Planners will develop planning concepts based on community feedback, focusing on techniques to preserve village character of business district in Ashton
SILVER SPRING, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, invites community members to attend a two-day community design workshop at the Sandy Spring Museum (17901 Bentley Road, Sandy Spring, MD) to discuss and develop strategies for the Ashton Village Center Sector Plan. The Ashton Village Center Sector Plan covers approximately 125 acres around the intersection of New Hampshire Avenue and Olney-Sandy Spring Road (MD 108).
The design workshop will be held on Tuesday, October 15 and Wednesday, October 16. The session on October 15 starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. at the Sandy Spring Museum. The community part of the workshop on October 16 starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 1 p.m. at the museum. A public presentation of the ideas and planning concepts generated by participants will be made on October 16 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Planners will begin the workshop by providing an overview of the planning process and placemaking principles that will inform the Ashton Village Center Sector Plan. They will then develop an overall planning concept based on community feedback. During the afternoon of October 15, a walk audit will be conducted with the Maryland State Highway Administration to assess pedestrian conditions along MD 108 and New Hampshire Avenue. On October 16, analyses of specific sites within the plan area will be completed before community ideas about the plan are discussed with attendees and other interested residents.
RSVP to the workshop on October 15 and 16.
Learn more about the Ashton Village Center Sector Plan.
About the Ashton Village Center Sector Plan
The plan will evaluate land use, zoning, transportation, environment, design and other relevant issues in Ashton, a historic crossroads community east of Olney. This sector plan follows the 2015 Sandy Spring Rural Village Plan, which evaluated similar issues in the village of Sandy Spring, just west of Ashton.
One important focus will be a review of the Sandy Spring-Ashton Rural Village Overlay Zone in light of Montgomery County’s 2014 comprehensive revision of its zoning ordinance. Zones applied through the revision have enabled finer-grained management of land uses, densities and building heights than was possible under the previous ordinance.
The existing Sandy Spring-Ashton Rural Village Overlay Zone was created to ensure a “village scale” of development in the business districts of both Sandy Spring and Ashton. It limits uses, densities and building heights. The sector plan will reevaluate the overlay zone, as well as the current underlying zones in Ashton and recommend adjustments if needed to comply with the 2014 county zoning ordinance.
For more information, contact lead planner Fred Boyd at tel. 301-495-4654 or Fred.Boyd@montgomeryplanning.org.