Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Planners: BRT will help the county meet demands as population and employment grow.
Montgomery County planners are recommending that one or more travel lanes of New Hampshire Avenue in Takoma Park from University Boulevard to the Washington, DC line be re-purposed as dedicated rapid transit bus lanes. The recommendation is part of a staff draft of a Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan presented to the Montgomery County Planning Board on Monday. The master plan includes a proposal for a 79-mile bus rapid transit system using 10 routes across the county. The draft will undergo an extensive public hearing process before it’s submitted to the Montgomery County Council in fall. Planners say the system will help Montgomery County meet an increasing transit demand as population and employment grows. “An …
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," …
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-…
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…
Friday, June 15, 2012
The amendment has been met with opposition among Montgomery County residents.
The Takoma Park City Council will support a countywide zoning text amendment that would allow Montgomery County residents to have accessory apartments without going through the special exception process. The amendment is supposed to make the process, which Takoma Park Community Development Coordinator Roz Grigsby called lengthy and expensive, easier for residents. An accessory apartment is aa self-contained, detached second living unit on the property of an existing single family dwelling. [Get daily and breaking news email updates by signing up for free newsletters from Takoma Park Patch.] There are currently 53 accessory apartments in Takoma Park, with 38 percent of those in Ward 3 and 31 percent in Ward 1, according to Grigsby. The …
Monday, June 11, 2012
Do you think the council should support the amendment?
The Takoma Park City Council will discuss whether to support a Montgomery County Planning Department proposed zoning text amendment intended to simplify the review and authorization process for the establishment of new accessory apartments. Under the current ordinance, a property owner must obtain a special exception from the county board of appeals to create an accessory apartment. The amendment has met some opposition at the county level. Many residents objected, arguing that the special exception proceedings keep them informed and involved in the process. Only ten accessory apartments, on average, are approved each year by the board, according to the county. Takoma Park currently has 53 approved accessory apartments, according to the …
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Rollin Stanley has retracted statements he made describing his detractors as 'rich, white women,' Bethesda Magazine reports.
Bethesda Magazine is reporting that Montgomery County Planning Director Rollin Stanley has apologized for controversial statements he made regarding a group of his detractors in a recent Bethesda Magazine article. Patch reported on the controversy March 8. In the article by Eugene L. Meyer, titled the “The Future Is Looking Up” and published in Bethesda Magazine's March-April issue, Stanley called the group "rich, white women" who spread fear about his initiatives. The statements prompted backlash from the community and a call for his resignation. County Planning Board Chair Francoise Carrier condemned the statements and promised "appropriate corrective action." Wednesday, a statement was posted on the planning department's website on …
Friday, March 9, 2012
Bethesda Magazine reports that Rollin Stanley is apologizing for calling a group of his detractors 'rich, white women.'
Bethesda Magazine is reporting that county planning director Rollin Stanley has apologized after coming under fire for comments he made in a recent Bethesda Magazine story. In the article by Eugene L. Meyer, entitled the “The Future Is Looking Up” and published in the magazine’s March-April issue, Stanley called a group of his detractors "rich, white women" who spread fear about his initiatives. The group of activists asked him to publicly apologize, calling the characterization "a blatantly racial and sexist slur,” Patch reported Thursday. Stanley’s comments drew a firestorm of controversy, including on Patch, and his comments were condemned by county Planning Board Chair Francoise Carrier. Bethesda Magazine is reporting on its website …
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 ›