Council Approves Subdivision Staging Policy

The Montgomery County Council on November 13 approved revisions to the County’s 2012-16 Subdivision Staging Policy (which was formerly called the Growth Policy). The policy sets rules regarding transportation and school adequacy for proposed new developments.

The revisions were approved by a vote of 8-1. Council President Roger Berliner, Vice President Nancy Navarro, and Council members Phil Andrews, Marc Elrich, Valerie Ervin, Nancy Floreen, Craig Rice and Hans Riemer voted to approve the revised policy. Council member George Leventhal voted against the revisions.

One of the changes addressed in the revisions is that the new test of area-wide transportation adequacy will measure transit and road adequacy separately. If a developer seeks to proceed with a project in an area where transit or roads are inadequate, it can only move forward by paying a premium equal to 25 percent of the regular transportation impact tax for the project. The premium would increase to 50 percent if both the transit and road capacities for the area are inadequate.

Currently, there are no areas of the County where both the transit and road capacities are rated as inadequate.

The Council also agreed that areas around Metrorail stations would not be considered inadequate for transit.

The approved policy revises the test of adequacy at intersections so it will more accurately reflect the actual congestion experienced by commuters in the peak direction of travel.

The new measures approved for transit and road adequacy that will be used by the County will closely mirror those recommended by the National Academy of Sciences’ Transportation Research Board.

The school adequacy test was basically left intact.

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