Montgomery County's Zoning Code Rewrite - October Update

By Woody Brosnan

The County Council’s Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee appears to be listening to the concerns raised by many civic association leaders about a proposed rewrite of the county zoning code.

Jeff Zyontz, a senior council aide, recently briefed the Presidents’ Council of Silver Spring Civic Associations about changes made by the Council’s Planning, Housing and Economic Development (PHED) Committee to the rewrite proposed by the County Planning Board. 

In summary: 

-- There are no changes to residential zones and the height and density requirements of master plans will remain in effect. 

-- Applications to the Planning Board for a "floating zone," for example to change a residential lot to a commercial zone, can only be made by property owners whose lot lines directly abut a commercial or retail zone. 

-- Parking requirements and other restrictions on "general" buildings within residential zones, like a church or nursing home, have been tightened. For instance, parking lots would have to be in the back of the building in the future.  

-- The PHED committee rejected the liberalization of rules for keeping chickens and other farm animals after hearing from Public Health officials. A chicken coop would still have to be 25 feet away from the nearest property line and 100 feet from the nearest building and there could be no more than one hen for every 1000 square feet up to a maximum of six. There is a yet-undefined exception for "pets."  

Some civic association representatives remain concerned about the impact of a proposed county-wide zoning amendment that would allow virtually all commercial and retail zones to be converted to one of three types of mixed commercial-residential zones. They would prefer that these changes be considered through the existing master plan process, which allows substantial community input rather than a sweeping county-wide change. 

For more visit the council's zoning rewrite page at: http://www6.montgomerycountymd.gov/csltmpl.asp?url=/content/Council/Zoning_Rewrite_index.asp

Disclaimer. The purpose of this blog is to inform Silver Spring residents about important events and issues affecting them.  Any views expressed represent those of the author(s) and not necessarily all representatives of the Presidents’ Council of Silver Spring Civic Associations.  

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