Wednesday, February 20, 2013
The county planning staff will make recommendations to the board about future bus rapid transit systems at the meeting on Thursday.
Discussion about the implementation of dedicated bus lanes or bus rapid transit systems in Montgomery County will continue at the Montgomery County Planning Board's next meeting, on Thursday, Feb. 21. The county planning staff will update the board on its recent work on the Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan. A public hearing for the plan will be held on May 2, according to a planning department briefing. The planning staff recommends that Maryland State Route 355 "is the best candidate for pursuing a high-quality BRT treatment to serve future planned growth," and that U.S. Route 29 "is the best candidate for implementing dedicated bus lanes in the near term," according to the briefing. There is a concern, however, that …
Thursday, February 7, 2013
The county's zoning rewrite would allow a residential neighborhood to change, gradually, to diversify its housing stock.
The revisions in the works for Montgomery County's aging zoning code—which dates to 1977 and is more than 1,200 pages long—are meant, among other things, to help Montgomery County's residents age in place, architect and sustainability expert Carl Elefante said. In the planning department's December 2012 cable show Montgomery Plans, Elefante—who served on the planning department's advisory panel when planning staff drafted the zoning code rewrite—explained how the county's ambitious Zoning Rewrite Project would make it possible for residents to stay in their communities as they grow older. The zoning rewrite—which is entering into its final stages of revisions—is meant to allow for more variety in residence size and type within a …
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 …
Thursday, September 6, 2012
The Montgomery County Planning Board will hold public sessions and work sessions on the zoning code rewrite.
Close scrutiny of Montgomery County's revised zoning code draft by the county planning board starts on Monday. "[An] ambitious schedule of [work sessions] and public sessions [will] consider the proposed revision of the Montgomery County Zoning Ordinance. [County planning] staff will present a consolidated draft of the Zoning Rewrite in sections to the [Montgomery County Planning] Board from September through the end of the year, with opportunities for public input along the way," according to a planning department news statement. The last time that the county's zoning code was comprehensively rewritten was in 1977. "The revised code is expected to reduce the number of zones, clarify what uses are permitted in each zone, and rethink 1950s-…
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Under the proposed zoning code rewrite, buildings could stretch higher.
Friendship Heights—one of Chevy Chase's "newer" developments—may see some zoning changes ahead that could make the community taller, depending on how the county's zoning rewrite project review plays out. County planning staff's draft of the new zoning code for the county was recently released for public comment, and is available online. Those who have been keeping a close eye on the development of the new code have already identified some potential problem spots. Patricia Baptiste, chair of the Chevy Chase Village Board of Managers and a community representative on the 23-member Zoning Advisory Panel, recently pointed out that the height of some buildings in Friendship Heights could potentially more than double under the zoning rewrite. In…
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Born in the 1950s, it's about time the county's zoning got a facelift, planners say. What will 21st century Montgomery County look like?
It's been a long wait, but county planners are out with their first zoning revision in 35 years and it envisions a modern Montgomery County that leaves 1950s-era commercial strips and office parks behind. The draft of the zoning rewrite project—almost two years in the making—is now available for public review, according to a statement Wednesday by the planning department. "Since October 2010, planners have been revising sections of the Montgomery County Zoning Ordinance as drafts for consideration by county officials, residents and members of an advisory panel," according to the department. "The revisions are part of an ambitious effort to rewrite the Zoning Code to modernize antiquated, redundant zoning regulations and create new tools to…
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Montgomery County's planning staff recommends a human scale and pedestrian orientation for the Chevy Chase Lake sector.
County planning staff recommendations for development in the Chevy Chase Lake sector are ready for public review. County planning staff are recommending that the sector—for which property owner Chevy Chase Land Company is planning a development—retain its human scale, and that there be a focus on traditional architecture and pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use development, Montgomery County Senior Planner Elza Hisel-McCoy said at a presentation in Chevy Chase Village last week. The preservation of Coquelin Run, which runs through the sector, is another important part of the development, as is knitting together the shops on the east and west sides of Connecticut Avenue between Jones Bridge Road and Chevy Chase Lake Drive. County planning staff …
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
County planners outline proposed recommendations for new zoning of Chevy Chase Lake Sector.
Low-to-medium-scale development, with mixed-use buildings standing no more than 65 feet tall, is likely to be the future of the Chevy Chase Lake Sector, according to Montgomery County planners. At a public meeting on Saturday morning at the Chevy Chase Village Hall, county planners outlined their recommendations to the county council for a new zoning scheme for the section of Montgomery County known as the Chevy Chase Lake Sector, which is bound by Jones Bridge Road to the north, East West Highway to the south, Rock Creek to the east and the Columbia Country Club to the west. As the entire zoning code for the county is rewritten, planners and local residents are paying close attention to the zoning recommendations for this mostly …
Gerri Carr
8:23 am on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The MC Planning Department has "punted" on the effect that this proposed development will have on traffic; it has made no proposed changes to our already clogged roads. more ›