School tests and facility funding to be highlighted at community event
Silver Spring, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, is now updating the Subdivision Staging Policy (formerly called Growth Policy) for review and approval by the County Council in 2016. The intent of the Subdivision Staging Policy is to ensure public facilities, particularly schools and roads, are adequate to meet the needs of new development and growth.
On Tuesday, January 12, a community meeting will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Planning Department auditorium (8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD) to discuss current school tests and school facility funding as they relate to the staging of subdivision development. Feedback from this event will help planners revise the sections related to schools in the current Subdivision Staging Policy. RSVPs are encouraged, but required.
RSVP for the January 12 Subdivision Staging Policy community meeting.
This meeting follows the policy update held on October 19 at the Montgomery County Planning Department. At that event, planners provided an overview of the Subdivision Staging Policy and answered questions about infrastructure and growth, particularly with respect to school capacity.
View the video recap from the October 19 Subdivision Staging Policy kickoff meeting.
Background on Subdivision Staging Policy
The County’s Subdivision Staging Policy is revised every four years. Planners are currently researching new ideas in transportation and school capacity planning to help them revise the regulations to make them as useful as possible in managing growth in the county. The policy update will first be presented to the Planning Board in May 2016 for comment. This quadrennial policy includes criteria and guidance for the administration of the County’s Adequate Public Facility Ordinance (APFO), which matches the timing of private development with the availability of public services.
In the past, the APFO was designed to ensure that road and school capacity – as well as water and sewer and other infrastructure — kept pace with growth. Where new areas of the County were developed, infrastructure to support new homes and businesses was needed.
Today, much of the County has been developed. Growth is occurring through infill development and redevelopment. This type of growth creates pressure on transportation systems and school facilities. In updating the Subdivision Staging Policy, staff will evaluate whether the existing methodologies effectively account for these changing growth patterns.
Learn More About the Update to the Subdivision Staging Policy
Sign up for the Subdivision Staging Policy e-newsletter
Check out the Subdivision Staging Policy webpage
Watch the Subdivision Staging Policy promo video
Contact Planning Department staff:
Pamela Dunn, Chief of Functional Planning and Policy, tel. 301-650-5649, Pamela.Dunn@montgomeryplanning.org