Montgomery Planning

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.

The update to the Rustic Roads Functional Master Plan was approved by the Montgomery County Council on July 25, 2023, marking the first comprehensive update to the plan since 1996.

Rustic roads are historic and scenic roadways that reflect the agricultural character and rural origins of the County. Preservation of rustic roads must be achieved by retaining certain physical features of rustic roads and by certain right-of-way maintenance procedures. Rustic and Exceptional Rustic roads are preserved under the Rustic Roads Program, which provides a system for evaluating, protecting, and enhancing these scenic roadways.

The Montgomery County Planning Board and Montgomery County Planning Department have announced their August 2023 calendar of events and meetings. While the Montgomery County Planning Board is on recess until September 2023, past meetings can be watched on demand. The Montgomery County Planning Board is currently in recess. The first meeting after the summer recess will be held September 7, 2023. August Calendar of Events:

August 1 – The Development Review Committee (DRC) will meet in-person and virtually. The community is invited to attend the meeting in-person or online by watching the DRC live video stream or viewing on-demand. The DRC is an inter-agency task force comprised of representatives from Montgomery Planning, public agencies, and utilities such as WSSC, PEPCO, the State Highway Administration, and the county Departments of Permitting Services, Environmental Protection, and Public Works and Transportation. At these regularly scheduled meetings twice a month, DRC members discuss development applications with the Applicants.