Public is invited to testify about planning recommendations for improved connectivity, multi-modal safety and opportunities for enhanced communities along Veirs Mill Road from Wheaton to Rockville
SILVER SPRING, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Board, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, will hold a public hearing for the Veirs Mill Corridor Master Plan on Thursday, April 26, 2018 at the Planning Department headquarters (8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD). The planning recommendations address land use and zoning; urban design; transportation; parks, trails and open spaces; sustainability and community facilities.
One of the chief goals of the plan is to improve safety for pedestrians, cyclists and public transit users within the Veirs Mill corridor, in accordance with Montgomery County’s Vision Zero policy, which has a goal to eliminate traffic-related fatalities and severe injuries by 2030.
View the Veirs Mill Corridor Master Plan Public Hearing Draft.
The community is invited to testify about the Veirs Mill Corridor Master Plan. Consult the Planning Board web site to sign up online within 10 days before the public hearing on April 26. The public can also submit comments about the plan via email to mcp-chair@mncppc-mc.org by 9 a.m. on April 25. These comments will become part of the public testimony and public record for the plan.
A digital GIS-based feedback map for the plan allows residents to provide comments online based on the three categories of recommendations: safety, connectivity and community enhancement. Staff has considered this feedback in preparing the Veirs Mill Corridor Master Plan Public Hearing Draft and the public can still add comments to the Veirs Mill Preliminary Recommendations Feedback Map through early May 2018.
About the Veirs Mill Corridor Master Plan
The Montgomery County Planning Department, under the guidance of the Montgomery County Planning Board and Montgomery County Council, initiated the Veirs Mill Corridor Master Plan in January 2017. In developing the plan, staff received feedback from the community and reviewed current land uses and existing conditions in order to make recommendations for improvements in the area.
The Veirs Mill Corridor Master Plan extends approximately four miles, from the City of Rockville to the Wheaton Central Business District and Vicinity Sector Plan boundary. The plan boundaries roughly correspond to a ¼-mile area around each of the bus rapid transit (BRT) stations identified in the 2013 Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan.
The Veirs Mill Corridor Master Plan includes the following strategies:
- Evaluates and provide recommendations to guide future land uses along the Veirs Mill Road corridor from Wheaton to Rockville.
- Develops recommendations to improve the compatibility between the land uses adjacent to Veirs Mill Road and the future bus rapid transit corridor.
- Offers recommendations to improve pedestrian and bicycle accessibility, connectivity and safety within the plan area.
- Explores opportunities for redevelopment at strategic locations to provide more walkable, neighborhood-serving development.
- Considers a comprehensive streetscape design and opportunities for placemaking within the corridor.
The Veirs Mill Corridor Master Plan complements the Veirs Mill Road BRT Study recently completed by the Maryland State Highway Administration in coordination with the Montgomery County Department of Transportation. This transit study evaluated alternatives for BRT service along Veirs Mill Road between Wheaton and Rockville, originally recommended as part of the 2013 Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan.
Learn more about the Veirs Mill Corridor Master Plan by signing up for the plan e-newsletter. For more information, contact lead planner Jessica McVary at Jessica.McVary@montgomeryplanning.org.