Community members invited to testify about plan recommendations for land use, zoning, bikeways and pedestrian improvements
SILVER SPRING, MD –The Montgomery County Planning Board, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, will hold its formal public hearing for the Forest Glen/Montgomery Hills Sector Plan on Thursday, May 30, 2019 at the Montgomery County Planning Department (8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD). The hearing will begin at 7 p.m. in the auditorium.
View the Public Hearing Draft of the Forest Glen/Montgomery Hills Sector Plan online.
Community residents, business owners and other stakeholders interested in testifying at the hearing may sign up online at http://montgomeryplanningboard.org/meetings/signup-to-testify/sign-testify-form/. They can submit comments about the plan via email to mcp-chair@mncppc.org. These comments will become part of the public testimony and public record for the plan.
About the Forest Glen/Montgomery Hills Sector Plan
The planning area stretches along the Georgia Avenue corridor to encompass the Montgomery Hills commercial area and Forest Glen neighborhood located between 16th Street and North Medical Park Drive.
The plan is organized around the themes of Reconnect, Reinvest, Reimagine to encourage equitable, attractive development; provide housing choices for all incomes; and improve connectivity and open space. The Working Draft of the Forest Glen/Montgomery Hills Sector Plan includes the following strategies under the each of the three themes:
Reconnect: Restoring healthy relationships
- Introduce measures, such as Vision Zero, to improve safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, drivers and others who travel on Georgia Avenue.
- Prioritize multi-modal options and encourage alternatives to single-occupancy vehicular travel.
- Invest in infrastructure that creates access to opportunity.
Reinvest: Increasing the value of community places for enhanced experiences
- Create built environments that improve quality of life through public amenities, improved mobility and air and water quality, and safe and accessible public spaces.
- Encourage equitable development that preserves and strengthens the community.
- Ensure quality design that is compatible with the neighborhood and follows sustainable design practices.
Reimagine: Thinking about familiar places with new ideas
- Provide healthy, safe and affordable housing choices for people of all incomes, household sizes and stages of life.
- Create solutions for improved ecological health.
- Remedy past environmental impacts and protect against future ecological degradation.
The recommendations of the Working Draft of the Forest Glen/Montgomery Hills Sector Plan were presented to the community on March 19, 2019 and the current draft represents further refinements informed by ongoing dialogue with stakeholders.
Background on the Forest Glen/Montgomery Hills Sector Plan
The Montgomery County Planning Department launched the Forest Glen/Montgomery Hills Sector Plan in 2017 with a study of traffic conditions along the Georgia Avenue corridor from 16th Street in Silver Spring to the Forest Glen Metro Station.
Previous plans for the area, including the 1996 Forest Glen Sector Plan and 2000 Silver Spring North and West Master Plan, need to be updated due to recent changes planned for the corridor. The Maryland State Highway Administration initiated planning for road improvements along Georgia Avenue between 16th Street and the Capital Beltway, and these upgrades will affect properties on both sides of the road.
The Montgomery Planning team has explored ways of improving pedestrian and bicycle access, connectivity and safety within the Forest Glen/Montgomery Hills plan area. Strategies to help implement the county’s Vision Zero policy to eliminate traffic-related fatalities and severe injuries by 2030 will be included in the plan.
Opportunities for redevelopment at strategic locations to provide walkable, neighborhood-serving development were examined, as well as previous plans and studies of streetscape designs to improve sidewalks, street trees and lighting.
Staff presented the sector plan’s preliminary recommendations at a community meeting on December 4, 2018 and to the Planning Board on December 6, 2018. All previous meetings, presentations, videos and outreach materials related to the Forest Glen/Montgomery Hills Sector Plan are available at montgomeryplanning.org/forestglen.
For more information, contact lead planner Melissa Williams at 301-495-4642 or Melissa.Williams@montgomeryplanning.org.