The Clarksburg Gateway Sector Plan will be looked at this week by Montgomery Planning. It is an update to the 1994 Clarksburg Master Plan & Hyattstown Special Study Area, which was last revised with the 2014 10 Mile Creek Area Limited Amendment.
The Sector Plan focuses on the major employment area located in the Transit District Corridor as envisioned in the 1994 Plan. The Clarksburg Gateway Sector Plan will evaluate the Plan area’s trends and conditions and develop strategies to align the vision, recommendations, and overall staging requirements for the plan area with the county’s adopted plans, policies, and priorities.
The Sector Plan will also provide recommendations for land use, zoning, urban design, transportation, environment, historic preservation, and community facilities and will incorporate countywide initiatives into the plan area. Specifically, the Sector Plan will look at predominantly undeveloped portions of the Clarksburg employment area on the east side of I-270. This memorandum presents the Scope of Work for the Sector Plan, including the proposed boundary, purpose, context, background of the plan area, overall planning framework, elements to explore, public engagement strategy, and the plan schedule.
Background: The purpose of this document is to define the Scope of Work and boundary for the Clarksburg Gateway Sector Plan (“the Plan”), an amendment to the 1994 Clarksburg Master Plan and Hyattstown Special Study Area (“1994 Plan”). The 1994 Plan was previously amended by the 2011 Clarksburg Master Plan and Hyattstown Special Study Area Limited Amendment (“2011 Limited Plan Amendment”) and the 2014 10 Mile Creek Area Limited Amendment (“2014 10 Mile Creek Plan”).
The Clarksburg Gateway Sector Plan will evaluate land use, zoning, transportation, environmental, and historic preservation recommendations for the Plan area to determine if a new mix of land uses and zoning would be more appropriate. Additionally, this Plan may require adjustments to other recommendations in the 1994 Plan or the 2011 or 2014 amendments, including interchange design, recommended street alignments, staging of retail development, transportation corridors, and environmental recommendations.
The Clarksburg Gateway Sector Plan will also evaluate the Plan area’s market trends and conditions and develop strategies to align the vision and recommendations for the Plan area with the county’s adopted plans, policies, and priorities. Specifically, the Plan will look at predominantly undeveloped and partially developed portions of the Clarksburg area located on the east side of I-270 south of Clarksburg Road. This area has remained largely unchanged since the 1994 Plan was approved due to the lack of employment demand and inadequate transportation options.
PLAN AREA: The Plan area consists of approximately 969 acres and is generally bounded by I-270 to the west, West Old Baltimore Road and the Little Seneca Greenway to the south, Clarksburg Road to the north, and Frederick Road (MD 355) to the east (see Figure 1). This area is largely within the Upper Little Seneca South subwatershed of Little Seneca Creek—part of the Clarksburg Special Protection Area. The Plan area also includes two small extensions to reevaluate transportation recommendations from the 1994 Plan: a small area that crosses I-270 where there is a planned interchange and an extension south of the 1994 Plan area to reach the current northern terminus of Observation Drive when heading north from the Germantown area.
The boundary includes most of the properties located within the Transit Corridor District (a planned neighborhood from the 1994 Plan described below) west of Frederick Road (MD 355). Major properties in the Plan area include the Gateway 270 office park, the former Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT) property, Clarksburg High School, Rocky Hill Middle School, and the residential neighborhoods of Gateway Commons, Gallery Park (formerly Eastside), Hurley Ridge, Clarksburg Square (formerly Garnkirk Farms), and Dowden’s Station. Other parts of the 1994 Plan have largely been developed according to the 1994 Plan or have been evaluated as part of the 2014 10 Mile Creek.
Full document available here, by Montgomery Planning.