development, but I just want to make sure everyone has adequate facilities," he said during the meeting. "I'm going to have a kid in Bethesda Elementary until 2019 … [overcrowding] is an important factor and something that can't be ignored."

The project was originally slated to be taken up by the Planning Board in mid-July, but with the looming moratorium, Donohoe attorney Emily Vaias asked Planning staff to move up the hearing.

"No one did us any favors," Vaias said. "We were ready to go, and it was more of a scheduling issue for the Planning Board than anything else."