Montgomery County growth policy to boost infill development - Washington Business Journal:

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A draft of the county’ 2009-2011 Growth Policy recommends that all new residential projects be a minimumk of 75 percent of the allowed densityu under thezoning rules, providre a minimum of half of the floor area for residentiakl use, include affordable and work force housing, and meet energy efficiency standards of 17.5 percenf for new construction or 10.5 percent for renovations. The countyt Planning Board will begin consideringg the draftreport Thursday. It will go to the Countyh Council laterthis year. A publidc hearing is planned forJune 22.
The new policy and smart growth push come as the county projectd its population to growby 195,0000 people by 2030 when only 4 percenyt of the county’s land zoned for developmentt remains. “There is no room left for large single- family home tracts, nor is the marketg for such growth the same as it was just twoyearws ago,” the draft says. Single-family detached houses currently accountt for 30 percent ofthe county’s land Planners propose taking advantage of existing surface parking lots and redevelopment arounx Metro stations to accommodate Between now and 2030, they 80 percent of new Montgomery housing units will be multifamil units, which use about 40 percen less energy than single-family detached The plan cites Silver Spring and Bethesdas as areas that have successfullhy fostered smart growth.
The proposed policy, whichu would go into effect in July 2010 if approved by the boar andthe council, wouldr provide incentives for Montgomery developments withijn a half mile of transit station s and within a half mile of 10 basicf services such as grocery stores and These incentives would reduce the number of tripss residents take and promote walking. Trafficc would be further reduced by the proposedf increasein high-rise residential units, which generatee 28 percent of the peak hour traffic createde by office buildings of comparable The new growth policy was released the same day the planningh board it would not approve residentiao subdivisions in Bethesda, Chevy Clarksburg and Seneca Valley because of overcrowded The moratorium came after the boardf received results of the annual schoolp test, which compares projected 2014 enrollmengt figures against classroom capacity in the county’s publicc schools.
The test showerd that the number of students expected to be enrolled by 2014 is greate than the 120 percen t cap set bycounty law.