SILVER SPRING, MD – Planners preparing a vision for the future of Long Branch will present their preliminary ideas to the Planning Board on Thursday, December 9. To ensure all community members can participate, the Planning Board will convene at the Long Branch Library.
Residents, property owners, developers and anyone interested in the community should consider attending the meeting, which will include a preview of recommendations for the proposed Long Branch Sector Plan before planners present a complete draft plan to the Planning Board later this winter or spring.
Preliminary ideas call for reinforcing the commercial uses at Flower Avenue and Arliss Street in a town center that would feature a community space. Planners also recommend continued diverse and affordable housing options and retention of small businesses. Other recommendations call for better pedestrian mobility and safety by improving connections to buses and the future Purple Line, proposed to run along University Boulevard, Piney Branch Road and Arliss Street.
Master and sector plans look ahead 15 to 20 years to create a long-range planning framework for each community. Sector plans typically inventory land uses and analyze zoning, transportation, community facilities, environmental assets, and historic structures, among other elements. The plans help planners and policy-makers – such as the Planning Board and County Council – set policy and evaluate proposed development.
Planners will develop a draft Long Branch Sector Plan and present it to the Planning Board later this winter or spring. After that, the Planning Board will schedule a public hearing on the plan. After a detailed review of the draft during a series of work sessions, the Planning Board will send its draft to the County Council for final review and approval.
To sign up to speak before the Board, go to www.montgomeryapps.org/planning_board/testify.asp, call 301-495-4601 or sign up at the meeting.
Who:
Montgomery County Planning Department
What:
Long Branch Sector Plan preliminary recommendations
When:
6:30 p.m. Thursday, December 9
Where:
Long Branch Library, 8800 Garland Avenue, 2nd floor
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