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Memorandum: M C P D

The memorandum provides an update on analyses and public outreach efforts for the 2009-2011 Montgomery County Growth Policy. It notes that two public outreach sessions have been scheduled in May to gather resident feedback on growth policy issues. It also includes status reports on various growth-related analyses as appendices, highlighting forecasts that job and housing growth will be concentrated in strategic growth areas and Metro stations. Additionally, it proposes new "Smart Growth Criteria" that could provide exemptions from transportation impact assessments for projects that are transit-oriented, mixed-use, and energy efficient.

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43 views

Memorandum: M C P D

The memorandum provides an update on analyses and public outreach efforts for the 2009-2011 Montgomery County Growth Policy. It notes that two public outreach sessions have been scheduled in May to gather resident feedback on growth policy issues. It also includes status reports on various growth-related analyses as appendices, highlighting forecasts that job and housing growth will be concentrated in strategic growth areas and Metro stations. Additionally, it proposes new "Smart Growth Criteria" that could provide exemptions from transportation impact assessments for projects that are transit-oriented, mixed-use, and energy efficient.

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MONTGOMERY COUNTY PLANNING DEPARTMENT

THE MARYLAND-NATIONAL CAPITAL PARK AND PLANNING COMMISSION

April 24, 2009


MEMORANDUM

TO: Montgomery County Planning Board

FROM: Rollin Stanley, Director, Planning Department


Dan Hardy, Chief, Move/Transportation Planning Division
Pamela Dunn, Planner Coordinator, Explore/Research & Technology Center

SUBJECT: 2009-2011 Growth Policy: Status Report and Public Outreach


____________________________________________________________________

Purpose:
This memo and the attached status reports are intended to provide the Planning Board
with continuing information on analyses for the 2009-2011 Growth Policy as well as to
update the Planning Board on upcoming public outreach efforts.

Outreach:
Following staff discussion with the Planning Board in March, two public outreach
sessions have been scheduled. These meetings will be designed to gather information
from County residents; to listen to the concerns and interests of residents with regard to
Growth Policy.

To facilitate involvement across the County one meeting will be held here at the Planning
Department in Silver Spring, on May 11th from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The other meeting
will take place in Shady Grove at the Shady Grove Training Center on May 18th from
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. These meetings will include a very brief presentation followed by
an open-house discussion format. During the open-house discussion, residents will have
an opportunity to visit several different information stations related to Growth Policy
such as PAMR/LATR, school test recommendations, Smart Growth Criteria, and impact
taxes. Staff will be available at each station to answer questions and gather feedback.

In addition to these public meetings, Chairman Hanson and Planning Director Rollin
Stanley continue to meet with various civic, community and business groups to discuss
the 2009-2011 Growth Policy. Staff will be bringing a final draft of the 2009-2011
Growth Policy to the Board on June 12, 2009.

8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 Director’s Office: 301.495.4500 Fax: 301.495.1310
www.MongtomeryPlanning.org
Status Reports:
The work program presented last month to the Planning Board contained the scope of
work for the 2009-2011 Growth Policy. This information was organized as appendices to
the summary memo. Over the past four weeks several appendices have developed into
draft reports while others continue to be researched and developed. Attached is a
compilation of the appendices as either a draft or progress report.

Highlights from the analyses to date include:

Between 2009 and 2030, the County’s growth is concentrated in our strategic
growth areas. Job growth is greatest in the I-270 Corridor and at Metrorail
stations. Housing growth is greatest in Clarksburg, Gaithersburg, and at Metrorail
stations. (Appendix B)

A substantial amount of growth is already approved. The commercial pipeline


contains approximately 33 million square feet (including the municipalities),
which would take until roughly 2023 to absorb under forecast growth rates. The
housing pipeline might similarly be expected to be absorbed by 2016 (Appendix
B).

The jobs/housing ratio in Montgomery County is forecast to increase from 1.40 in


2009 to 1.52 in 2030, a trend toward a desired overall J/HH balance of about 1.6.

CIP infrastructure priorities should consider sustainability, master plan goals and
objectives, and the growth policy considerations of connectivity, diversity,
environment, and design (Appendix G).

Staff preliminary recommendations on amendments to the Policy Area Mobility


Review (PAMR) tests include (Appendix M):

o Expanding the types of eligible non-auto transportation facilities that


could be considered for mitigation and retaining the $11,000 per peak hour
vehicle trip value.
o Considering amendments to the Alternative Review Procedure for Metro
Station Policy Areas that would evaluate exemptions based on the level of
congestion on arterial roadways through adjacent communities and expand
the applicability of Alternative Review Procedure to urban areas.

Smart Growth Criteria:


Much time has been spent recently discussing the vision of Growth Policy. One
aspiration is for the Growth Policy to encourage development and redevelopment that
provides an opportunity to improve communities by adding desired land uses, improving
auto-walk-transit-bike connections, providing an improved streetscape and creating

8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 Director’s Office: 301.495.4500 Fax: 301.495.1310
www.MongtomeryPlanning.org
development that is more energy, fiscally, and environmentally sustainable. To date, this
hasn’t been the role of Growth Policy.

The role of Growth Policy has been to manage growth in coordination with the public
facilities needed to support it. The tools of Growth Policy are the Adequate Public
Facility Ordinance (APFO) and (to a lesser extent) impact taxes. These tools have
typically been used to manage the timing of new development with the provision of
public facilities. Thus the primary focus of APFO has been when development can occur,
the secondary focus or consequence of this has been an indirect influence on where …
and the where has been where capacity for infrastructure permitted development to move
forward.

To achieve a broader goal; one that influences not just the timing of development but
where and how development occurs will require new tools. These tools will need to work
in coordination with the master plans and zoning as the where and how of development is
typically managed in these arenas.

An innovative new tool being considered as part of the 2009-2011 Growth Policy is the
Smart Growth Criteria. The idea is to shift from the determination of where based mainly
on capacity to one based also on the quality of growth that should be occurring.

The Smart Growth Criteria presented here is modeled after California’s Senate Bill 375
(SB375). The goal of SB375 is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through transit-
oriented development, with particular attention to housing needs in California. SB375 is a
statewide mandate having regional as well as development specific impacts.

At the project level, residential and mixed-use projects can qualify for a streamlined
California Environmental Quality Assessment (CEQA) review. A streamlined review
means that qualifying projects do not have to address growth-inducing impacts or any
project specific or cumulative impacts from cars and light-duty truck trips generated by
the project. Transit-priority projects are also eligible for the same streamlined review
with the added provision that transit-priority projects meeting additional criteria can
receive a full CEQA exemption.

Similarly, the following Smart Growth Criteria sets up conditions that must be met in
order to be eligible for some level of PAMR exemption. All projects must fulfill the
follow criteria to be considered for an exemption:

1) Projects must be mixed-use with at least 50% residential use

2) Projects must seek to achieve the maximum density of the site using at least
75% of the density allowed in the zone (plus applicable bonuses) subject to
density limitations in the Master or Sector Plan

3) Building(s) must exceed energy efficiency standards by 17.5% for new


buildings or by 10.5% for existing building renovation. Or, building(s) has on-

8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 Director’s Office: 301.495.4500 Fax: 301.495.1310
www.MongtomeryPlanning.org
site energy production such that 2.5% of the annual building energy cost is
off-set by the renewable production system

4) And, the project must provide either additional workforce housing or


moderately-priced dwelling units, above and beyond that required for plan
approval. The number of units required will be based on a proportion of the
number of trips requiring mitigation such that the cost of trip mitigation is
equivalent to the cost of providing the additional units.

Having met the above criteria, the level of PAMR exemption is based on location:

Transit Proximity Projects are eligible for 100% PAMR exemption –

Transit proximity projects are those that are located within ½ mile of an existing or
planned major transit stop or high-quality transit corridor. A high-quality transit
corridor means a corridor with fixed route bus service where service intervals are no
longer than 15 minute during peak commute hours. A project shall be considered to
be within one-half mile of a major transit stop if all parcels within the project have
no more than 25% of their area farther than one-half mile from a transit stop or
corridor and if not more than 10% of the residential units in the project are father
than one-half mile from the stop or corridor. A planned transit stop or corridor is
one that is funded for construction within the first four years of the Consolidated
Transportation Program and/or the Capital Improvement Program.

Road Code Urban Area projects with proximity to Basic Services are eligible for 50%
PAMR exemption -

Project must be located within a Road Code Urban Area and be located within ½
mile of at least 10 Basic Services where Basic Services include but are not limited
to: bank, place of worship, convenience grocery, day care, cleaners, fire station,
beauty, hardware, laundry, library, medical/dental, senior care facility, park,
pharmacy, post office, restaurant, school, supermarket, theater, community center,
fitness center or museum (Appendix N).

Other Growth Policy regulations for projects eligible for a PAMR exemption such as
impact taxes and LATR will remain unchanged.

8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 Director’s Office: 301.495.4500 Fax: 301.495.1310
www.MongtomeryPlanning.org

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