County Council Meets on Jan. 14

The Montgomery County Council will begin its review on Jan. 14 of the first proposed major changes in the County Zoning Ordinance since 1978.

The Council’s Planning, Housing and Economic Development (PHED) Committee held numerous worksessions over the past six months on revisions that were recommended by the County’s Planning Board.

The worksession for Tuesday is scheduled as part of the Council’s regular session, which will begin at 9:30 a.m. The worksession will take up most of the morning session and the afternoon session that will begin at 1:30 p.m. The worksession will be held in the Third Floor Hearing Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville and will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM—Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon). The broadcast also will be streamed through the County Web site at www.montgomerycountymd.gov.

Starting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Council will hold a public hearing on the Planning Board’s recommendations for the land use, zoning and transportation for the area where the proposed Purple Line station will intersect with the south entrance to the Bethesda Red Line Metro Station and the Capital Crescent Trail. This area primarily is the block bound by Wisconsin Avenue, Elm Street, Woodmont Avenue and Bethesda Avenue. If the existing Apex Building is redeveloped in coordination with the construction of the Purple Line, it would allow for a superior station design.

The Council has also reserved Wednesday, Jan. 15; Thursday, Jan. 16; and Tuesday, Jan. 21; for worksessions regarding the Zoning Ordinance Rewrite. A final vote on the Zoning Ordinance Rewrite is tentatively planned by the end of February.

The PHED Committee, which is chaired by Nancy Floreen and includes Councilmembers Marc Elrich and George Leventhal, held its final review on Dec. 9. The committee has provided the Council with its recommendations on Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) 13-04 and District Map Amendment (DMA) G-956.

The updated proposed zoning rewrite draft includes approximately 120 changes suggested by the PHED Committee to the recommendations of the Planning Board.

The PHED Committee held 13 worksessions on the rewrite. The recommended changes can be viewed at www.zoningmontgomery.org . The updated draft includes recommendations the PHED Committee made after the Council heard from more than 80 speakers at an additional public held in November on the zoning rewrite.

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