A Future Built in Wood: Unlocking the Potential of Mass Timber in Montgomery County

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Perhaps because I am an architect, I love looking at landscapes, and I love looking at the grain detail of large wood beams, siding and furniture within a building. The natural flow of the grain can be mesmerizing and just looking at and touching wood, is calming.

Throughout history, human societies have used wood to construct structures ranging from modest dwellings to highly sophisticated religious and civic buildings. When wood is used within buildings, it nurtures a relationship between the tenants who use a space, and nature which created the wood. This relationship is called biophilic design, and with the use of wood in the structure of buildings, this relationship not only enhances our health and wellbeing, but the … Continue reading

How Montgomery Planning Board Commissioner Shawn Bartley came to “champion” single-family homes

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By Montgomery Planning staff

Montgomery Planning is celebrating Black History Month by sharing the voices, journeys, and impact of Montgomery Planning’s Black leaders.

Shawn Bartley remembers how safe he felt growing up in his family’s house in Moreno Valley, Calif., especially the small but private yard where an introverted 8-year-old like him could play in peace and quiet.

His family of four had been so excited to move there that they’d often drive out to the construction site to photograph their new home as it took shape. The house was small, about 1,200 square feet. But it would allow them to escape a gang-ridden area of nearby East Riverside. An apartment complex there had been what his family … Continue reading

Montgomery Planning Board Chair Artie Harris grew up learning to give back

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By Montgomery Planning staff

Montgomery Planning is celebrating Black History Month by sharing the voices, journeys, and impact of Montgomery Planning’s Black leaders.

Artie Harris worries that Montgomery County’s skyrocketing home prices will leave too many residents, including his two adult daughters, unable to afford a home in a neighborhood like the one where they grew up.

It’s one reason why helping the county get “unstuck” from its affordable housing crisis feels personal–and remains Harris’ top priority as chair of the Montgomery County Planning Board.

As Harris helps chart Montgomery’s future, he wants the county to offer more reasonably priced homes in all sizes, from large apartments for growing families to starter homes for young buyers and smaller … Continue reading

Reimagining Public Space: A Merit Award for Placemaking on Bethesda Avenue

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This blog is part of a series that highlights the winners of the 2025 Design Excellence Awards.

Placemaking is the act of improving a common space to make it welcoming and attractive, so it better serves the needs of the people who use it. It is both a process and an outcome. As a process, it is a collaborative effort to plan, design, and manage public spaces in ways that enhance community health, happiness, and well-being. It relies on active participation from community members to create a shared vision: transforming ordinary spaces into vibrant destinations that strengthen connections between people and their environment.

As an outcome, placemaking results in spaces that foster social interaction, environmental stewardship, economic vitality, and health. … Continue reading

Design Excellence in Bethesda: How The Sophia elevates urban living

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This blog is part of a series that highlights the winners of the 2025 Design Excellence Awards.

Architecture demands an expression in response to different settings.  It is based on an evolving common understanding of the structure of places, subject to reinterpretation by each architect. Architects should value what exists through sensitive and thoughtful designs that are generative and timeless so that all buildings become a point of departure within their urban context for subsequent building designs.

Architectural style should emerge from the adaptation, evolution, and transformation of buildings and landscapes within their regional context. From this foundation, an appropriate design language for a building can be determined. For a residential building, a modern aesthetic can coexist with comfort and elegance … Continue reading

A new standard: Celebrating Strathmore Square’s visionary design

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This blog is part of a series that highlights the winners of the 2025 Design Excellence Awards.

Thoughtful and purposeful design and architecture shape how we live, work, and connect. It influences our sense of belonging within a community and promotes better health, and environmental resiliency by creating neighborhoods and centers that are not only functional but inspiring for generations to come.

All communities strive to create a “sense of place.” When landscape and architectural designs are done right, great places are achieved. Through our design excellence awards, we want to recognize and promote those projects and their teams that make a difference. That’s why the Design Excellence Award program was created in 2015. Since then, we have brought … Continue reading

Planning starts with people: Inside Montgomery County’s new academy for civic engagement

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University of Maryland student Ricardo Hernandez wonders how he’ll afford to continue living in Montgomery County when he moves out of his parents’ home. Community organizer Sergine Yango is concerned about clean air. Restaurant owner Radwan Chowdhury has wondered how local governments decide to issue new construction permits.

They and 45 other Montgomery residents were among the first graduates of our new Community Planning Academy, a free online course that explains the ins and outs of the planning process. The 10 interactive and self-paced lessons, each 30 to 45 minutes long, cover everything from zoning basics to the development review process to how to weigh in on your community’s Master Plan.

Starting December 1, the virtual academy will open … Continue reading

How corridor planning can provide the housing we need—and the walkable, transit-friendly communities people want

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This blog post is also published as a Greater Greater Washington guest column.

Anyone who has walked, bicycled, or used a wheelchair along major Montgomery County roads as traffic whizzes past uncomfortably close has faced the results of a 1950s-era planning goal: Move as many cars as quickly as possible.

Anyone who has struggled to pay our soaring rents and home prices has felt the impact of our severe housing shortage, a result of single-family zoning laws that restrict our ability to efficiently use the county’s dwindling available land.

Meanwhile, we continuously hear from residents who want to live and work close to transit stops. They want “complete communities” with stores, parks, and daily needs within a safe and … Continue reading

How a devastating hurricane launched a planning career

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Montgomery Planning is proud to have a team of planners who reflect Montgomery County’s rich culture. As part of National Hispanic Heritage Month, we are highlighting some of our planners working to craft a better future for our diverse county.

When Hurricane Maria roared through Puerto Rico, Justine Gonzalez Velez saw how homes that had been allowed in areas prone to landslides and flooding were destroyed and swept away.

“A lot of people, a lot of families in Puerto Rico, lost their houses,” said Gonzalez Velez, who was in his first year of college at the time. “They lost their lives. They lost all the things they had worked for their entire lives – and that was a byproduct … Continue reading

Montgomery and Prince George’s planning directors celebrate and reflect on Community Planning Month

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By Lakisha Hull and Jason K. Sartori

October marks National Community Planning Month, a time to recognize the visionary work of planners and community leaders in Montgomery County and Prince George’s County who shape the places we call home and who stand out for their thoughtful, methodical, and innovative land use and sustainable development strategies.

We’re not just reshaping landscapes but also enriching lives through transit-oriented development, preservation of green spaces, and inclusive housing initiatives. As planning directors for Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, we are proud to lead departments that not only envision the future but actively engage residents and a variety of other community stakeholders in realizing it. Montgomery Planning and Prince George’s Planning are both departments … Continue reading