Montgomery County is speeding up approvals for new types of mixed-use zoning to allow for a smoother redevelopment process in areas like Kensington, Wheaton and White Flint. But some longtime citizens say the changes are making the county too urban.
Two new zoning codes are being introduced as modifications to the existing code allowing for urban-looking, mixed-use development. The new zones are also mixed-use but vary by height and size and would act as step-downs to the taller zone.
“When we started doing Kensington and Wheaton master plans we realized [the tall allowance] was not appropriate for transition areas,” said county planner Khalid Afzal.
Planners are rewriting the entire county zoning code, but that won’t be finished for years. Meanwhile, master plans that call for mixed-use development are moving forward.
“White Flint and the Great Seneca Science Corridor are expecting to open for development in July … so these need to be passed before the rewrite,” said planner Shahriar Etemadi.
But some longtime residents are loudly opposed to the new zoning allowances and showed up in droves at a public hearing on the additions. Rose Crenca, a Silver Spring resident and a 1980s County Council member, said she feared the mixed-use zones would encroach upon single-family neighborhoods and conflict with the suburban nature of the county.
“This is the tip of the iceberg and there is a movement afoot to change what we have here,” she said. “Stop messing around with Montgomery County — if you don’t like a suburban county, move to where it is very urban.”
The new zones are amendments to the more urban, commercial-residential zone approved by the county in 2009 with the White Flint Master Plan. The new “town” zone allows for mixed-use development up to 150 feet tall, while the “neighborhood” zone allows for heights up to 65 feet.
Heights allowed in White Flint range from 45 feet at the edges to the 300-foot tower on Rockville Pike, the tallest building in the county.
The new zones would be used in plans for Takoma Langley Crossroads and Wheaton, while the town and neighborhood zones would be used in Kensington. But Etemadi said they also could be applied to development just north of White Flint, in Gaithersburg’s eastern side, the eastern county and Glenmont.
