Thrive Montgomery 2050 – Planning Board Worksession Summary of Public Hearing Testimony Summary of all Public Comments Received by 12-10-20 ATTACHMENT 4 Updated for Worksession 8, 2-18-21 Note: Direct quotes are italicized, summarized comments are not italicized Draft Plan means Thrive Montgomery 2050 Public Hearing Draft Plan Page numbers in the “Issue/Topic Area” column refer to the page numbers in the Public Hearing Draft Plan unless otherwise noted. General comments, overall organization and introduction of the Plan (Revised Draft—Section 1: Why we need a new comprehensive plan for the county) No. Issue/Topic Area Comment Commenter Staff Response 1. Organization of the Plan and need to Various comments about the first fifty Dan Wilhelm for Staff concurs that the draft Plan make it concise pages of the Plan (Introduction, Rationale Greater needs to be modified as indicated in and Context, Trends and Challenges, Major Colesville Civic these comments and as instructed by Themes): Association, the Planning Board on October 1, The intro section is too long and very Scott Plumer for 2020. These comments will be difficult to use; some of the topics need to Darnestown considered and discussed further be combined; needs substantial revision to Civic during the Planning Board work make it clear and set the stage for the goals Association, sessions to inform revisions and and policies that follow; use easy to Melanie Rose reorganization of the draft Plan. understand wording; need the big White, Chair important main points to be at the Citizens beginning; need clear statements about Coordinating how the plan will carve a path to the Committee on desired outcomes and prevent undesirable Friendship and unintended outcomes; need a logically Heights, cohesive and compelling complimentary Jane Lyons for set of policies; reduce redundancies;. Coalition for goals, policies, and actions related to a Smarter given topic should be contained in a single Growth; chapter rather than scattered throughout Deborah multiple chapters. A number of the goals, Ingram, policies, and actions seem too detailed for Shruti a general plan and could also “date” the Bhatnagar, 1 Thrive Montgomery 2050 – Planning Board Worksession Summary of Public Hearing Testimony No. Issue/Topic Area Comment Commenter Staff Response plan. Suggest removing actions from the Chair, Sierra Plan and putting them in an appendix. Club Change or eliminate certain words or Montgomery phrases. County, MD; Stacy Silber, Alain Norman, Andy Leon Harney, David Sears, Bethesda, Patricia Depuy Johnson, Michele Albornoz, Quentin Remein, President, Cloverly Civic Association, Linda and Gay Mullings Herb Simmens, Climate Mobilization Montgomery County Chapter 2. Evolution of 1964 Wedges & Corridors A reader of the first 50 pages of the report Benjamin Ross Thrive Montgomery 2050 concept to Web of Corridors & Centers in could easily take away the message that acknowledges both the successes and 2020 this plan is a course correction in an already failures of the ’64 Plan. It recognizes successful plan, intended only to update in that the original W&C concept has the light of new developments. That is not changed through market forces and so. planning initiatives to reflect the needs of last 50 years. The great success of the 1964 plan is the wedge - the Agricultural Reserve. But the 2 Thrive Montgomery 2050 – Planning Board Worksession Summary of Public Hearing Testimony No. Issue/Topic Area Comment Commenter Staff Response corridors have succeeded by growing very The W&C concept does not exist in its differently from how that plan foresaw purest form. The footprint of the them. The 1964 plan envisioned high- development today is a hybrid of the density urbanized centers built on original W&C concept and greenfields outside the Beltway. Downtown subsequent amendments. It is a Bethesda and Silver Spring were to remain reality that cannot be denied. Figure low-density commercial districts serving the 1 on page 10 of the draft Plan reflects surrounding neighborhoods. that reality. Just as the ‘93 Plan reflected where the county was in Despite verbal nods to transit, the plan ’93, the “web of corridors” map foresaw a county designed around proposed by the draft Plan reflects automobile travel. The corridor cities are where we are in 2020. pictured like denser versions of Tysons Corner, built with wide streets around expressways. The plan needs to explicitly acknowledge the failures that we inherit from that orientation. One of them is office parks along I-270 that are full of empty space. 3. Our vision for 2050 is a County that has Kenneth Bawer maintained the green Wedges & Corridors for West structure from the current General Plan Montgomery rather than being “disappeared” from the County Citizens current draft document. It is stated that Association “Thrive Montgomery 2050 proposes to reinforce this web of centers and corridors by focusing growth around transit stations and along the major corridors.” Where exactly are the corridors and centers? The first time that specific roads are identified as being corridors is on p.76, but it is unclear if these are all the proposed corridors. 3 Thrive Montgomery 2050 – Planning Board Worksession Summary of Public Hearing Testimony No. Issue/Topic Area Comment Commenter Staff Response It appears that we are doomed to a County of all corridors and no Wedges. So, what happened to the green Wedges? If the wedges have disappeared, does that mean that the County completely disregarded the principles of the existing General Plan? Does this mean that, no matter what is said in the Thrive Montgomery 2050 plan, the County will disregard this plan as well? We need to go back to the Wedges & Corridors concept which more clearly delineates areas of development. 4. The 1964 Wedges and Corridors General Marilyn Plan had a profound effect on the growth of Balcombe for both Gaithersburg and Germantown, as did Germantown the creation of the Agricultural Reserve. Chamber of Those planning decisions created the Commerce Upcounty as a great place to live and raise a family. The 1964 General Plan and subsequent area Master Plans envisioned a strong commercial corridor along with a balance of residential and retail land use. While the residential and retail components have come to fruition, the balance of commercial enterprise is still lacking. Given the new direction of the THRIVE General Plan to focus on urban areas with ready access to transit, the question remains as to how the suburban communities in the upper areas of Montgomery County will “thrive”. 4 Thrive Montgomery 2050 – Planning Board Worksession Summary of Public Hearing Testimony No. Issue/Topic Area Comment Commenter Staff Response 5. Our County General Plan should be thinking Cary Lamari about expanding its Revenue and housing sources, it should be encouraging as a main emphasis the completion to the Satellite Cities approach in the Wedges and Corridors Plan. It should bolster investment in Germantown, Clarksburg as new major employment resources. The Plan should highly emphasis the County and State commitment to promote infrastructure and services into these areas so as to balance our economic reliance on our Down County Area all the while building more affordable housing within these communities. 6. We also appreciate recognition of the need League of to change from “wedges and corridors” to a Women Voters complete community concept that includes of Montgomery compact development, and we should focus County on other factors as well -- such as encouraging healthier living (with reduced reliance on cars), protecting wildlife, limiting light pollution, encouraging local food production via the agricultural reserve, and better managing forest conservation. 7. The continuation of the Wedges and TAME Coalition Corridors structure of the General Plan - - the current draft creates confusion with its use of the term “web of corridors.” 8. Relationship to the 1964 General Plan of The 1964 General Plan and its amendments County The “64 Plan proposed broad goals Wedges and Corridors set goals for the purchase of thousands of Executive (total of 10 goals) and relied upon acres of parkland, mapped our land uses, subsequent plans and actions to and planned for our future. Thrive implement those policies. For Montgomery 2050 would best serve example, it relied on the then parks 5 Thrive Montgomery 2050 – Planning Board Worksession Summary of Public Hearing Testimony No. Issue/Topic Area Comment Commenter Staff Response current and future county residents by plan and the “park and open space identifying our needs—amenities in our acquisition program” to implement east county communities, affordable its recommendations for acquisition housing in our cost prohibitive of parkland. communities, and improved transportation to bring our residents closer to jobs and Thrive Montgomery 2050, as a high- closer to each other, and then lay out a level General Plan, identifies the plan to accomplish these goals. county’s challenges and needs for the next 30 years and proposes policy recommendations that will be implemented through more detailed future master and facility plans and targeted actions. These future plans and actions will identify the specific strategies and locations to provide adequate amenities for our communities, affordable housing, and improved transportation in a most sustainable and equitable manner. 9. Requests to delay the Project due to the The project should be delayed (various County The Planning Department’s work Coronavirus pandemic timeframes suggested, ranging from two Executive, program and schedule is set by the months to until we learn the consequences Coalition of County Council. Our work program of the pandemic). People have not been incorporated was most recently discussed by the able to participate in the process due to the municipalities Council during our Semi-annual Coronavirus pandemic; uncertainty about and community Report in November. The Council did pandemic-related trend for people desiring organizations, not change the schedule for the lower density living continues; residents TAME Coalition, Thrive Montgomery 2050 project.