Montgomery Planning developed the 2024-2028 update to the policy that determines adequacy of public facilities for new development.
Wheaton, Md. – The Montgomery County Council unanimously voted on November 12 to approve the 2024-2028 Growth and Infrastructure Policy (GIP), which was developed by the Montgomery County Planning Department and recommended by the Montgomery County Planning Board, both part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC). Updated every four years, the GIP ensures infrastructure – such as roads, sidewalks, and school capacity – is adequate to support growth and that the tools used for evaluating and mitigating the impact of new development on communities reflect the county’s latest growth context and policy priorities.
Read the 2024-2028 Growth and Infrastructure Policy resolution.
Read the County Council’s news release.
“The latest Growth and Infrastructure Policy is a significant step forward in implementing Montgomery County’s General Plan, Thrive Montgomery 2050, which guides sustainable growth over the next three decades” said Planning Board Chair Artie Harris. “The 2024-2028 GIP helps promote building more housing in the county by improving development conditions and enhancing predictability and transparency in the process.”
“The 2024-2028 GIP better aligns with the county’s priorities to enhance quality of life in every county community,” said Montgomery Planning Director Jason K. Sartori. “This update makes the policy simpler and provides greater flexibility for needed new development while ensuring the surrounding community’s transportation and school infrastructure can accommodate that development.”
The Planning Board approved the GIP update following a May 23 public hearing and six livestreamed work sessions through the end of July with Montgomery Planning staff and transmitted the GIP’s Planning Board Draft to the County Council on August 1 for review. The Council’s Planning, Housing and Parks (PHP) Committee held three meetings in September and October to review the GIP, and then the full Council held meetings on October 15 and October 22 to review the policy and take straw votes.
The Council also voted on November 12 to enact Bill 16-24, which contained the Planning Board’s recommended changes to impact taxes. Developers pay the county impact taxes to help fund school and transportation infrastructure improvements within their projects’ surrounding communities. The bill was introduced to the Council on September 10 and a public hearing was held on October 1. The Government Operations and Fiscal Policy (GO) Committee reviewed the legislation at meetings on October 10 and October 17 and made recommendations for the full Council’s review. While impact taxes are not a part of the GIP, they are closely related, and Planning staff and the Planning Board often review and make recommendations on impact taxes in tandem with the GIP update.
Highlights of 2024-2028 GIP and impact tax bill
The policy and county code updates focus on three areas: school infrastructure adequacy, transportation infrastructure adequacy, and impact taxes.
- Incentivize the production of smaller, more affordable housing by exempting transportation impact taxes for developers that build single-family attached and detached units that are 1,800 square feet or smaller, or that are 2,200 square feet or smaller if there is an attached garage.
- Facilitate office-to-residential conversions by exempting these projects from transportation impact taxes when the office building is adaptively reused, renovated, or demolished for housing projects.
- Encourage the construction of housing units in multi-family buildings suitable for households with children by exempting transportation impact taxes for projects that build multi-family residential units with three or more bedrooms.
- Allow funds collected from developers as Utilization Premium Payments (UPPs) to not only be used to improve capacity infrastructure at the school that is serving a development project, but also be used for capital projects that add capacity infrastructure at adjacent schools. UPPs are in addition to the impact taxes developers must pay as part of the cost of their projects.
- Improve the financial feasibility of affordable housing development projects by waiving the transportation mitigation requirements for Mixed Income Housing Communities.
- Convene a working group across county government with external stakeholders to explore additional financing and funding mechanisms to better meet infrastructure needs.
Policy resources
- Visit the Growth and Infrastructure Policy webpage. The Resources section includes recordings of community engagement and prior GIP presentations to the Planning Board.
- Community members are encouraged to sign up for Montgomery Planning’s GIP e-letter to remain updated and informed.
More about the Growth and Infrastructure Policy
The Growth and Infrastructure Policy ensures infrastructure is adequate 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 before working its way through the Planning Board and the Montgomery County Council for final approval. 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. View the 2020-2024 Growth and Infrastructure Policy.