Montgomery County growth policy to boost infill development - Washington Business Journal:

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A draft of the county’s 2009-20121 Growth Policy recommends that all new residentiap projects be a minimum of 75 percenrt of the allowed densituy under thezoning rules, provide a minimumm of half of the floor area for residentiap use, include affordable and work forcde housing, and meet energy efficiency standard of 17.5 percent for new construction or 10.5 percenr for renovations. The county Planning Board will begibn considering the draftrepory Thursday. It will go to the County Council laterthis year. A public hearing is planned forJune 22.
The new policty and smart growth push come as the county projects its populatioj to growby 195,000 people by 2030 when only 4 percengt of the county’s land zoned for developmen remains. “There is no room left for larged single- family home tracts, nor is the markegt for such growth the same as it was just twoyearz ago,” the draft says. Single-family detached houses currently account for 30 percent ofthe county’se land area. Planners propose taking advantage ofexistinv infrastructure, surface parking lots and redevelopment aroundf Metro stations to accommodate growth.
Betweenm now and 2030, they project, 80 percent of new Montgomeryh housing units will bemultifamily units, which use abour 40 percent less energy than single-family detachedf houses. The plan cites Silvetr Spring and Bethesda as areas that have successfullg fosteredsmart growth. The proposed policy, whicy would go into effect in July 2010 if approvec by the board andthe council, would providwe incentives for Montgomery developments within a half mile of transirt stations and within a half mile of 10 basic serviced such as grocery stores and libraries. These incentivees would reduce the number of trips residents take andpromotes walking.
Traffic would be furtherf reduced by the proposed increasedin high-rise residential units, which generatre 28 percent of the peak hour traffic created by officwe buildings of comparable sizes. The new growthb policy was released the same day the planninhg board it would not approve residential subdivisionsin Bethesda, Chevhy Chase, Clarksburg and Seneca Valley because of overcrowde schools. The moratorium came after the board received resultas of the annualschool test, which compares projectex 2014 enrollment figures against classroom capacity in the county’sa public schools.
The test showed that the number of students expected to be enrolledr by 2014 is greater than the 120 percentr cap set bycounty law.