Takoma Park Minor Master Plan Amendment

Equity in the Planning Process 

Equity in planning is a core tenet of Montgomery Planning’s master planning process as part of our Equity Agenda for Planning and it is one of the key outcomes of the plan’s recommendations. Takoma Park is racially and ethnically diverse and it was important our plan process captured the perspectives and experiences of all who are represented in an equitable manner. Our planners conducted comprehensive equitable engagement of the community during the master plan process. Planners understood that providing equitable recommendations meant ensuring there was equitable engagement.  

View the Takoma Park Minor Master Plan Amendment Community Engagement and Outreach Appendix 

From the outset of this plan, the approach to engagement included a variety of methods to reach the key audiences, which include residents, property owners, local government and institutions, small businesses, users of community facilities within the Plan Area and those who have a stake in the future of the area but may live outside the plan’s boundary. The equitable engagement activities included: 

• Multilingual canvassing at multifamily properties along Maple and Lee avenues (239 in-person interviews) and Washington Adventist University (85 interviews). 
• Translation of engagement materials in Spanish, French and Amharic  
• Outreach at farmers’ markets and “pop-up” efforts at neighborhood retail centers.  
• Meetings with civic and homeowners’ associations, community, and neighborhood organizations.  
• Regular communication with City of Takoma Park staff and City Council  
• An online questionnaire.  
• Posting signage throughout the plan area.  
• Participating in community events, including National Night Out and Bike to Work Day. 
• Hosting a community Open House in October 2022 (100+ attendees). 

In accordance with the county’s 2019 Racial Equity and Social Justice Act, the Montgomery County Planning Board’s review and approval of the plan included a review of the plan’s racial equity and social justice impacts. 

How this plan Advances Racial Equity and Social Justice

The Takoma Park Minor Master Plan Amendment is designed to achieve a reimagined community with new and improved uses for existing spaces and places, a reconnected community with improved, safe, and inviting ways to get to parks, shopping, and home, and a resilient community prepared to thrive in the face of climate change.  

Advancing racial equity and social justice is woven into each of those three main themes with specific recommendations to:  

• Preserve and expand affordable housing by: 
  • Prioritizing existing residents. 
  • Diversifying unit type. 
  • Preserving the number of existing affordable units.  
  • Upgrading existing affordable units.  

• Propose the development of new housing with inclusive affordability 
• Increase mixed-use zoning to create opportunities for commercial development to provide economic and employment opportunities for all residents. 
• Increase access to parks, open space, community gardens, and local healthy food production. 
• Study Takoma Park’s historic African American neighborhoods for potential future listing on the Master Plan for Historic Preservation and/or the National Register of Historic Places. 
• Promote cultural heritage and further exploration of the community’s past. 
• Connect the community through increased mobility options. 
• Support the creation of diverse and welcoming public spaces. 
• Provide ways to combat environmental inequities. 
• Improve access to Silver Spring & Takoma Park Red Line Metrorail stations, future Purple Line Stations Takoma Langley Crossroads and Arliss Street, MARC’s Brunswick Line, and multiple bus and shuttle routes.