What ever happened to the down county building moratorium?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I thought there was something in place to stop building residential housing until there was adequate space in our schools. I’m in the Walter Johnson school district and someone wants to pop up 24 townhomes. How is this allowed?

The County Council adds in fake "placeholderr" building projects into the CIP to keep WJ out of moratorium. The threat of moratorium is helping get Woodward reopened and keeping it a priority, but they can use placeholders as well and in the meantime to avoid moratorium. There have been some threads on here in the last few months about placeholder projects and why people should oppose the ability to use placeholders to avoid moratorium.

They are not fake placeholder projects; they are placeholders. Also, WJ isn't not in moratorium because of a placeholder; it's not in moratorium because of the reopening of Woodward HS.

Ashburton ES is in moratorium.

For those who don't know, Ashburton ES is a WJ cluster elementary school. The area it serves is the entire area within the "triangle" of the beltway spurs just north of Bethesda, plus a little spillover.

[Anonymous]

I always thought these moratoriums were just a way for the county council to shake down developers for contributions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always thought these moratoriums were just a way for the county council to shake down developers for contributions.

Probably. They don’t care about education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always thought these moratoriums were just a way for the county council to shake down developers for contributions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always thought these moratoriums were just a way for the county council to shake down developers for contributions.

No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always thought these moratoriums were just a way for the county council to shake down developers for contributions.

Probably. They don’t care about education.

Unfortunately I think that’s true.

And, pretty short-sighted. If MCPS continues to decline, it makes Montgomery County less appealing to middle-class families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always thought these moratoriums were just a way for the county council to shake down developers for contributions.

Probably. They don’t care about education.

Unfortunately I think that’s true.

And, pretty short-sighted. If MCPS continues to decline, it makes Montgomery County less appealing to middle-class families.

Every seat on the county council is on the ballot this year. All 9 seats. Each person in Montgomery County is represented by 5 council members (4 at large and 1 district). How involved have you been in the election, so as to get people on the county council who do care about education?

[Anonymous]

What happens to the planning process when there is a project proposed in a moratorium area? For example, Montgomery Mall just proposed building some big apartment complex, but they are in the Ashburton zone. They have a sign up about proposed development. Does it just sit? Or does the process move forward and they just can't build unless the moratorium is lifted?

[Anonymous]

It sits until the moratorium is lifted. Gets evaluated every year, sometime in June or July. They can put forth office building, senior residencies or group home for adults, but nothing can go forward that produces dwelling until a that students can live in (no homes,town homes, high rise or garden apartments).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sits until the moratorium is lifted. Gets evaluated every year, sometime in June or July. They can put forth office building, senior residencies or group home for adults, but nothing can go forward that produces dwelling until a that students can live in (no homes,town homes, high rise or garden apartments).

Yes - no residential subdivision approvals if the area is in moratorium.

Also, if a subdivision would cause utilization rates to exceed a moratorium threshold at any cluster or individual school level, the applicant is only allowed to build the number of dwelling units producing students up to that threshold. These schools are close to a moratorium:

Richard Montgomery cluster: 15 high school students
Clopper Mill ES: 19 students
Captain James Daly ES: 12 students
Farmland ES: 18 students
Greencastle ES: 12 students
Thurgood Marshall ES: 8 students
Meadow Hall ES: 12 students
Forest Oak MS: 3 students

[Anonymous]

How do they determine how many kids will be added to a school due to a new fdevelopment? Is it one for every 2 Bedrooms in a unit? It is impossible to predict that.

We have dozens of people who attend our ES and MS who do not live in boundary. They use various family member’s addresses and have bills sent there in order to attend without getting a COSA.

DD’s good friend lives OOB, but used an aunt’s address who lives in a condo zoned for our district. The aunt is single and has no kids. Lives in a 1BR condo. Parents drop the girl off and pick her up daily.

I could see developers saying that you won’t have many kids living in a 1BR condo. And that may be true, but ends up that people use that address simply to attend the HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do they determine how many kids will be added to a school due to a new fdevelopment? Is it one for every 2 Bedrooms in a unit? It is impossible to predict that.

We have dozens of people who attend our ES and MS who do not live in boundary. They use various family member’s addresses and have bills sent there in order to attend without getting a COSA.

DD’s good friend lives OOB, but used an aunt’s address who lives in a condo zoned for our district. The aunt is single and has no kids. Lives in a 1BR condo. Parents drop the girl off and pick her up daily.

I could see developers saying that you won’t have many kids living in a 1BR condo. And that may be true, but ends up that people use that address simply to attend the HS.

There is a detailed explanation here, starting on p. 7: http://montgomeryplanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/20180621AnnualSchoolTestPBPres.pdf

[Anonymous]

Thanks to the well-informed PP! Very enlightening.