Planning Board approves quadrennial update to the policy determining adequacy of public facilities for new development; County Council will review for final approval.
Wheaton, Md. – The Montgomery County Planning Board, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), transmitted the recommended 2024-2028 Growth and Infrastructure Policy (GIP) to the Montgomery County Council for review on August 1, 2024. The Planning Board unanimously approved the policy’s recommended updates on July 18, 2024.
Updated every four years, the GIP ensures infrastructure, such as roads, sidewalks, and schools is adequate to support growth and that the tools used for evaluating and mitigating the impact of new development on essential public facilities reflect the county’s latest growth context and policy priorities.
Read the 2024-2028 GIP Planning Board Draft.
“Our recommended updates to the growth policy ensure the county can continue to strengthen economic development opportunities while supporting transportation networks and school communities with the infrastructure needed to meet expected population and employment growth,” said Planning Board Chair Artie Harris. “The recommended GIP update is forward-thinking by aligning with the county’s goals of promoting housing for all, achieving racial equity and social justice, fighting climate change, and harnessing economic development tools to create thriving communities.”
The Planning Board approved the GIP update following a May 23 public hearing and six livestreamed work sessions through the end of July with staff from The M-NCPPC’s Montgomery County Planning Department, which developed the GIP update recommendations.
“The GIP is vital to ensuring the county is meeting the evolving needs of a growing and diverse population,” said Montgomery Planning Director Jason K. Sartori. “We have shifted from a growth policy decades ago that was appropriate as farmland was converted into neighborhoods, to one that complements the infill and redevelopment of maturing neighborhoods, major employment centers, town centers, and downtowns that we see today.”
Focus of the 2024-2028 GIP update
The updated policy recommendations advance implementation of Thrive Montgomery 2050, the county’s recently approved and adopted General Plan, and focus on three areas: schools infrastructure adequacy, transportation infrastructure adequacy, and the fees (impact taxes) developers pay to help fund schools and transportation infrastructure improvements.
Key Recommendations:
- Offer a 50% impact-tax discount for developers that build single-family attached and detached units that are 1,800 square feet or smaller.
- Exempt projects from impact taxes that convert office space to residential units and projects that build multi-family housing 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 the 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.
- To further promote multimodal travel in the county, require a Local Area Transportation Review (LATR) for a proposed development project expected to generate 50 or more peak-hour vehicle trips, instead of the current 50 or more person trips. LATR is the process that evaluates the area surrounding a proposed development and forecasts the development’s impacts on transportation infrastructure.
- Improve the financial feasibility of affordable housing development projects by waiving the transportation mitigation requirements for the affordable units.
Next Steps
On September 10, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. the County Council will hold its public hearing on the Growth and Infrastructure Policy. Individuals may sign up to testify on the County County’s website.
After the public hearing, there will be work sessions on the policy with both the Planning, Housing, and Parks Committee (transportation and schools element) and the Government Operations Committee (impact tax recommendations) in September and October. Then the policy will head to the full council for review. The policy must be adopted by November 15, 2024, as required by county law.
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 our GIP eletter 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.