In 2023, the Montgomery County Planning Department, the Montgomery County Executive, and the Montgomery County House of Delegates Delegation formed a workgroup to examine the county’s process for reviewing and approving development projects, with a special focus on ensuring the county remains economically competitive.
Following a five-month process, the Development Review Process Workgroup came to consensus on 22 recommendations to improve the development review process. The recommendations were crafted from input from members of the public, as well as detailed consideration by a large interagency body convened to improve every element of the development review process for the benefit of Montgomery County and its residents, business owners, and real estate developers. The 22 recommendations approved for the Workgroup include changes to state law, public notices and involvement, agency coordination, and more.
On November 21, 2024, Montgomery Planning and Montgomery County Department of Permitting Services Deputy Director staff briefed the Montgomery County Planning Board on the progress made on each workgroup recommendation. Read more about our progress in the latest Third Place blog post.
Read the Development Review Process Workgroup report.
Recommendations of the Development Review Process Workgroup
State Law Recommendations
- Codify language in State Law limiting SHA review time to 30 days. This change will align the SHA review time with County DOT review time and ensure the applicant has all transportation comments at the same time so they can address them efficiently while staying on schedule. VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
- Add specific language in State Law that allows for conditional Planning Board approval of plats. This change would allow an applicant to receive Planning Board approval of a plat while the plat is still circulating for signatures and other administrative tasks. Once the plat is conditionally approved by the Planning Board, it does not need to go back if the conditions are met. This change will save up to 3 weeks for the applicant in the plat process. VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
- Explore the use of digital signatures on plats and allow for the archiving of digital plats.
- Using digital signatures on plats could save time but future discussion and research is needed to see what changes can be made at the State level where mylars are required and discussion with engineering firms and surveyors need to occur to determine whether they have the ability to facilitate digital signatures. This will require action by the State, the Planning Board and DPS.
- Propose a change to the Real Property Article to change State Law to allow the Archivist to accept digital plats. VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
Non-State Recommendations
- Propose changes to the Administrative Procedures for Development Review and the Zoning Ordinance increasing notice requirements to HOAs and civic associations to 1 mile in all zones. This change will increase the number of HOAs and civic associations that will be noticed with each application. This will require action by the Planning Board and the County Council.
VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
- Create an opt-in email list for notice of all projects, which will be used to send presubmission meeting notices from the applicant, will be offered to pre-submission meeting attendees, and will be posted on the Planning Department website for individuals who wish to receive regular DRC agendas from the Planning Department. This will require action by the Planning Department.
VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
- Update the sign template for clarity and include a QR code linked to the project for ease of access. This will require action by the Planning Department.
VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
- Evaluate the intake process to reduce the amount of time from the receipt of the initial application to the date of acceptance of the application by reducing the number of repeat submittals. This will require action by the Planning Department.
VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
- Provide training on intake for applicants and their consultants that is recorded and uploaded to the Planning Department website for future reference. This will require action by the Planning Department.
VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
- Allow submittal of Certified Site Plans prior to issuance of the resolution clarifying that plans cannot be approved without the resolution. This will require action by the Planning Board and possibly the Council.VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
- Publish review timelines related to permitting processes on the Department of Permitting Services (DPS) website. This will require action by DPS.
VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
- Pursue a Zoning Text Amendment to allow sediment control permits to be issued prior to site plan bonding. This will require action by the County Council.
VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
- Allow a Right of Way bond to be based upon the approved Site Plan and 125% of the cost estimate. This will allow the Applicant to receive approval of a bond without A engineering construction documents. This change will speed up the Record Plat approval process since bonding is required prior to Record Plat approval. This will require action by DPS.
VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
- Improve coordination between DPS and the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) to ensure consistency between comments made at Preliminary Plan and those made at Site Plan and make certain the Applicant is clear on who is responsible at each stage. This will require action by DPS and MCDOT.VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
- Update the Lead Agency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) during fiscal year 2024 to address clarity on decisions and responsibilities/authority of MOU signatories – particularly for DPS, MCDOT, and Planning Board – related to improvements in the Right of Way, access and loading, traffic, safety, on-site development issues, and conflict resolution, consistent with state and county law. All signatories will also engage in an updating process to correct agency and other archaic references in the current Lead Agency MOU. Ensure that any related documents impacted by the update are also in agreement. This will require action by all parties of the original MOU.VOTE: PASS – Yes -16, No-1
• Objection – WSSC (not currently a part of MOU signatories)
- Evaluate the potential for a more streamlined review of administrative review processes. This will require action by the Planning Board and possibly the County Council.
VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
- Evaluate and address the representation of East County from a planning, permitting, infrastructure, economic development, and marketing perspective, and as part of this review, the Planning Department should evaluate whether to update its planning area maps to recognize East County as a distinct region. This will require coordinated action by the Planning Department, county agencies, and community stakeholders.VOTE: PASS – Yes -15, No-1, Abstain -1
• Objection – Developer (outside the scope of the development review process)
• Abstained – Developer - Require an Applicant’s affidavit from the pre-submission meeting be attached to the Staff Report. It should include a summary of concerns raised by the community at the pre-submittal meeting and the applicant’s response to those concerns (issue addressed, change made, ‘can’t be done under current law’, etc.). The staff report should also include a specific section on community concerns that have been raised and how these concerns were addressed by the applicant. This will require action by the Planning Department.VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
- Require Applicants to provide an overview of opportunities for public comment and participation during the application review process at the pre-submittal meeting. This will require action by the Planning Department.VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
- Establish a Planning and Development Citizens’ Education Academy similar to the citizen education academies in Howard County and Baltimore City, with a priority to focus on regions of the County and population groups historically under-represented in the zoning, planning, and permitting processes, and support the establishment of a workgroup to recommend the scope and structure of the Academy. This will require action by the Planning Department and the Department of Permitting Services, in consultation with Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) and the Office for Racial Equity and Social Justice (ORESJ).VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
- Investigate how to improve notice and inclusion practices for the Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) community in the development review process. This will require action by the Planning Department.VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
- Process applications for water and sewer category changes in a more timely manner; while not directly part of the Development Review Process, category changes can impact a property’s ability to submit an application for development review. This will require action by the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
- Require clear response and communication with stakeholders whose comments were not reviewed by the workgroup due to insufficient time. Ensure that all comments submitted to the workgroup are included as an attachment to the main body of the report and that a county agency or the Planning Department is identified as the responsible party to respond. This will requ ire action by the Planning Department and county agencies.VOTE: PASS UNANIMOUSLY
About the Development Review Process Workgroup
Workgroup members
Chair: Delegate Lesley Lopez (D-District 39)
Representatives:
- Montgomery Planning: Robert Kronenberg, Christina Sorrento
- Montgomery Parks: Henry Coppola
- Montgomery County Council: Pam Dunn and Livhu Ndou
- Montgomery County Executive’s Office: Meredith Wellington and Tom Lewis
- Montgomery County Department of Permitting Services: Ehsan Motazedi
- Montgomery County Department of Transportation: Tim Cupples
- Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection: Steven Shofar
- Director of the Montgomery County Office of Racial Equity & Social Justice: Tiffany Ward
- Maryland State Highway Administration: Kwesi Woodroffe
- WSSC: Karem Carpio
- Pepco: Danielle Freedman
- Washington Gas: David Shults
- Development Community: Katherine Kubit, Gary Unterberg
- Broader Community: Amanda Farber, Charisse Scott
- Senator Ben Kramer’s office: Diane S. Jones
Workgroup principles
The workgroup will support the following principles:
- Montgomery County residents and applicants for development approvals deserve the best and most efficient process, while neither minimizing public participation, racial equity and social justice, nor compromising on safety, transportation access, or environmental standards in approved plans.
- Montgomery County has the assets to be the best county in the region for economic development and improving the development review process will help ensure a better economic development environment for all.
- All parties are striving to create the best Montgomery County that we can and recognize that every person’s experience tells a story that needs to be heard and respected.
Development Review Process Workgroup Listening Sessions
- Thursday, June 22, 2023 – Occurred from 2 to 4 p.m. at County Council Office Building, 100 Maryland Avenue, 3rd floor Hearing Room, Rockville, MD 20850. Watch the meeting on demand.
- Tuesday, July 18, 2023 – Occurred from 2 to 4 p.m. at the M-NCPPC Wheaton Headquarters, 2425 Reedie Drive, 2nd floor, Wheaton, MD 20902. Watch the meeting on demand.
- Wednesday, August 2, 2023 – Virtual-only meeting was held from 6 to 8 p.m. Watch the meeting on demand.
Participation at the Listening Sessions
Community members were invited to provide feedback at each of the public meetings on the development review process. In addition to the public listening session meetings, the Development Review Process Workgroup met on a regular basis between June and September as listed below.
- Friday, June 9, 2023 – The hybrid meeting was held from 10 a.m. to 12 noon at M-NCPPC Wheaton Headquarters (Watch the June 9 meeting on demand).
- Tuesday, June 27, 2023 – The hybrid meeting was held from 2 to 6 p.m. at M-NCPPC Wheaton Headquarters. (Watch the June 27 meeting on demand)
- Wednesday, July 12, 2023 – Hybrid meeting was held from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at M-NCPPC Wheaton Headquarters. (Watch the July 12 meeting on demand)
- Friday, July 28, 2023 – The hybrid meeting was from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at M-NCPPC Wheaton Headquarters. (Watch the July 28 meeting on demand)
- Tuesday, August 8, 2023 – Hybrid meeting was from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at M-NCPPC Wheaton Headquarters. (Watch the August 8 meeting on demand)
- Thursday, August 24, 2023 – Hybrid meeting was from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at M-NCPPC Wheaton Headquarters. (Watch the August 24 meeting on demand)
- Wednesday, September 13, 2023 – Hybrid meeting was from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at M-NCPPC Wheaton Headquarters (Watch the September 13 meeting on demand)
- Wednesday, September 20, 2023 – Hybrid meeting was from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at M-NCPPC Wheaton Headquarters (Watch the September 20, 2023)
- Wednesday, September 27, 2023 – Hybrid meeting was from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at M-NCPPC Wheaton Headquarters (Watch the September 27, 2023)