Planner and architect oversaw master plans, development review and design projects for the County’s largest area
SILVER SPRING, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, is announcing the retirement of John Carter, AIA, who served as the Chief of several divisions. As the Chief of the Community-Based Planning Division for more than 10 years, Carter was responsible for overseeing master plans, zoning cases and urban design projects. As the Chief of Area 3, he was responsible for master planning and development review in the largest geographic area of the county. He also served as Chief of the Urban Design and Historic Preservation Division for two years.
“Over his 37 years with the Planning Department, John Carter has been at the heart of many of the most important and creative projects that we have done,” says Planning Director Gwen Wright. “From efforts in the 1980s to make Downtown Bethesda a vibrant, transit-oriented neighborhood to current efforts to create great communities in Germantown and Clarksburg, John has played a major role and has left his imprint throughout the County. He has given us some fantastic plans and projects to build on.”
Carter participated in the preparation of more than 20 master plans, including six Metrorail station areas, several affordable housing initiatives, major urban design projects and sustainable neighborhood planning projects.
Among his most notable accomplishments are:
- Sector plans for the business districts of Bethesda, Friendship Heights and Silver Spring.
- Master plans and urban design plans for the transformation of the Twinbrook and Shady Grove Metro station areas.
- Master plans for corridor cities and satellite towns, including Clarksburg, Damascus and Olney.
- Plans for the protection and enhancement of rural communities, including Burtonsville, Sandy Spring and Upper Rock Creek.
- Urban design plans for Montgomery College in South Silver Spring, Blair High School in Four Corners and Strathmore Concert Hall, as well as the adjacent residential community in Grosvenor.
- A development review process that created opportunities for the Bethesda Round House Theater, Bethesda Blues and Jazz Club, Friendship Heights Recreation Center and the NOAA Science and History Center and Park in Silver Spring.
- Sustainable neighborhood planning projects in the I-270 Technology Corridor.
- Collaboration with Federal, State and Montgomery County agencies to create opportunities for the expansion of NIH, FDA, HHS, NIST and public schools through the mandatory referral process.
- Master plans and development review projects that foster the preservation of agriculture and rural open space in the 93,000 acre Agricultural Reserve.
Carter is a licensed architect and planner, and a member of the American Planning Association and American Institute of Architects. He received a Master of Planning degree from the University of Virginia, a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Virginia Tech and a Bachelor of Architecture with Distinction from Arizona State University.
Over his career, John received numerous awards for excellence in planning and urban design from the National Capital Chapter of the American Planning Association, Potomac Valley Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Bethesda Chamber of Commerce and the Bruner Foundation.
Prior to joining the Montgomery County Planning Department in 1978, John worked as an architect for the Perkins and Will Partnership in Washington, D.C.
“Of the hundreds of planners I have been privileged to know, John stands out for three great qualities,” says Royce Hanson who served as Planning Board Chair from 1972 to 1981 and 2006 to 2010. These strengths include Carter’s “unwarranted optimism,” his talent as an accomplished designer and the respect he earned from professionals and communities.
“There was never a calamity so great or a wall of opposition so high and intense that John did not cheerfully think could be resolved, and as a result, it often was,” notes Hanson. “His optimism was buttressed by being an accomplished designer, enabling him to incorporate the concerns of interested parties into a creative resolution that made things better. Some of the best places in the county bear his imprint.”