The luxury house being built on the south side of Newbridge Drive near River Road is unlikely to draw much attention from the average passerby.
It’s big, to be sure, but consistent with the other homes along Newbridge and Bentcross Drive in Potomac’s Falconhurst neighborhood.
But for residents who spent years grappling with the independent Harbor School over a plan to locate on the same site, the house represents the uneventful end to a protracted fight.
THE PROPERTY at 9441 Newbridge was occupied by the German School until June of 1999, when the school moved to its current property on nearby Chateau Drive.
In January of 2001, the Harbor School applied for a special exception that would let it operate a school on the residentially zoned property.
Organized under the Potomac Citizens Association, nearby residents opposed the Harbor School plan, saying it was inconsistent with the character of the area, that the Newbridge area was already filled with special exceptions, and that a mid-sized school would make already mounting traffic problems unmanageable.
“It was unanimous. Nobody wanted it,” said Norman Knopf, the attorney who represented the Newbridge Citizens.
Opponents testified at the Planning Board and Board of Appeals, but the Board of Appeals approved the school’s application in April 2002, requiring staggered hours to limit traffic, and setting maximum enrollment to 220 students.
Undeterred, the residents appealed the Board of Appeals' decision to Montgomery County Circuit Court.
In a July 25, 2003 ruling Circuit Court Judge Michael Mason not only upheld the Board of Appeals' decisions, but increased the number of permitted dismissals to 100 students per hour and the maximum enrollment to 250 students.
Residents appealed again, pushing the Harbor School case to the Court of Special Appeals, Maryland’s second-highest court.
But before the appeal reached briefing or argument, the Harbor School exercised an option to buy the property from the Republic of Germany and “flipped” it to developer David Niroo, the homebuilder.
According to the State Department of Assessments and Taxation, the 8.6-acre site sold for $4 million.
Linda Perry, Head of School for the Harbor School confirmed the sale, but would not comment further on the matter or the school’s future plans.
It’s not clear why the Harbor School pulled out of a legal conflict it appeared poised to win.
Apparently the citizens simply wore down the small school, which chose to opt out of mounting legal costs, said Callum Murray, Potomac Team Leader at the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission.
“Harbor School was coughing up money right and left,” he said.
The Harbor School may also have been unsatisfied with the conditions attached to the special exception, which would have prevented it from future expansion and required complex traffic queuing procedures.
Niroo’s offer for the site came at the right time to answer both sides’ woes.
“The citizens beat the bushes to find a developer that might be interested in getting it,” Knopf said.
Niroo got approval to build four luxury houses on the site — the nearly-finished house facing Newbridge and three others that are not yet under construction — in an uneventful subdivision ruling by the Planning Board in October, 2004. Only the applicant testified.
“People love it. People just absolutely loved it,” Niroo said in an interview last week. “They really welcomed the residential high-end homes.”
Two more of the four approved houses are now in architectural design.
The Harbor School currently operates out of the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George on Bradley Boulevard in Bethesda.