Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is already no parking /not enough where will all these extra CARS park? And extra students squeeze in at already overcrowded Blair?

No one is going to drive because there will be BRT and the new buildings will not have parking, according to planning. Students will go to the expanded Northwood.

Woodmoor neighborhood zoned for Blair? Or is that no longer the case?

The University Boulevard corridor plan will not change school assignments. That's an MCPS decision.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for some insight. What does this mean in layperson’s terms?

“Retain existing residential development within neighborhoods, while expanding new residential typologies along the corridor.
Promote new infill development at religious institutional properties, at proposed BRT stops, and on properties along the corridor.”

The first phrase means that the zoning "within neighborhoods" wouldn't change, but the zoning along University Boulevard the corridor would change to allow (not require) more housing types. Currently most of the property along University Boulevard is zoned R-60 or R-90, which means the only housing type that property owners are currently allowed to build by right is a detached house on a minimum 6000 square foot (R-60) or 9000 square foot (R-90) lot.

R-90: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/montgomerycounty/latest/montgomeryco_md_zone2014/0-0-0-60201

The second phrase means that zoning in the corridor plan area would change to allow (not require) more housing types, and potentially non-residential use (for example, housing on top of stores), on properties owned by churches, at proposed stops for the University Boulevard Bus Rapid Transit line, and on properties along the University Boulevard corridor. For example, Northwood Presbyterian Church is considering building affordable housing, but that's not feasible without rezoning: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/03/08/churches-affordable-housing/

More about the Montgomery County BRT plans: https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/brt/

I personally don't like the "within neighborhoods" language, because neighborhoods that currently already have multi-unit housing etc. are also neighborhoods, but that's the language the Planning Department is using.

Thanks for some insight. What does this mean in layperson’s terms?

“Retain existing residential development within neighborhoods, while expanding new residential typologies along the corridor.
Promote new infill development at religious institutional properties, at proposed BRT stops, and on properties along the corridor.”

Buildings? Not multi family houses?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is already no parking /not enough where will all these extra CARS park? And extra students squeeze in at already overcrowded Blair?

No one is going to drive because there will be BRT and the new buildings will not have parking, according to planning. Students will go to the expanded Northwood.

Woodmoor neighborhood zoned for Blair? Or is that no longer the case?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Housing. Pls explain what is happening. It will affect our immediate neighborhood. Multi family or multistory??

If the county tells you, would you believe them?

Back when they were trying to sell Thrive and the topic of upzoning came up the council and planning board were selling it as no big deal…probably wouldn’t happen, and if it did happen it would be very carefully controlled. Hucker came to speak to a group in our neighborhood and very much undersold it. He talked about how they’d make sure that all construction would fit the neighborhood and designs would come from a selection of designs approved by the county, etc. He spoke about how parking requirements probably wouldn’t change (and here we are, fewer parking requirements in new building near the BRT).

Well, once again they alleviated some concerns to get Thrive through, and it was all smoke and mirrors. It will be the same with the corridor plans now. Don’t believe it anything unless it’s in writing in the plan and it’s SPECIFIC.

If the county had a pattern book of pre-approved designs for different zones, they could alleviate a lot of this ambiguity. Here's one that covers some parts of DC: https://dhcd.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dhcd/page_content/attachments/Segment%20001%20of%20Pattern%20Book%20compressed.pdf and another for Mount Rainer: https://issuu.com/mncppc/docs/21421_mt_rainer_061118_web?e=2864017%2F62879957

You can preserve character while also getting some infill, and it protects from developers doing large and generic designs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is already no parking /not enough where will all these extra CARS park? And extra students squeeze in at already overcrowded Blair?

No one is going to drive because there will be BRT and the new buildings will not have parking, according to planning. Students will go to the expanded Northwood.

DCC is already overbooked with that expansion. Try again.

No one cares. Planning doesn’t think it’s their responsibility and they certainly don’t think developers should make any contribution toward schools. The council blames MCPS. MCPS blames lack of funding but its next generation of schools is going to cost more than $80k per seat so maybe they should start looking at ways to bring that down to what other jurisdictions are paying so they can make the money they have go farther.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is already no parking /not enough where will all these extra CARS park? And extra students squeeze in at already overcrowded Blair?

No one is going to drive because there will be BRT and the new buildings will not have parking, according to planning. Students will go to the expanded Northwood.

DCC is already overbooked with that expansion. Try again.

Anonymous wrote:Housing. Pls explain what is happening. It will affect our immediate neighborhood. Multi family or multistory??

That proper explanation is very difficult is part of the problem. There are a number of overlapping and interacting efforts by those who are pro-development (pro-development-at-the-expense-of-most-current-neighborhood-resident-preferences, more specifically, as not all development is seen as against those preferences). Increased allowances for development via both MD and MoCo legislation, Thrive, plans for more BRT, etc. It happens in pieces, and the whole picture is not well shown.

For example (and with inexact wording, here), new legislation allows increased density near public transportation hubs, which most might consider Metro/Purple Line stations or large bus transit centers, then BRT stops are separately classified as a transportation hub and a new BRT line is proposed. Suddenly, communities that were nowhere near the scope of the increased density legislation when it was passed are right in devlopers' crosshairs.

Much of that which might really affect a particular community/communities is not properly vetted with those communities. Some have had their edges broken off from a planning perspective, with the result, among other things, that the neighborhood postcard notice for changes no longer goes to the main body of the community.

It's a shame, but it's what one expects from politics, I guess. I only see bits, myself, as you'd have to be all-in on the subject to really know -- even the Montgomery Planning folks with whom I've spoken are not really aware of the additional impacts of things like the state legislation, though they might know that related legislation was being considered at the time.

Anonymous wrote:There is already no parking /not enough where will all these extra CARS park? And extra students squeeze in at already overcrowded Blair?

No one is going to drive because there will be BRT and the new buildings will not have parking, according to planning. Students will go to the expanded Northwood.

Make it make sense?!?

There is already no parking /not enough where will all these extra CARS park? And extra students squeeze in at already overcrowded Blair?

Anonymous wrote:Housing. Pls explain what is happening. It will affect our immediate neighborhood. Multi family or multistory??

If the county tells you, would you believe them?

Back when they were trying to sell Thrive and the topic of upzoning came up the council and planning board were selling it as no big deal…probably wouldn’t happen, and if it did happen it would be very carefully controlled. Hucker came to speak to a group in our neighborhood and very much undersold it. He talked about how they’d make sure that all construction would fit the neighborhood and designs would come from a selection of designs approved by the county, etc. He spoke about how parking requirements probably wouldn’t change (and here we are, fewer parking requirements in new building near the BRT).

Well, once again they alleviated some concerns to get Thrive through, and it was all smoke and mirrors. It will be the same with the corridor plans now. Don’t believe it anything unless it’s in writing in the plan and it’s SPECIFIC.

Anonymous wrote:Housing. Pls explain what is happening. It will affect our immediate neighborhood. Multi family or multistory??

You will need to install bollards all around your house to prevent cars from running into it.

Housing. Pls explain what is happening. It will affect our immediate neighborhood. Multi family or multistory??