Wednesday, February 6, 2013
County planners will discuss a revised zoning code draft with the county planning board on Thursday, Feb. 7.
Montgomery County's residents have spoken up about the county's ambitious Zoning Rewrite Project, and county planners have listened. After planners released a consolidated draft of the county's revised zoning code last July, residents submitted comments—online and in public hearings. Those comments have been taken into consideration in a new staff draft for the project, which will be discussed with the Montgomery County Planning Board in a work session at the board's weekly meeting on Thursday, Feb. 7. The work session is slated to start at 4:30 p.m. and end at 6 p.m., according to the agenda. Parking will be one of the issues discussed at the Feb. 7 work session. (Remaining issues will be discussed at the final work session, on Feb. 14 …
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
The county planning board discusses county planning staff suggestions for streamlining county development review and approval processes at the board's Thursday meeting.
Obtaining a development permit in Montgomery County is not always the most straightforward process. In fact, county planning staff identified 67 issues with the county's development review and approval process, and will present a summary of the issues and possible solutions to the issues to the county planning board at the board's weekly meeting on Thursday. Identifying 67 issues and solutions is—like the permitting process—time-consuming. The planning staff has been working with county departments and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission since December 2011 on the project. "These efforts have identified numerous processes that can be simplified to reduce the time it takes for a project to move from concept to building permit," …
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
The county planning board approved the draft for the sector on Jan. 17.
The County Planning Board approved county planners' draft for the Chevy Chase Lake Sector Plan last week, according to the updated agenda for last Thursday's board meeting. Next, the draft plan for the sector is sent to the County Council and county executive for analysis and approval, The Gazette reported. "The county executive will do a fiscal analysis of the plan and report to the County Council, which will hold a public hearing and work sessions before voting on whether to approve it, [county planner Elza] Hisel-McCoy said. He expects the County Council to discuss the plan in early March," The Gazette added. The draft plan's "recommendations emphasize mixed residential development [and] a shift from the current commercial zoning that …
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
The county planning staff's Chevy Chase Lake Sector Plan draft is up for planning board approval on Thursday, Jan. 17.
After years of discussion, work sessions and public hearings, the Chevy Chase Lake Sector Plan draft may be approved by the Montgomery County Planning Board on Thursday. A work session about the sector plan draft will take place at the end of the board's day-long meeting, and planning staff are set to recommend that their draft be approved by the planning board. If approved, the draft will be presented to the county executive and council on Jan. 31—only a couple months behind schedule, The Gazette reported. The draft plan's "recommendations emphasize mixed residential development [and] a shift from the current commercial zoning that will help balance the ... jobs-housing ratio" in the Chevy Chase Lake Sector—which straddles Connecticut …
Thursday, January 10, 2013
The Montgomery County Council will hold a public hearing on the bill Jan. 17.
The Montgomery County Planning Board today will review a tree canopy conservation bill proposed by the Montgomery County Council in November. Bill 35-12 would protect existing tree canopy, create a fund to plant new trees, and "establish procedures, standards, and requirements to minimize the loss and disturbance of tree canopy as a result of development," according to the language proposed. Planning staff has recommended that the Planning Board support the bill with amendments. The county council will hold a public hearing on Bill 35-12 on Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Council Office Building, 100 Maryland Avenue, in Rockville.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
The Montgomery County Council will hold a public hearing on the bill Jan. 17.
At its Thursday meeting, the Montgomery County Planning Board will review a tree canopy conservation bill proposed by the Montgomery County Council in November. Bill 35-12 would protect existing tree canopy, create a fund to plant new trees, and "establish procedures, standards, and requirements to minimize the loss and disturbance of tree canopy as a result of development," according to the language proposed. Planning staff has recommended that the Planning Board support the bill with amendments. The county council will hold a public hearing on Bill 35-12 on Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Council Office Building, 100 Maryland Avenue, in Rockville.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Neighbors say the traffic added by a seven-story building on West Lane would render Montgomery Lane unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists.
A plan for a residential building near Montgomery Lane that's been hotly contested by downtown Bethesda residents is set to go before the Montgomery County Planning Board Thursday afternoon. Residents who live near the proposed building at 4831 West Ln. have filed more than 100 pages of correspondence with planning staff opposing the seven-story, 120-unit proposed apartment building, The Gazette reports. The community supported a previous plan that would have brought 48 residential units to the site, said Jon Weintraub, chair of the Downtown Bethesda Condo Association. But with 117 underground parking spaces, the added traffic from the new proposed structure would gridlock Montgomery Lane and render it unsafe for cyclists and pedestrians, …
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
The Chevy Chase Lake Sector Plan will go to the county executive and Council on Jan. 31, The Gazette reported.
The Montgomery County Planning Board's draft of the Chevy Chase Lake Sector Plan will be presented to the county executive and Council on Jan. 31, 2013—only a couple months behind schedule, The Gazette reported. Additional work sessions are scheduled for Jan. 10, 17 and 31, "when the board is scheduled to approve its draft version of the plan," The Gazette added. Once County Executive Ike Leggett provides commentary on the draft, the draft will be passed to the County Council, which will hold a public hearing before approving a final sector plan, The Gazette reported. Read more about the process by which the planning board's draft could become the new plan for the sector on The Gazette's website. Last September, county planning staff …
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Mixed-use retail and residential building approved for site, along with a new traffic signal on Arlington Road.
The Montgomery County Planning Board on Thursday approved plans for a five-story, mixed-use residential and retail building on the site of the former Bethesda post office at 7001 Arlington Road. Plans for the development call for 140 multi-family units, more than 15 percent of which will be moderately-priced; 211 parking spaces and 7,000 square feet of retail along Arlington Road. “This is a tremendous improvement over what is there today,” said Bob Harris, an attorney for developers, at Thursday’s hearing. “It contributes to the transformation of south Bethesda to an urban, mixed-use environment from an industrial area.” A traffic plan also calls for a new traffic light along Arlington Road that will direct traffic entering and exiting …
38.97983
-77.09837
7001 Arlington Rd, Bethesda, MD
/articles/development-at-arlington-road-post-office-site-moves-forward
/locations/8091159
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
A Chevy Chase Lake Sector Plan public hearing is also on the Montgomery County Planning Board agenda.
Campus plans for Naval Support Activity Bethesda and the National Institutes of Health are set to go before the Montgomery County Planning Board for advisory reviews Thursday. A public hearing on the Chevy Chase Lake master plan is also set to go forward at Park and Planning. The hearings are set to begin at 2 p.m. with a review of an NIH draft master plan. Proposals for NIH campus upgrades include consolidation of surface parking into new parking structures, the construction of a new administrative building, and the addition of workers from leased space in satellite locations. The planning board hearing will include a look at traffic impacts of the proposed construction, but a draft environmental impact statement being prepared by NIH isn…
jag
11:01 am on Thursday, January 24, 2013
Undeniably, the approval process adds to the developer's costs which either means A. the project is built and the cost is passed onto the residents or B. the project doesn't get built because the developer doesn't think there is enough demand at the price point needed to turn a profit. Streamlining the approval process as much as possible is a major win all-around and should be a constant goal of… more ›