{"id":5633,"date":"2019-01-16T16:29:28","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T21:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/?p=5633"},"modified":"2019-01-18T09:42:11","modified_gmt":"2019-01-18T14:42:11","slug":"man-made-and-environmental-constraints-on-development-in-montgomery-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/2019\/01\/man-made-and-environmental-constraints-on-development-in-montgomery-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Man-made and Environmental Constraints on Development in Montgomery County"},"content":{"rendered":"

Numerous Constraints Limit the Availability of Developable Land<\/em><\/p>\n

In my last post, I showed how new development can help us meet our environmental sustainability goals, including the county\u2019s commitment to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions entirely by 2035<\/a> and reduce stormwater runoff into the Chesapeake Bay.<\/p>\n

I also have discussed (here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a>) the ways in which New Suburbanism adds needed housing while satisfying consumer demand for walkable urban places, even in areas that aren\u2019t transit-oriented or adjacent to existing urban centers like Silver Spring and Bethesda.<\/p>\n

Now I want to direct your attention to a related problem: While we know that we need to add more than 20,000 housing units over the next five years to accommodate additional job growth, we don\u2019t have much undeveloped land that is suitable for new residential construction.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, the Planning Department conducted an exhaustive review of the county\u2019s land area by parcel and identified the constraints that restrict development. The results of this analysis illustrate that in a county with about 1 million people and a mature land use pattern, relatively few properties are entirely unconstrained by legal, physical or economic barriers to development.<\/p>\n

In turn, these limitations make it difficult to accommodate our growing population, contribute to high housing costs and risk pushing development farther from job and activity centers, exacerbating traffic and environmental problems.<\/p>\n

Montgomery County is more than 500 square miles in size or about 324,000 acres. At 93,000 acres, our award-winning Agricultural Reserve<\/a>, where development rights are extremely limited, comprises almost a third of that land area, constraining new building even more.<\/p>\n

Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve<\/h4>\n\"Agricultural\n

Sensitive natural environments, requiring conservation and protections, also limit development. They include wetlands, stream buffers, forest conservation easements and, of course, parks. Including the Agricultural Reserve, the total area affected by these environmental restrictions is almost 250,000 acres \u2013 leaving only about 75,000 acres.<\/p>\n

Environmental Constraints Composite<\/h4>\n\"\"\n

Much of the county\u2019s land area is also subject to man-made constraints imposed by both public and private entities. In the series of images below, man-made constraints are represented in gray and red.<\/p>\n

Man-made Constraints by Type<\/h4>\n
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