Montgomery County Planning Department

Sept. 11 is the first community listening session hosted by Montgomery County Council President Andrew Friedson and Montgomery Planning Director Jason K. Sartori on the Attainable Housing Strategies initiative, a set of potential zoning modifications we developed and recommended to the Council by the Planning Board. The modifications would allow property owners to have the option to build a wider range of housing types in areas for decades that have only allowed one single-family detached home per lot. Learn more and sign up to give your input: https://bit.ly/3M8r3qA Check out the Attainable Housing Strategies website: montgomeryplanning.org/ahs

Have questions about our proposal to relax single-family zoning countywide? We have answers! Check our latest Third Place blog: https://bit.ly/4dwyBiH #attainablehousing #housingcrisis Also, is this a multi-unit home or a single-family home?

A major recommendation of the approved and adopted Fairland and Briggs Chaney Plan is the creation of a Implementation Advisory Committee (IAC) to guide the plan’s community objectives and implementation. The IAC was appoint by the Board on July 25 and will begin their work soon.

Save the date: On Thursday, September 19, the Montgomery County Planning Board hosts its second 2024 Speaker Series panel on housing. Join us as housing experts from Oregon, St. Paul, MN, and Arlington, VA, will discuss how recent initiatives to increase housing supply in their jurisdictions are working and the lessons they’ve learned. This is a free event. RSVP: https://bit.ly/4fLolol More info: https://bit.ly/3SQZUvQ

Montgomery County Council President Andrew Friedson and Montgomery Planning Director Jason K. Sartori invite community members to attend five in-person and one virtual listening sessions on the Attainable Housing Strategies initiative, a set of potential zoning modifications prepared by the Montgomery County Planning Department and recommended to the Council in June by the Montgomery County Planning Board. The modifications would allow property owners to have the option to build a wider range of housing types in areas of the County that for decades have only allowed one single-family detached home per lot. The six listening sessions hosted by Council President Friedson and Planning Department Director Sartori will be held in each of the County’s five regional service areas, followed by a virtual meeting. The five in-person events will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. The virtual session will be held on Oct. 2 from 12-1:30 p.m. Learn more and sign up to attend: https://bit.ly/3M8r3qA

Germantown...thanks for stopping by our booth last night at National Night Out! We had a great time talking to you about the plans and projects happening in your neighborhoods! Germantown Study: https://bit.ly/3UrQEQx Damascus Placemaking: https://bit.ly/3Usp4Rl

The recommended actions in our Great Seneca Plan: Connecting Life and Science further cement the county as one of the nation's premier places for the life sciences and biohealth industries to invest in lab space and centers of academia. The Life Sciences Center along the I-270 Corridor can be a destination with activated public spaces, neighborhood-serving retail and services, and a variety of housing that fits families needs and price points. We're so pleased the County Council approved the plan on July 30. We look forward to working with the community and our public- and private-sector partners to implement it in the years to come. Read our press release for more details: https://lnkd.in/eTMsbaDQ

Huge thanks to Bright MLS' Lisa Sturtevant and Urban Institute's Yonah Freemark for joining Chair Artie Harris for a great panel on July 18 to kick off the Planning Board's 2024 Speaker Series on the #housingcrisis. Watch the panel discussion on-demand: https://bit.ly/3ylpmm2 Check out the Speaker Series website for the full 2024 schedule and more: https://bit.ly/3ylpmm2

The Planning Board voted unanimously on July 18 to approve our recommended updates to the county's update to the Growth and Infrastructure Policy and send it to the County Council for review. Updated every four years, the GIP administers one of the most important functions our department and the Planning Board provide to the community – ensuring that public facilities, particularly schools and transportation infrastructure, are adequate to support new development, and that existing growth tools are equitable, fair, and effective. A key focus of the 2024-2028 GIP is ensuring it helps reach the goals established in Thrive Montgomery 2050 to increase housing options for all, improve transit, and strengthen the economy in equitable, sustainable ways. Visit the policy’s website (montgomeryplanning.org/gip) for more details on the update – the approved Planning Board Draft will be posted when it is transmitted to County Council by the end of July.

THIS THURSDAY is the Planning Board's first 2024 Speaker Series event, “Intersection: Land Use and Housing Supply, a National and Local Perspective," starting at 5:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public. Local land use regulations, such as zoning, are the most direct way that jurisdictions can regulate housing supply, but what else should planners be focusing on? What can planners do to increase housing supply? Join moderator, Planning Board Chair Artie Harris and panelists Yonah Freemark, Principal Research Associate at Urban Institute, and Lisa Sturtevant, Bright MLS Chief Economist, to hear about tools being used nationally to increase housing supply, and an analysis of the DC area housing market. Join in the conversation and get the full Speaker Series schedule: https://bit.ly/3XwnHob