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Montgomery Village

Montgomery Village Master Plan

The Approved and Adopted Master Plan is available.

Montgomery Village is a 2,435-acre planned community that was created in 1965 based on “new town” principles and the County’s General Plan, which identified the Gaithersburg area as a “corridor city.  Montgomery Village is located in the center of Montgomery County, east of I-270 and north of I-370, adjacent to the City of Gaithersburg. Montgomery Village is served by several roadways, including its Main Street, Montgomery Village Avenue and is a well-establish community with 40,000 residents. The Village is primarily a residential community with several locally serving retail centers. One of its most unique aspects is the extensive recreational opportunities, which are available to all Montgomery Village residents by virtue of automatic membership in the Montgomery Village Foundation.

The Master Plan builds on the assets of Montgomery Village through five major recommendations:

  • Preserve the Village’s character: Built in the 1960s by Kettler Brothers, Montgomery Village was purposefully planned with a vast range of housing types.  From the apartment communities clustered in the lower Village to the grand colonials of Whetstone, the homes appeal to different lifestyles with a wide selection of designs and prices for residents. The Master Plan recommends preserving this variety and expanding housing choices in the future.
  • Maintain the public recreation and open spaces: The Village’s sylvan environment is one of its greatest assets. The Master Plan strongly recommends that its recreation and open spaces be maintained and preserved. When new development or redevelopment occurs, developers should emulate the Kettlers’ town planning principles to provide ample green spaces, vistas and recreational opportunities.  Additional trail connections, with natural or hard surfaces, should be provided to enhance community connectivity.
  • Encourage reinvestment: Small town autonomy includes conveniently located retail centers throughout the community. The Village’s six centers serve the everyday retail needs of residents; however, over several decades, as retail competition has grown in the mid-County area, consumer preferences have shifted, as has the tenant mix in the Village’s centers. Limited redevelopment opportunities exist in the Village and the Master Plan strongly recommends a sustainable and competitive Village Center.  Short blocks with identifiable edges to reinforce the mixed uses and the introduction of new housing units can potentially transform the suburban blocks into walkable, connected and inviting public spaces, reinvigorating a sense of community and creating attractive centers for community life.
  • Enhance connectivity: The Master Plan encourages increased options for mobility and connectivity by all modes — transit, walking, biking and private motor vehicles. The Village’s private street network, coupled with many trails and pedestrian connections, offers unique opportunities to enhance multimodal links. Montgomery Village can improve connectivity for pedestrians and bicyclists by providing missing links to open spaces, parks, the Village Center and other destinations around the community and beyond.
  • Montgomery Village Overlay Zone: The Master Plan recommends an overlay zone as an implementation measure, as large-scale rezoning of this kind is unique and concerns have been raised about its implementation and potential consequences.  The Montgomery Village Overlay Zone is intended to preserve the unique Village character; protect existing open space and conservation areas; and ensure a compatible relationship between new and existing development.

In 2015, a significant milestone occurred for Montgomery Village’s Town Sector zone due to the following language in the Zoning Ordinance “…application for reclassification shall not be permitted until 50 years after the grant of the town sector zone.” Essentially that meant zones other than Town Sector (TS) can be considered and applied for after 2015. This Plan addressed the Town Sector Zone (which was retained and not modified by the Zoning Rewrite) by recommending all land within the Master Plan area to be rezoned. Approximately 95% of the zoning recommendations preserve the existing uses and densities within the Village and these areas were designated to be a comparable zone to what was “on the ground” when the Master Plan was in progress.

UPDATE! The Approved and Adopted Montgomery Village Master Plan is now available to download.

Transportation Appendix [PDF] (Appendix 1, October 2015)

Montgomery Village Demographics [PDF] (Appendix 2, October 2015)

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