Planning Department Update

Montgomery County Council recently approved two minor plan amendments for Sandy Spring and Bethesda’s Pooks Hill neighborhood.

The Sandy Spring amendment was initiated by planners and area stakeholders who would like to take the next step to develop a vibrant center. That concept, from the 1998 Sandy Spring Ashton Master Plan, calls for the center to be a focal point anchored in part by a village green, a new fire station and a realigned road to improve the pedestrian environment and vehicular circulation. The concept may be easier to implement with mixed-use zoning, passed last fall by the County Council. Planners expect to start work on the Sandy Spring plan in January, 2013.

Applicants for property in Pooks Hill, currently zoned Hotel/Motel, have asked for a plan amendment to consider mixed-use zoning to allow three high-rise residential buildings. The applicants would like to build housing, including moderately priced dwelling units, close to the National Institutes of Health and the newly relocated Walter Reed Medical Center on Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda.

Minor master plan amendments go through the same public review process as any master plan.

Learn more at MontgomeryPlanning.org.

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