County Council Worksession on CR Zone Sept 17

The Montgomery County Council will hold a public worksession on the new Commercial/Residential Zone on September 17. The CR Zone is a new zoning system, developed first for the White Flint Sector Plan, which encourages mixed-use development and provide numerous incentives for developers to offer public “amenities” in their projects. The CR Zone is intended to replace many of the county’s hundreds of zoning arrangements, offering broad application within the overall policy set by the County Council of encouraging development near transit opportunities.

The CR Zone has four components: a total limit on overall development, sub-limits within the total for both commercial and residential development (designed to encourage mixed-uses), and an overall height limit. Thus, a CR Zone designation might be: CR3.0, C2.5, R2.5, H150.

The CR Zone worksession will be held the same day as the Council’s public hearing on the controversial “Life Sciences Center/West Gaithersburg” master plan.

Barnaby Zall