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Special Projects

Neighborhood Change in the Washington Metropolitan Area  – Using public U.S. Decennial Census and American Community Survey data, Montgomery Planning has investigated neighborhood change across Montgomery County and the Washington, DC, metropolitan region in support of more equitable and data-driven decision making.

Demographic Profile of Montgomery County’s Council Districts –This report provides a profile of each of the newly drawn seven Montgomery County Council districts and the county overall using block group-level data from the 2020 American Community Survey 5-year estimates. It includes detailed data on population characteristics, households, and employment.

Accessibility and Land Development: Transportation Systems and the Growth of Montgomery County, from 1885 to 2020 – Staff from Research & Strategic Projects created an Esri Story Map that discusses and visualizes Montgomery County’s urban development and development of transportation infrastructure from 1885 to 2020. Animation uses subdivision plats to track how access improvements influence urban growth.

Studies on the Potential for University Research Center Expansion to Montgomery County – Montgomery County Planning and the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) collaborated to explore the potential for a research university or institute located in the County to spur innovation and strengthen the local economy.

Colocation of Public Facilities – The Planning Department has led several interagency initiatives to advance the colocation of public facilities in Montgomery County. Colocation is the sharing of real estate (land and facilities) and operational services (technology, infrastructure) by two or more organizations and offers many benefits, including service efficiency, resource conservation and operational cost-effectiveness.

Master Plan Check-up (2019) – The purpose of this project, a continuation of the Master Plan Reality Check (MPRC) study, was to identify a common set of basic indicators that could be easily tracked across all master plans. Following the MPRC, the Planning Board requested staff to explore expanding these types of monitoring efforts to other completed, but more recently drafted, master plans. Using the lessons learned from the MPRC, staff evaluated the 20 master plans drafted since 2010, selected six master plans that were feasible to analyze with this approach, and created a set of consistent indicators for all the plans, looking at residential and non-residential development, Community Facilities (Schools & Parks), and Transportation.

Master Plan Reality Check (2017) – This study evaluates an important, often overlooked part of the planning process: to what extent a plan’s vision was achieved and worked as expected. The study was initiated to analyze the degree to which a select sample of master plans have realized the vision, densities, land uses, infrastructure and amenities prescribed in their respective recommendations. By assessing the difference between a plan’s aspirations and on-the-ground reality, the study shed light on why some plan aspects materialized as envisioned and others did not.