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Home / News / County Council Approves 2020-2024 Update to the Subdivision Staging Policy, Now to be Called the Growth and Infrastructure Policy

County Council Approves 2020-2024 Update to the Subdivision Staging Policy, Now to be Called the Growth and Infrastructure Policy

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Grosth and Infrastructure Policy
Council approves transformational updates to the county’s most important policy balancing infrastructure and growth, eliminating housing development moratoriums countywide, right-sizing impact payments for new development and renaming the policy to the Growth and Infrastructure Policy

Wheaton, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, is pleased to announce the approval of the 2020-2024 Subdivision Staging Policy, now to be called the Growth and Infrastructure Policy, by the Montgomery County Council on Monday, November 16, 2020. The intent of the Growth and Infrastructure Policy is to ensure public facilities, particularly schools and transportation infrastructure, are adequate to accommodate new development. Every four years, recommendations for policy updates are approved by the Planning Board before being reviewed and approved by the Council. This year’s update provided an enhanced focus on schools in relation to growth and development in Montgomery County. The transportation side of the policy evaluated transportation policy areas and updated multimodal infrastructure adequacy tests with a new focus on Vision Zero safety priorities.

The Council’s approval follows 18 work sessions, a public hearing and 17 months of work by Montgomery Planning and the Planning Board to work with stakeholders to update one of the most important policies in the county.

Key revisions in the 2020-2024 update include:


“The new growth and infrastructure policy sets the course for a better future for our county,” said Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson. “It puts an end to development moratoria that have proven ineffective in matching school capacity to our community’s needs and prevented the construction of badly-needed housing. It also makes it easier to build near transit, jobs, and amenities while focusing resources and attention on infrastructure to make walking, biking and transit safer and more attractive. This policy is among the most important steps the County Council has taken to improve our economic competitiveness while building more equitable and environmentally sustainable neighborhoods.”

“Many of our growth policies were initially created at a time when greenfield development was the norm,” said Gwen Wright, Planning Director. “This forward-thinking update to the growth policy now provides us with context-sensitive tools and solutions for a county that now sees mostly infill development.”

View the 2020-2024 Council Approved Growth and Infrastructure Policy

Key updates included in the 2020-2024 Growth & Infrastructure Policy:

Schools:

Transportation:

Impact Taxes:  

View the November 16, 2020 County Council staff report.

Growth and Infrastructure Policy Background

The Growth and Infrastructure Policy — one of the many ways that Montgomery Planning helps to preserve the excellent quality of life in Montgomery County — is based on having enough infrastructure to support growth. It includes criteria and guidance for the administration of Montgomery County’s Adequate Public Facility Ordinance (APFO), which matches the timing of private development with the availability of public infrastructure. Every four years, an effort to update the Growth and Infrastructure Policy originates with Montgomery Planning staff before working its way through the Planning Board and the County Council. The purpose is to ensure that the best available tools are used to test whether infrastructure like schools, transportation, water and sewer services can support future growth.

The 2020 update to the schools element of the policy included a review by an Urban Land Institute Virtual Advisory Services Panel (vASP) in April. Read the ULI Final Report and presentation. Learn more about the vASP’s review of the Growth and Infrastructure Policy.