Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Ag Preserve is here to stay. Modifying it is a non-starter. The East Coast has been razed for sprawl and dumb/no urban planning. The Virginia side is sprawl with winding suburban roads as far as Google maps can see. Here Montgomery County did something smart:set aside a green lung of low(er) intensity land-use, and focus on smart development on the already urbanized areas. This is akin to Colorado protecting its mountains from development.

Much higher order of priority is upzoning close-in suburbs like Bethesda that are less than an hour to downtown DC. No need to create a “drive till you qualify” real estate Ponzi scheme situation with the poorer workers driving 2+ hours to work

Sure, upzoning is way more convenient because it doesn’t involve any planning or foresight at all. Just throw things at the wall and see what sticks no matter the mess it makes in the process.

Yes, that's how the free market works.

Anonymous wrote:The Ag Preserve is here to stay. Modifying it is a non-starter. The East Coast has been razed for sprawl and dumb/no urban planning. The Virginia side is sprawl with winding suburban roads as far as Google maps can see. Here Montgomery County did something smart:set aside a green lung of low(er) intensity land-use, and focus on smart development on the already urbanized areas. This is akin to Colorado protecting its mountains from development.

Much higher order of priority is upzoning close-in suburbs like Bethesda that are less than an hour to downtown DC. No need to create a “drive till you qualify” real estate Ponzi scheme situation with the poorer workers driving 2+ hours to work

Sure, upzoning is way more convenient because it doesn’t involve any planning or foresight at all. Just throw things at the wall and see what sticks no matter the mess it makes in the process.

The Ag Preserve is here to stay. Modifying it is a non-starter. The East Coast has been razed for sprawl and dumb/no urban planning. The Virginia side is sprawl with winding suburban roads as far as Google maps can see. Here Montgomery County did something smart:set aside a green lung of low(er) intensity land-use, and focus on smart development on the already urbanized areas. This is akin to Colorado protecting its mountains from development.

Much higher order of priority is upzoning close-in suburbs like Bethesda that are less than an hour to downtown DC. No need to create a “drive till you qualify” real estate Ponzi scheme situation with the poorer workers driving 2+ hours to work

People need to be educated on where food comes from. There's value in preserving farmland

Anonymous wrote:I think they should reconsider, given the way the employment market has changed and many more people are either teleworking more often, or engaging in the gig economy right near their homes.

You are right that changes in work patterns would make a policy of "shorten residents' commute" less persuasive in this instance.

But that was never even A policy objective, much less one of the more compelling ones.

Anonymous wrote:Because MoCo politicians are laregly NIMBYs. They oppose a second Potomac crossing, as the path would enter the Ag Reserve on a tiny corner for 1-2 miles. Of course, the second Potomac crossing would save drivers a huge amount of time and less time with polluting cars on the road but...

There is a second Potomac crossing. It's at Point of Rocks.

You don't actually know how much of the Ag Reserve would be affected by a new highway leading to a new bridge between the American Legion bridge and the Point of Rocks bridge, because there is no plan for this new highway and no planned route. Also, it would induce a huge amount of driving and more time with more polluting cars on the road but...

If you need food, why not just eat the whole bag of Halloween candy?

I think they should reconsider, given the way the employment market has changed and many more people are either teleworking more often, or engaging in the gig economy right near their homes.

Yeah let’s bulldoze a bunch of plants and trees and pave it over with asphalt. Don’t worry tho - as long as the new apartment buildings are using electric stoves - it will be a net positive for the environment

Because MoCo politicians are laregly NIMBYs. They oppose a second Potomac crossing, as the path would enter the Ag Reserve on a tiny corner for 1-2 miles. Of course, the second Potomac crossing would save drivers a huge amount of time and less time with polluting cars on the road but...

Anonymous wrote:There’s so much news about the need for housing in MoCo. There are many bills being circulated to increase the number of developments/houses in areas already at capacity. But almost a third of the county is an agricultural reserve with significant restrictions on building/development. Why? Could we remove that designation and open it up to more housing and increase the supply- thus creating much needed affordable housing?

To answer the bolded:

MoCo, like all other jurisdictions, is balancing a number of different public policies- housing, economic development, environmental sustainability, resident quality of life, etc. Increasing density around already populated areas strikes a balance of enhancing economic development, housing availability, and environmental sustainability.

The Ag reserve exists to: promote clean air and water quality, maintain substantial impervious surfaces to address storm water management, provides wildlife habitats, enables local food production, provide green space for outdoor recreational pursuits of residents, among other things.

Creating housing density in the Ag Reserve would be a significantly higher burden on public infrastructure. (There is little to no public sewer there, or public transportation.) It would increase reliance on cars, reduce greenspace, and not provide housing where people need it.

Because we need green space for our health and wellbeing.

Open space has a value too.

Fears of sprawl sprawl sprawl and the anti-car ethos will win out over the affordability case. No judgments, but the same reason there is only one bridge from MontCo to North Virginia, where basically all the job growth has been too.

There’s so much news about the need for housing in MoCo. There are many bills being circulated to increase the number of developments/houses in areas already at capacity. But almost a third of the county is an agricultural reserve with significant restrictions on building/development. Why? Could we remove that designation and open it up to more housing and increase the supply- thus creating much needed affordable housing?