Have ideas for how to bring customers back to the businesses in Burtonsville? Got something to say about walkability and bikeability on the town's main thoroughfares?

Montgomery County Councilmembers want to hear it at tonight's public hearing at 7:30 p.m. To testify, speakers must sign up in advance by calling the Council Office at 240-777-7803. For more information on Council's procedures, click here.

Everything you ever wanted to know about plans for Burtonsville? Go here. 

The planning department approved a plan that would re-zone both of Burtonsville's shopping centers, allowing for both residential and retail at Burtonsville Crossing. Along Route 198, planners want to add sidewalks, bike lanes and public gathering spaces to slow traffic on the road and encourage walking and biking. 

(Read the Burtonsville Neighborhood Plan, attached to this story.) 

The new vision for Burtonsville would keep a parcel of land behind Burtonsville Crossing relatively rural, only allowing for about one home per five acres. A group of landowners created SaveBurtonsville.com to petition the County Council to rethink the zoning of their property so that they can build hundreds of townhomes on the land. 

"There’s not enough people to support the shopping center, or the shopping centers, both of them are struggling," Tom Norris, a Burtonsville resident who owns part of the property, told Patch. 

The hearing will be held in the Council Hearing Room at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. 

What do you think? Do you plan to testify tonight? Tell us in the comments.