The members of the ECON Committee include Chair Natali Fani-González and Councilmembers Marilyn Balcombe, Evan Glass and Laurie-Anne Sayles.

The Planning, Housing and Parks (PHP) Committee will meet at 1:30 p.m. to continue to review the Planning Department’s Attainable Housing Strategies Draft Report and the Great Seneca Master Plan: Connecting Life and Science.

The members of the PHP Committee include Chair and Council President Andrew Friedson and Councilmembers Fani-González and Will Jawando.

The Transportation and Environment (TE) Committee will meet at 1:30 p.m. to receive a briefing about the Germantown Multimodal Improvements Study and review and develop recommendations for Council action on the optional method for condemnation of land advanced taking related to a shared use path in Clarksburg. The TE Committee will also receive a briefing on the Comprehensive Flood Management Plan.

The members of the TE Committee include Chair Glass, Councilmember Balcombe and Vice President Kate Stewart.

 Bill 11-24, Finance - Economic Development Fund - Make Office Vacancy Extinct (MOVE) Grant Program – Established

Review: The ECON Committee will review Bill 11-24, Finance - Economic Development Fund - Make Office Vacancy Extinct (MOVE) Grant Program – Established, which would create a business incentive grant program under the Economic Development Fund to support eligible businesses with the rental costs of locating, relocating or expanding office space in the County. Additionally, the bill would codify incentives for new businesses relocating to the County currently provided under the Make Office Vacancy Extinct (MOVE) Program, provide incentives to new and existing businesses expanding operations in the County and set eligibility criteria for how businesses qualify for the program incentives.

The bill would also codify and update substantive provisions of the existing Make Office Vacancy Extinct (MOVE) Program, which was introduced as a pilot program by the County Executive in March 2014 to provide relocation grants to businesses to assist with rental costs of moving back to the County. The purpose of the bill is to eliminate office vacancies and make to make the program law. The lead sponsors of Bill 11-24 are Councilmember Glass, Fani-González, Balcombe and Sayles. Council Vice President Stewart and Councilmembers Dawn Luedtke, Kristin Mink, Gabe Albornoz, and Sidney Katz and Council President Andrew Friedson are cosponsors of the legislation.

Racial Equity and Social Justice (RESJ) Impacts of Local Economic Development Funding

Review: The ECON Committee will receive a briefing about the racial equity and social justice impacts of local economic development funding. This briefing will serve as an initial discussion on the topic, highlighting issues and recommendations that can be explored further. The purpose of this discussion is to better understand and improve equity through local economic development spending and programs.

Attainable Housing Strategies

Review: The PHP Committee will continue its review of the Planning Department’s Attainable Housing Strategies Initiative, which provides a set of zoning modifications and other policy changes that would permit duplexes, triplexes, townhomes and small apartment buildings in more residential areas of the County, while still allowing the development of single-family detached homes. The proposed zoning changes considered in the report would contribute to an effort to help current and future Montgomery County residents find housing that fits their needs and enable more diverse, better integrated and economically sustainable neighborhoods. The PHP Committee received a briefing about the report at a meeting held on June 24.

The Attainable Housing Strategies Initiative launched on March 4, 2021, to consider zoning reforms that would allow greater opportunities for Missing Middle Housing in Montgomery County. Missing Middle Housing refers to a range of buildings that are compatible in scale, form and construction with single-family homes, but offer multiple housing units, and a variety of apartments or flats that are at least three stories. The current recommendations include a requirement for small scale attainable housing to follow the same setbacks, lot coverage and height restrictions as a single-family detached house. More information is available at the Planning’s Department’s Attainable Housing Strategies Initiative website.

Great Seneca Plan

Review: The PHP Committee will continue to review the Planning Board draft of the Great Seneca Plan: Connecting Life and Science, which covers 4,330 acres located in the heart of the I-270 Corridor between the cities of Gaithersburg and Rockville and the town of Washington Grove. The plan area includes several distinct areas, including the Life Sciences Center, Quince Orchard, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Londonderry and Hoyle’s Addition, Rosemont, Oakmont, Walnut Hill, Washingtonian Light Industrial Park, Washingtonian Residential and Hi Wood. The plan makes recommendations to strengthen the economic competitiveness of the Life Sciences Center, guide future developments, and transform public spaces and amenities in the area to provide valuable links and social spaces.

At this meeting, the committee will review the plan’s remaining districts and the fiscal impact statement. At meetings held on June 24 and 27, the committee reviewed the Life Sciences Center. During a meeting held on June 17, the committee reviewed the introduction to the plan, including the plan’s purpose, the area’s history, demographic context and plan framework. The committee also received an overview of the Life Sciences Real Estate and Land Use Compatibility Study as background.

Germantown Multimodal Improvements Study

Briefing: The TE Committee will receive a briefing about the Germantown Multimodal Improvements Study, which identifies potential alternatives for improving pedestrian and bicycle conditions along sections of Wisteria Drive and Middlebrook Road. The project advances pedestrian and bicycle safety along Germantown area roadways that have a history of motor vehicle crashes resulting in severe injury or fatality.

Middlebrook Road is one of the roadways in the County’s High Injury Network, which identifies roadways with the highest incidences of serious and fatal collisions. Wisteria Drive in the study area is the site of two fatal pedestrian crashes involving school-age children, one that occurred in 2012 and one in 2023.

The study developed four design options for Wisteria Drive and two design options for Middlebrook Road to improve bicycling conditions. All Wisteria Drive alternatives include a new traffic signal at the Walter Johnson Road intersection. Each bikeway alternative provides additional buffer space for pedestrians, better separating them from motor vehicle traffic.

Authorization of Optional Method for Condemnation of Land Advanced Taking - MD 355 Clarksburg Shared Use Path, CIP Project No. 501744

Review: The TE Committee will develop recommendations for Council action on the resolution authorizing optional procedure for the advance taking of nine parcels of land necessary to complete construction of the MD 355 Clarksburg Shared Use Path project. While the Property Acquisition Section of the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) has been successful in negotiating purchases with several property owners along the project alignment, they have been unable to reach a deal with the eight remaining property owners. Thus, MCDOT has requested authorization from the Council to proceed with advanced taking of the nine properties owned by those eight entities. When complete, the MD 355 Clarksburg Shared Use Path will be a new, 10-foot-wide shared use bike path along the eastern side of Frederick Road (MD 355).

Comprehensive Flood Management Plan

Briefing: The TE Committee will receive a briefing by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) staff on the County’s Comprehensive Flood Management Plan and implementation. As part of the FY23-28 Capital Improvements Program (CIP), the Council approved a project to develop a comprehensive flood management plan for the County with a goal of proactively addressing current flooding problems in the County as well as more frequent and intense rain events expected in the future resulting from climate change. The latest approved project includes $5.34 million for the study with about $2.7 million in expenditures remaining to be spent in FY25.

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