Montgomery Planning

The Montgomery County Planning Department, announced the winners of the biennial Design Excellence Awards competition at Celebrate Design 2023 held October 19 at M-NCPPC’s Wheaton Headquarters. An independent jury of accomplished design and development professionals honored two developments with Design Excellence Awards and three developments with Merit Awards that exemplify Montgomery County’s best architecture and building design. The Celebrate Design event was co-hosted by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Potomac Valley Chapter, which presented its Design and Leadership Awards.

“The M-NCPPC was honored to once again host the Design Excellence Awards which showcase the artistry and innovation shaping Montgomery County’s outstanding places and spaces millions of residents and visitors enjoy,” said Montgomery Planning Board Chair Artie Harris.  “This was an evening to recognize and celebrate the great achievements in urban design and architecture that help promote more residential and community-serving developments that support our wonderful downtown, suburban, and rural neighborhoods.”

Policy addresses adequacy of Montgomery County’s public facilities as part of the development approval process; community invited to October 17 informational meeting

The Montgomery County Planning Board approved the Scope of Work for the 2024-2028 update to the county’s Growth and Infrastructure Policy at its meeting on Thursday, September 28, 2023. The Growth and Infrastructure Policy (GIP) must be updated every four years and is the county’s most important policy for ensuring infrastructure is adequate to support growth. It is also vital to advancing the goals established in Thrive Montgomery 2050, the recently approved and adopted General Plan for Montgomery County.

Per Montgomery County: After nine public meetings throughout the summer and three public listening sessions, Montgomery County’s Development Review Workgroup this week ended its months-long deliberations on ways to streamline the process that determines how development flows in the County. The group voted on a series of recommendations, approved by a supermajority of members, on steps forward. The recommendations include changes to review, permitting and administrative procedures and improved notification and inclusion of the County’s diverse communities.

Chief among the consensus recommendations are:

Written by Brian Crane for Montgomery Planning and first appeared in Montgomery Planning’s The Third Place Blog.

Montgomery Planning maintains the Montgomery County Burial Sites Inventory, a listing of over 300 cemeteries and burial sites around the county dating from before the arrival of Europeans in Maryland to burial grounds still in use today. However, there are 80 burial sites in the inventory that are no longer visible, and historical records only tell us approximately where they were. This may be because the graves were never marked, or the markers have been moved or have deteriorated. We are looking for these lost burial grounds, and we hope to get some help from modern technology – ground penetrating radar (GPR) – to recover this part of the county’s hidden past.

Have you ever wondered how land gets developed in Montgomery County? The short video below the anrticle  explains the process. More per Montgomery Planning:

”When new development is proposed in Montgomery County, it’s important that it not only works for the owner, but also adjacent neighborhood residents, local business owners, and the broader community.