This document provides an introduction and overview of the Southeast Corridor planning process. It describes the study area location along MD 85 and MD 355 south of Frederick City. The document notes that redevelopment is a priority in this area to leverage existing infrastructure and accommodate growth. It identifies opportunities for redevelopment through infill development and increasing density on parking lots. Figures and tables provide information on land use, zoning, transportation infrastructure and a physical analysis of the study area.

3. Introduction 1
Figure 01: Regional Context 2
Figure 02: Community Growth Area and Study Area 3
Figure 03: Study Area 4
Development History 7
Figure 04: Regional Historic Development – Single Center 7
Figure 05: Regional Historic Development ‐ Multiple Centers 8
Figure 06: Commercial Centers 10
Figure 07: Local Historic Development 12‐13
Figure 08: Locust Level Estate and Evergreen Point 14
Existing Conditions 17
Figure 09: Topography 17
Figure 10: Existing Land Use 18
Figure 11: Percent of Total Acres by Land Use 19
Figure 12: Value by Land Use in Millions 19
Table 13: Land Area and Value 19
Figure 14: Existing Building Use 20
Figure 15: Building Area 21
Figure 16: Building Area by Subdivision 21
Figure 17: Square Feet by Building Use 21
Figure 18: Existing Comprehensive Plan Land Use Designations 22
Figure 19: Existing Zoning 24
Figure 20: Traffic Volume 26
Figure 20a: Comprehensive Plan Road Classifications 27
Figure 20b: Existing Transit 27
Issues and Opportunities 29
Figure 21: MD355 ‐ Historic Corridor 30
Figure 22: MD85 ‐ Business Corridor 30
Figure 23: Physical Analysis 32
Figure 24: Analysis of Potential Residential Enclaves 33
TABLE OF CONTENTS

5. 1
The Corridor Planning Process
The Community and Corridor planning process
described in “Frederick County’s Future”, the
Countywide Comprehensive Plan (April 2010), is a
strategy that facilitates a more locally focused level
of planning throughout the County. While planning
at the countywide level occurs through cyclical
updates of the Countywide Comprehensive Plan,
planning at the local level related to the wide variety
of communities and jurisdictions throughout the
County can be addressed in detail through the
development of the Community and Corridor plans.
Plans produced under the Community and Corridor
process have primary emphasis on exploring design
concepts, redevelopment opportunities, and
development staging in greater detail than described
in the Countywide Plan. The result of this will
produce a stand alone community plan document
that would amend the Countywide Plan.
One of the first plans to be produced under this new
planning process is for the corridor of land along MD
85 and MD 355 just to the south of Frederick City.
The Southeast Corridor
The MD85/355 corridor, hereafter referred to as the
Southeast Corridor, is located just south of Frederick
City, bounded by I‐270 on the west, I‐70 on the
north, LaFarge Quarry on the east and Monocacy
National Battlefield on the south. Two major state
roads traverse the area, MD85 ‐ Buckeystown Pike,
and MD355 ‐ Urbana Pike. It is a major retail,
commercial, and industrial area of Frederick County.
Regionally, the Southeast Corridor is located at the
junction of primary connections to major
metropolitan areas, namely Washington D.C. and
Baltimore. The growth of these cites has historically
driven the growth of Frederick County, and this is
expected to continue in the future. The location at
this junction potentially makes the Southeast
Corridor a focal point for this growth, which gives it
the potential to play a role not just locally, but within
the region as well.
Redevelopment
The Southeast Corridor has been prioritized as a
corridor plan because of its potential to
accommodate growth through redevelopment.
While much of the land is already developed and
built out under current development intensity,
redevelopment in a more intense fashion can
maximize land use potential and provide
opportunities to introduce residential uses while
leveraging existing infrastructure.
In general, redevelopment has been employed to
counteract economic disinvestment in land that
results in the deterioration of buildings and
infrastructure, commonly referred to as blight.
However, economic disinvestment in the Southeast
Corridor is not a pressing concern. Rather, the focus
on the redevelopment of this area relates more to a
priority on leveraging existing infrastructure relative
to the management of growth in the County. The
County Comprehensive Plan emphasizes
redevelopment in the following goals:
MG‐G‐07: Establish as a targeted goal for the
development and redevelopment of lands
within Community Growth Areas, an average
density of 7.5 residential dwellings/acre by the
year 2025.
MG‐G‐08: Increase the number of properties ‐ both
vacant and underdeveloped land ‐ available for
employment uses in order to support policies
that emphasize the reuse and revitalization of
previously developed sites.
MG‐G‐10: Emphasize reinvestment in our growth
areas by encouraging infill and redevelopment
projects which are compatible with existing
neighborhoods and districts.
Additionally, the County Comprehensive Plan
expresses the specific policy of using redevelopment
as a growth management strategy:
INTRODUCTION

6. 2
Figure 01: Regional Context

7. 3
MG‐P‐03 Pursue redevelopment strategies
as a way to minimize the need to expand
existing Community Growth Areas or establish
new Community Growth Areas.
This policy supports planning that moderates the
practice of expanding growth areas outward to
accommodate growth by supporting planning that
calls for more intense development within existing
growth areas. Rather than solely emphasize the
development of rural land around the periphery of
the Community Growth Areas, the demand for new
residential and employment development can also
be accommodated through infill of vacant parcels
and redevelopment in the Southeast Corridor.
The development pattern in the Southeast Corridor
presents an prime opportunity for redevelopment in
this regard for several reasons. First, there is a
wealth of infrastructure in the area in the form of
two Interstates, two State highways, and a
commuter rail station. Therefore additional
investment in infrastructure can be minimized
because, for the same level of development, the
cost of any required upgrades in an area like the
Southeast Corridor with relatively new infrastructure
systems may be much less than the cost of providing
new infrastructure.
Second, there is an abundance of “open air”
shopping facilities in the Southeast Corridor, where a
high percentage of land is paved parking fields.
Therefore a version of an infill development
approach can be employed to maximize the
development potential of property while minimizing
the burden to existing owners and tenants. This
means that there is a lot of area, in the form of
parking fields, that can either be built upon with new
construction, that can be reserved for needed
infrastructure, or that can provide public amenities
such as parks and playgrounds. And all of this can
occur in a phased manner that would not necessarily
require the replacement of existing facilities.
Third, with an area like the Southeast Corridor, with
an abundance of geographic endowments such as a
high degree of access, a high degree of attraction of
consumers, and an relatively new and healthy
infrastructure system, redevelopment can leverage
job growth in the County. This is because increasing
the intensity of development in areas with numerous
locational advantages has the potential of
minimizing the amount of public investment
required to service development while still providing
the potential for new and desirable facilities for
corporate tenants. The potential of combining the
advantages of access, attraction, and infrastructure
with the possibility for new and modern facilities,
perhaps in an environment that provides amenities
such as walkable streets, can create a competitive
advantage when firms make decisions about where
to locate.
Finally, the Southeast Corridor shares the advantage
with Frederick County of proximity to Washington
D.C. and Baltimore. The economic engines of these
two metropolitan areas has driven growth in the
County for decades, and there is ample opportunity
to channel that growth into the Southeast Corridor
in the future.
Figure 02: Community Growth Area and Study Area

8. 4
Figure 03: Study Area

9. 5
Study Area Delineation
The Southeast Corridor is a portion of the Frederick
Southeast Community Growth Area defined in the
2010 County Comprehensive Plan. The development
in the far eastern portion of the growth area on the
northeast side of Reich's Ford Road along Quinn
Orchard Road is not included in the Southeast
Corridor study area. This is because, while both
areas are within the same growth area, they are
geographically divided by the LaFarge quarry, and
are very different in terms of land use.
The definition of the Southeast Corridor study area
takes several issues into account. First, is the
difficulty in determining with certainty what the
required extent of a study area should be without
“studying the area”. In other words, once plan
development has commenced, more information
will be obtained, and therefore better decisions can
be made regarding the extent of the study area.
Second, most aspects of this corridor are connected
with other factors outside the realm of the corridor
itself. For example, the addition of housing to the
Westview development could significantly alter what
would be proposed in the Southeast Corridor. Every
part of the Corridor is a part of a hierarchy of other
issues and factors several scales beyond a proposed
immediate study area, so one aspect cannot be
considered unless the next higher scale is also taken
into account. Some of these factors include:
• Transit connections and highway connections to
Washington D.C. and the I270 technology
corridor to the south and to Baltimore to the
east
• Operations of the LaFarge quarry
• Competing and compatible adjacent uses such
as the downtown and the East Street
redevelopment in Frederick City and the
Westview mixed use development and industrial
development to the south
• Market demand and demographic trends for the
Frederick County region
• The growth of residential development in
counties to surrounding Frederick County
Delineating a study area, therefore, does not limit
the factors that will be considered in the plan.
Rather, the study area is proposed to be the limit of
any potential interventions outlined in the plan.
The delineation of the Study Area for the Southeast
Corridor is largely based on aligning with existing
physical barriers. Specifically, the barriers typically
used as boundaries are those that present significant
physical obstacles in terms of access from one side
to the other.
To the west and north, the study area extends to
I270 and I70 respectively. To the east, the study
area extends to the quarry boundary, typically
aligning with the west side of the quarry berms built
along MD355.
The exception along the eastern boundary of the
study area is where the quarry property ends around
the Riverside Shopping Center. At this point, the
study area boundary includes all of the MARC
Station parking area and junction up to the railroad.
It continues to follow the railroad south until it
enters the Monocacy Battlefield where it aligns with
the edge of the Monocacy River.
To the south, the study area extends to the
Monocacy River, and includes a portion of the
Monocacy Battlefield. While specific interventions
will not be proposed with the Battlefield itself, it was
included in the study area to indicate that it is an
area of special concern to the planning effort.

11. 7
The geographic organization of land use in central
Frederick County has changed from a single discrete
commercial center to a pattern of multiple
commercial centers distributed in the region
surrounding Frederick City. The newer commercial
areas in and around Frederick City have either
rapidly developed in the last fifty years, or are
currently in the process of development. The
changes wrought by this growth and development
are unprecedented in the history of the County.
Regional Context—Single Center
Throughout most of the history of Frederick County,
the Southeast Corridor area has played a minor role
in the commercial and industrial activity of the
County, with at most being the location of scattered
roadside businesses and estate farms. Rather
Downtown Frederick City has served as the major
regional commercial center, with manufacturing
industries significantly shaping its development.
Throughout the early 19th century, timber, mining of
limestone and iron ore, and tanning were the
predominant industries. In the later 19th century, a
shift in emphasis in the County to dairy farming led
to the growth of dairy processing industries.
Additionally, canning industries to process fruits and
vegetables also experienced growth during this time
period.
Even as infrastructure improvements were
constructed over time, Frederick City’s downtown
maintained it’s standing as the dominant center of
commerce and industry in the County. It was not
until the post World War II growth of the 1950’s and
beyond that the geographic distribution of major
commercial and industrial activity in the County
became dispersed into multiple centers, with the
Southeast Corridor playing a major role in this
dispersion.
DEVELOPMENT
HISTORY
Figure 04: Regional Historic Development ‐
Single Center
Pre 1920
National Road begun in 1811, planned connection between
Cumberland, MD and St. Louis, MO. Middletown Turnpike and
Baltimore Turnpike part of chain of turnpikes chartered by MD
connecting Baltimore to the National Road. Completed in 1824
and referred to as the eastern extension of the National Road.
Georgetown Turnpike chartered by MD in 1805. Georgetown
Turnpike realigned at Araby. Creates Araby Church Road.
1926+
U.S. Highway System adopted in 1926. Baltimore and
Middletown Turnpikes designated US 40 as part of the US
Highway System. Georgetown Turnpike designated US240.
Jefferson Pike designated US 340. Buckeystown Pike designated
US 15.
1948
New alignment of US40 opens between Frederick and
Hagerstown. Pre‐existing alignment of US40 becomes US40A.
1953
New alignment of US240 constructed, alongside previous
alignment. Previous alignment eventually designated MD355.
1959
I‐70 construction begins as part of US Highway Act of 1956. First
Interstate Highway. Parallels US40 east of Frederick City, and
splits off from US40 west of Frederick City. Old alignment of
US40 designated MD144. Frederick Bypass completed up to
US40. US240 decommissioned and re‐designated I‐70S along
the same right of way.
1960’s
Frederick Bypass completed and US15 north of Frederick City
improved. Old alignment of US15 designated MD806.

12. 8
Revitalization planning begins for Golden Mile in Frederick City.
Frederick Towne Mall in decline.
Downtown Frederick City revitalization successful. Serves
specialized role in the region.
Southeast Corridor essentially built out at current planned
intensity. Prime area for redevelopment as high density mixed
use sector.
Continued growth of Monocacy Boulevard area as retail and
industrial center.
Continued prosperity of Golden Mile in Frederick City, building
stock begins to approach end of economic lifespan.
Frederick Towne Mall in competition with FSK Mall. Beginning
of decline for Frederick Towne Mall as major anchor tenant
relocates to FSK Mall.
Downtown Frederick City revitalization continues as center for
government, professional, and leisure activities.
Growth of Southeast Corridor.
New regional retail and industrial center around Monocacy
Boulevard begins to develop.
Continued growth of Golden Mile in
Frederick City.
Decline of Downtown Frederick City continues, accelerated by
Flood of 1976.
Growth of Southeast Corridor continues, accelerated by
construction of FSK Mall in 1979.
Carroll Creek flood control project begun in late 1970’s,
beginning revitalization of Downtown Frederick.
US340 constructed and US 15 realigned south of Frederick City.
US15 south of Frederick City re‐designated MD85 and MD28.
US340 re‐designated MD180 and I‐70S re‐designated I‐270.
Golden Mile in Frederick City development begins. Frederick
Towne Mall Opens in 1972.
Decline of Downtown Frederick City begins as modern
commercial space develops along Golden Mile.
Development along Southeast Corridor begins.
Figure 05: Regional Historic Development ‐ Multiple Centers

13. 9
Regional Context—Multiple Centers
After the 1950’s and well into the latter half of the
twentieth century, economic growth and expansion
took a new form in Frederick County as commercial
activity began to redistribute into multiple
geographic centers. For the first time in it’s long
history, Frederick City’s downtown began to share
the load of commercial and industrial demand with
other surrounding areas, inside and outside of the
City. This began with the development of the
Golden Mile along US 40 west of Downtown
Frederick, and continued with the growth and
development of the Southeast Corridor. Finally, a
more recent employment and commercial center is
emerging along the Monocacy Boulevard area in the
northern portion of the City.
The Golden Mile:
The first major dispersion of commercial activity
occurred with the development of the Golden Mile,
on the stretch of US 40 to the west of Downtown
Frederick. From the beginnings of its growth in the
early 1970’s, it has been a center for large format
regional chains and local retail businesses. Over
time, ethnically oriented shopping and dining
establishments have been introduced into the area.
From an occupancy standpoint, the Golden Mile as a
whole is currently in good condition, with the
exception of the Fredericktowne Mall. Among other
factors, competition with the FSK Mall to the south
of Frederick City has led to the decline of the
Fredericktowne Mall. Beyond the Mall, much of the
building stock along the Golden Mile is nearing the
end of it’s economic lifespan, which has resulted in a
deterioration in the physical appearance of the area.
Additionally, the growth and proximity of
surrounding residential uses has led to increase
pedestrian activity in an area designed almost
entirely for automobile circulation. These factors
have led to strong public interest in revitalization of
the Golden Mile.
Downtown Frederick:
Downtown Frederick experienced an economic
downturn in the mid 1970’s. With the development
of the Golden Mile, many of the major anchor
tenants departed Downtown Frederick for those
newer and updated facilities. Also, many business
owners and residents were impacted by the Flood of
1976 where Carroll Creek inundated the Downtown
with water.
In time Downtown Frederick experienced an
economic recovery, redefining itself as a center for
professional business and services, unique and
specialty retail, and dining. This was due in large
part to community support and visionary planning,
an aspect of which was a flood control project
known as the Carroll Creek Promenade that
combined a major urban civic space with flood
management facilities.
While the historic core of Downtown Frederick is
enjoying a healthy balance of economic activity,
another area of the Downtown along East Street is
poised for major growth. This historic focus on
industrial activity in this area has been redirected to
the Monocacy Boulevard Area. With a recently
constructed connection between East Street, I‐70,
and MD85, this area is being envisioned as a center
for mixed use development focusing on commercial
office, retail, and residential.
North Frederick Area
This retail center, located around the confluence of
US26, US15, and Monocacy Boulevard, is a growing
concentration of office, large format chain retailers
with locally oriented retail and service businesses.
South of this along Monocacy Boulevard is a
concentration of industrial uses, some of which have
relocated from the East Street area in Downtown
Frederick.
Commercial Centers
As described above, the Southeast Corridor is one of
many commercial areas in the County. The
commercial areas identified on the following map
include strip shopping centers such as the Frederick
Shopping Center or College Park Plaza, office parks
such as the Thomas Johnson Professional Center,
industrial areas such as the development in the
southern portion of Frederick Southeast and the
Airport Industrial Park, mixed use centers such as
Downtown Frederick, and major retail districts such
as the Golden Mile. The clusters identified on the
following map are defined based on their
geographical proximity, and the historical timeframe
of their development.

14. 10
Figure 06: Commercial Centers

15. 11
Short of conducting a full fledged market analysis, a
general impression of the market forces that may
impact the redevelopment of the Southeast Corridor
can be gained from several sources based on
proposed projects, projected demand, and
anticipated demographic trends.
A picture of existing and proposed business and
retail development in the County can be gained from
a database maintained by the Office of Economic
Development that tracks business parks and retail
centers, updated quarterly. According to this, the
business park properties in the vicinity of Frederick
City that are included in this database constitute
roughly 9.6 million square feet of built area, with 6.4
million existing and 3.2 million proposed.
Additionally, retail properties constitute roughly 7
million square feet, with 1.2 million proposed and
5.8 million existing.
In September 2007 and May 2008, the City of
Frederick commissioned a market analysis of the
Frederick City market area for retail, office, flex/
R&D, and industrial uses. While economic
conditions have changed dramatically since the
release of these reports, the projected demand
proposed in these reports can shed some light on
potential opportunity gaps in the Frederick business
and retail markets. These reports accounted for
existing and proposed projects, and concluded that
there was an opportunity gap in the form of an
additional demand outside the expected pipeline for
100,00 square feet of office space, 700,000 square
feet of industrial space, and 1.4 million square feet
of flex space. For the retail market, these reports
concluded that the market was generally saturated,
and that additional demand for retail would be tied
to demand expansion in the form of population
growth.
Finally, an understanding of future housing demand
can be gained from the analysis of broad
demographic trends. While the Frederick County
Comprehensive Plan projects a demand of 36,000
housing units over the next twenty years, it does not
evaluate the breakdown of demand by unit type,
such as single family, townhomes, or multi‐family.
However, demographic shifts and changing values
relative to future housing demand have been
evaluated by John McIlwain of the Urban Land
Institute. Some key demographic trends that
R 1 Ballenger Creek Plaza
R 2 College Park Plaza
R 3 Discovery Shopping Center
R 4 Eastgate Shopping Center
R 5 Festival at Frederick
R 6 Frederick Shopping Center
R 7 Kingsbrook Crossing
R 8 Monocacy Village Center
R 9 Northgate Plaza Proposed
R 10 Prospect Plaza Shopping Center
R 11 River Run Center Proposed
R 12 Rose Hill Plaza
R 13 Spring Ridge Shopping Center
R 14 The Shops at Monocacy
R 15 Thomas Johnson Center
R 16 The Turning Point Center
R 17 Villages at Urbana Town Center
R 18 Walnut Ridge Shopping Center
R 19 Whittier Lakefront Center
R 20 Worman's Mill Village Square Proposed
R 21 Crestwood Plaza
R 22 Westview Village
R 23 Westview Corner
R 24 Clemson Corner Proposed
R 25 Market Square at Frederick Proposed
R 26 Urbana Village Center
R 27 Westview Promenade
R 28 Golden Mile
R 29 Linganore Town Center Proposed
R 30 Landmark Proposed
R 31 Downtown Frederick
B 1 Ballenger Creek Center
B 2 Center Park
B 3 Frederick Research Park
B 4 Governor's Choice
B 5 North Amber Business Park
B 6 Riverside Corporate Park
B 7 Riverside Corporate Center
B 8 Worman's Mill Industrial Park
B 9 Center at Monocacy
B 10 Airport Industrial Park
B 11 Frederick Industrial Park
B 12 Bowman Plains Industrial Park
B 13 Dudrow Business Park
B 14 Knowledge Farms
B 15 McKinney Industrial Park
B 16 Omega Center
B 17 Riverside Technology Park
B 18 Riverside Research Park
B 19 Wedgewood Industrial Park
B 20 Century Center Proposed
B 21 Industrial Center East
B 22 Urbana Office & Research Center
B 23 Frederick Airport Park
B 24 Frederick Brick Works Site Proposed
B 25 Westview South Office Research Center
B 26 Westview Corporate Campus
B 27 Jefferson Technology Park Proposed
B 28 Russell Property Proposed
B 29 Urbana R & D Park Proposed
B 30 Crum Farm Proposed
B 31 Thatcher Proposed
B 32 Jefferson Tech Park West Proposed

16. 12
1953 1973
1979 1988
Figure 07: Local Historic Development

17. 13
McIlwain identifies point toward an increased
demand for smaller lots and more “urbanized” forms
of housing development.
As the housing market has declined, so has the
demand for single family homes. Older baby
boomers who are not stuck in their suburban homes
in situations of negative equity are typically choosing
to live in smaller dwellings closer to family and
grandchildren rather than relocate to the Sun Belt.
Younger baby boomers who have purchased single
family homes and wish to sell, now have a much
smaller population of buyers in the form of the
Generation X demographic. Additionally, the
housing bust has depleted the equity of many
Younger Boomers, and the traditional demand for
second homes in this demographic has similarly
been eroded. Finally, the Generation Y demographic
(late teens to early 30’s) has lost the confidence of
previous generations in the wealth building potential
of homeownership. This, in combination with the
general desire among this demographic group to live
in urban settings has spurred the trend for smaller
dwellings and rental housing.
The general impression that the above information
gives is that there is a potential opportunity gap for
new development in the business sector (specifically
flex/R&D and industrial space) and in non‐single
family housing, with the demand for retail being
restrained by a saturated market and generally
keeping pace with population growth. This suggests
that any redevelopment in the Southeast Corridor
would best be directed toward employment and
housing, while generally maintaining current levels
of retail service. Given the presence of the MARC
station, and the general affinity and compatibility
between office and residential types of uses in urban
settings, the Southeast Corridor presents ample
potential for redevelopment as a mixed use urban
center in Frederick County.
Local Context
As the diagrams to the left illustrate, the Southeast
Corridor has undergone a vast amount of change in
the last sixty years. In the early 1950’s, the area was
largely agricultural, with some residential and
transitional roadside businesses. Since then, the
area has transformed into one of the most valuable
and intensively used portions of land in the County.
2000
2007

18. 14
Evergreen Point was likely named for the row
of evergreen trees that fronted the Locust Level
Estate at the intersection of Buckeystown Pike
(MD85) and Urbana Pike (MD355). For
decades, the manner house of the Jacob Lewis
property, named Locust Level for the level line
of locust trees that were arranged along the
front porch of the house, was located at this
intersection. Presumably for privacy purposes,
a row of evergreens was planted along the
road frontage of this estate, right at the
intersection of MD85 and MD 355. As the
evergreens grew and became a prominent and
distinct visual feature of this heavily travelled
intersection, the name “Evergreen Point”
emerged.
Figure 08: Locust Level Estate and Evergreen Point

19. 15
Several factors have contributed to the growth of
the area. The most basic is the high degree of
accessibility the area enjoys due to the adjacency
of two Interstates, and the convergence of two
State Roads. This, alongside the proximity to
Downtown Frederick, a regional magnet for
business and consumer activity, had primed the
area for growth.
However, access and attraction alone were not
adequate to spark the growth of the area.
Infrastructure for intensive development was
needed but was not available until the late 1970’s.
The functional ability to accommodate higher
capacity development was provided when the
Ballenger Creek Water and Sewage System was
completed in 1978. This was the catalyst that
allowed all of the geographic benefits of the area
to be capitalized, and played the most direct role in
the development of the Southeast Corridor.
Finally, the inevitable growth of the Southeast
Corridor was firmly established with the
construction of the Francis Scott Key Mall in 1978.
Businesses, both local and national, had already
begun to establish themselves in the area,
providing confidence to investors and land owners
that development was low risk and high reward.
But the economic boost provided by the
construction of the mall cemented the notion.
Change and Physical Structure
In just under 60 years, the entire Southeast
Corridor has changed dramatically. It has gone
from being identified as “Evergreen Point”, a
crossroads where MD85 and MD355 intersected at
an oblique angle and scattered houses and
businesses were surrounded by fields and
farmland, to an intensive suburban corridor,
covered by parking lots and buildings.
The change in the Southeast Corridor has not only
been economic, despite this typically being the
most emphasized aspect when discussed in relation
the growth of the area. The change in the
Southeast Corridor is also largely physical, and this
is the aspect that citizens and users are perhaps the
most exposed to on a daily basis.
In this respect, it can be argued that the Corridor
has lost many of the physical features that gave the
area a distinct and identifiable quality and that
allowed the name “Evergreen Point” to emerge.
Today, the Southeast Corridor can no longer be
tied to the presence of a dominant landmark
feature at a major crossroads to organize how
people perceive and identify the physical
environment. It is now a different animal, a sizable
developed area, rivaling Frederick City to the north
in terms of development intensity.
However, Frederick City has a vivid clarity in its
physical form and organization that is missing in
the Southeast Corridor. It is a kind of clarity of
organization that is in the same category as the
landmark evergreens of the Evergreen Point of
yesterday.
Development in the Southeast Corridor today
conforms to the haphazard and unharmonious
visual qualities of most strip commercial. While
beyond the apparent discord the area is somewhat
defined into districts based on zoning and
subdivision activity, the clear and vivid perceptual
organization of the area, as demonstrated by the
genesis of the name “Evergreen Point”, is gone.
However, the kinds of features that made
Evergreen Point so identifiable in the past, and that
give Frederick City it’s character, do not need to be
abandoned. Nor do they need to be copied.
As the last sixty years have shown, development in
the Southeast Corridor is ongoing. And as time
goes on, change can make the Southeast Corridor
into a distinct place of its own, on par with
Frederick City in terms of physical clarity and
organization. Change is sometimes an uncertain
process and often anxiety provoking. However, the
Southeast Corridor developed because change was
embraced, not resisted. Beyond all, the ability of
investors, business and land owners, officials, and
citizens to imagine what was possible drove the
growth the Southeast Corridor. When considering
the possible future of this area, this fact should be
kept in mind.

21. 17
EXISTING
CONDITIONS
Population: There is currently very little residential
development in the community. The 2000 Census
population for the corridor is 69, and is entirely
clustered around the existing trailer park between
MD 85 and MD355, behind Lowes Home
Improvement and to the north of the FSK Mall.
Schools: Currently, the corridor lies within the
attendance areas of Lincoln Elementary School,
Crestwood Middle School, and Tuscarora High
School.
Fire Service: The corridor is served by the Westview/
United Fire Company, located on the west side of
I270 at New Design Road north of Corporate Drive.
Parks: There are currently no existing parks with the
Corridor Study Area. However, many park and
recreation resources are available in the vicinity.
These include the Monocacy National Battlefield
bordering the southern edge of the study area, Loats
Park with Harry Grove Stadium to the north of the
study area, as well as other park resources of
Frederick City including Baker Park.
Two County regional parks are also in the vicinity.
These are Ballenger Creek Park on the west side of I‐
270 at Ballenger Creek Pike, and Pinecliff Park to the
east of LaFarge Quarry along Reich's Ford Road.
Water and Sewer: The New Design System
operated by the County serves the Frederick
Southeast community.
The County’s Central Frederick Sewer Service Area is
served by the Ballenger/McKinney wastewater
treatment plant. This system serves a portion of the
City of Frederick, Ballenger Creek, and the Frederick
Southeast growth areas.
There is additional capacity for water and sewer in
this area that could generally serve redevelopment
at higher intensities.
Topography: Much of the topography of the
Corridor has been modified by the development of
infrastructure and individual sites. However, the
underlying shape of the corridor as a whole retains
it’s basic natural form of gradually sloping peaks and
stream valleys.
Two areas of the Corridor are natural low‐lying areas
that feed into existing stream systems. The first of
located in the middle of the Frederick Industrial
Center subdivision, and drains to the west across I‐
270, to Ballenger Creek. The second valley is directly
under the FSK Mall, and also drains to the west
across I‐270 into Ballenger Creek.
Some of the highest ground in the corridor occurs
between the two valleys described above in south of
Grove Road. Another high point occurs at the site of
the Riverview retail subdivision along MD355 and
continues west to I‐270.
Figure 09: Topography

22. 18
Figure 10: Existing Land Use

23. 19
Table 13: Land Area and Value
Figure 11: Percent of Total Acres by Land Use Figure 12: Value by Land Use in Millions

24. 20
Figure 14: Existing Building Use

25. 21
Figure 15: Building Area
Figure 17: Square Feet by Building Use
Figure 16: Building Area by Subdivision

26. 22
Figure 18: Existing Comprehensive Plan Land Use Designations

27. 23
Mineral Mining: This designation is primarily applied to
areas under active mining operations and areas where
future mining and associated activities may occur.
Mixed Used Development: The intent of this new
designation is to accommodate a mix of medium to high
intensity commercial, civic, employment, and residential
uses within new and existing Community Growth Areas.
The Mixed Use (MU) land use designation has been
applied to an area that at its furthest extent currently is
approximately one mile from the Monocacy MARC
station. It is bounded by the Frederick Southeast
Community Growth Area to the south, Grove Road to the
north and MD 85 to the west.
General Commercial: The General Commercial
designation provides for general retail, small scale office
and business/personal service uses.
Office/Research/Industrial: The intent of this
designation is to support business, professional, and
corporate office uses as well as research and
development uses typically as part of a campus style
development. This designation is primarily applied on
properties that have visibility from interstate highways
and are in close proximity to interstate highway
interchanges.
Limited Industrial: This designation provides
opportunities for warehousing, wholesaling, and limited
manufacturing uses in addition to corporate office and
research/development uses. These areas should have
close access to the arterial highway network.
Natural Resource: This designation is generally applied
to environmental features including 100‐year floodplain,
large contiguous tracts of woodlands, and steep slopes (>
25%). The Natural Resource land use designation
matches the existing 100‐year floodplain along the
Monocacy River.
Public Parkland/Open Space: This designation is applied
to lands primarily under public ownership for local,
state, or federal parklands. It is also applied to publicly
owned open space lands devoted to watersheds as well
as to large property holdings under private ownership,
which have some degree of protection from
development. The northern portion of the Monocacy
National Battlefield is designated Public Parkland/Open
Space.
Comprehensive Plan

28. 24
Figure 19: Existing Zoning

29. 25
GI‐General Industrial: Intended to provide areas for
industries involving manufacturing or processing and for
those industrial uses which cannot meet the
performance criteria of the Limited Industrial District.
MM‐Mineral Mining: A floating zone established for the
purpose of providing for the development of needed
mineral resources in areas where such resources exist
subject to adequate safeguard for the conservation of
the environment.
GC‐General Commercial: Intended to provide general
retail commercial and business services. The general
commercial district will be located on roads with a
minimum classification of collectors as designated by the
Comprehensive Development Plan.
MXD‐Mixed Use Development: The MXD zone has been
replaced by the Planned Development Districts, Planned
Development Residential, (PDR) and Planned
Development Employment (PDE). These are are floating
zones established to provide for new development and
redevelopment within identified growth areas that result
in an integrated mixture of commercial, employment,
residential, recreational, civic and/or cultural land uses as
provided within the appropriate Frederick County
Comprehensive, Community, or Corridor Plan.
ORI‐Office/Research/Industrial: Intended to provide for
the development of office, research and limited
manufacturing uses in high visibility locations along
major highways. Development in this district shall be
characterized by an absence of nuisances in a clean and
aesthetically attractive setting. This district shall permit
limited manufacturing, fabrication or assembly
operations which would, by nature of the product, or
magnitude of production, be compatible with research,
professional or business offices. Commercial uses shall be
limited to those which are primarily oriented towards
servicing those businesses located within the Office/
Research Industrial District.
LI‐Limited Industrial: Intended to provide adequate area
for development of industrial uses whose operations
have a relatively minor nuisance value and provides a
healthful operating environment secure from the
encroachment of residential uses and protected from
adverse effects of incompatible industries.
Zoning

30. 26
Figure 20: Traffic Volume

31. 27
Transportation
Highway Functional Classifications
Freeway/Expressway: Divided highways that carry a
high volume of traffic at high design speeds for
interstate and inter‐county travel. They connect the
major centers of activity and provide uninterrupted
flow (no signalized intersections) from origin to
destination. Access is fully controlled by grade
separated interchanges. Freeways in the Southeast
Corridor are include I‐70 and I‐270.
Major Arterial: Carries a high volume of traffic for
travel within the county, or for travel to and from
adjacent counties. Access is typically allowed from
intersecting public streets and not directly with
adjoining parcels. MD85 and MD355 are major
arterials.
Minor Arterial: Carries moderate to high volume of
traffic usually for travel within the County. These
roads typically provide access to the interstate
system. There are no minor arterials within the
Southeast Corridor study area.
Collector: Collects and distributes traffic from
neighborhoods to the arterial system. They may
allow some direct access to adjacent properties such
as community shopping areas, schools, parks, and
residential developments. Spectrum Drive around
FSK Mall, Guilford Drive, and Genstar Drive are
designated collectors.
Local: Local roads provide direct access to abutting
properties. They are designed to handle relatively
low traffic volume. Locals roads in the Southeast
Corridor study area include Grove Road, Industry
Lane, New Technology Way, Frederick Crossing
Lane, New Horizon Way, Holiday Drive, Francis Scott
Key Drive, and Lowes Lane.
Public Transportation
Transit is provided throughout the study area. The
Monocacy Junction MARC Station is located in the
south of the study area. The MTA Commuter Bus
passes through the study area and stops at the
MARC Station.
Figure 20a: Comprehensive Plan Road
Classifications
Figure 20b: Existing Transit

33. 29
Issue: The corridor is underdeveloped
The Southeast Corridor provides a high level of
accessibility to services, employment, and
infrastructure, and in places such as this there is
natural momentum for higher density development.
This, in combination with the less intensive suburban
style of most development in the Southeast
Corridor, underlies the potential for redevelopment
in a more dense and urban fashion.
Opportunity: Efficient provision of infrastructure
The simple logic behind higher density development
relates to the efficient provision of infrastructure
and services, the idea being that shorter
infrastructure runs need to be constructed, and less
distance needs to be travelled in order to serve more
people. In an area with existing infrastructure and
possible excess capacity, as in the Southeast
Corridor, this efficiency advantage can be even
greater in that the use of existing infrastructure and
services can be maximized.
Opportunity: Increased returns to property owners
The potential advantages of increasing development
density can also translate to the property owner.
The potential revenue a piece of land can generate
can increase as its development yield increases.
Thereby, profits for private property owners can be
maximized.
Opportunity: Enhancement of local transportation
infrastructure
Perhaps the biggest pitfall of increasing
development intensity in the Southeast Corridor is
traffic congestion. MD 85 and MD355 are already
busy roads in the County, and more development
means more trips. However, by providing more local
roads to maximize the connectivity within the
corridor and to points outside of the corridor,
excessive congestion can be mitigated.
From a layout and spatial organization perspective,
there is ample opportunity to provide new road and
ISSUES AND
OPPORTUNITES
pedestrian connections to offset the potential
increase in development intensity in the Southeast
Corridor. Given the large amount of surface parking
area in the corridor, and the wide berth between
most existing buildings, an augmented street
network could be planned in a way that minimizes
the impact to existing buildings. This could be a
benefit when considering how the implementation
of proposed plans could be phased over time,
assuming that it is generally much easier to propose
a road that doesn’t require the demolition of existing
buildings.
Issue: The physical character of the
corridor is generic, uncoordinated, and
unattractive
If someone makes a comparison in their mind’s eye
between the historic downtown of Frederick City
and the suburban strip of the Southeast Corridor,
perhaps what would be most evident is the stark
contrast in physical character between each place.
Frederick City is endowed with beautiful architecture
that defines public space, a clear and legible layout,
a discrete organization of neighborhoods, and
landmark buildings that make the downtown
identifiable and promote meaningful and symbolic
associations between places and peoples lives.
Not many would argue that the Southeast Corridor
lacks many of these qualities, if not completely, then
certainly in degree. And yet, it is the qualities of
historic Frederick City that time and again are upheld
as the desired models to emulate.
Opportunity: Development of a memorable and
unique environment
It then follows that the redevelopment of the
Southeast Corridor is an opportunity to realize the
design qualities of the Frederick Downtown in a
place that is modern, updated, and efficient, yet
every bit as memorable and unique as Frederick City.

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Figure 21: MD355 ‐ Historic Corridor
Figure 22: MD85 ‐ Business Corridor

35. 31
The following is a cursory analysis of some of the
unique features of the Southeast Corridor and how
those features can play a role in the design of its
future growth and redevelopment.
Opportunity: Historic Corridor
MD 355, Urbana Pike, is not only a historic road
whose general alignment has been roughly the same
since the pre‐colonial era, but it also connects
several significant historic places throughout the
County and Frederick City. To the south of the site,
MD355 crosses the Monocacy National Battlefield.
As it continues north, it passes several other
historically significant places, such as Mt. Olivet
Cemetery where Francis Scott Key is buried, the
Historic District of Downtown Frederick and Baker
Park, and finally Rose Hill Manor, the retirement
home of Thomas Johnson, the first Governor of
Maryland. These landmarks are illustrated below.
The interpretation of MD355 as a “historic corridor”
can frame and give context to decisions about how it
should develop in the future.
Opportunity: Business Corridor
In the same way that MD355 connects significant
historic features, MD85 connects significant centers
of business in the County and through the City. A
large industrial center is located to the south of the
Corridor Study Area along MD85. This area includes
the Westwood Business Park, the McKinney and
Dudrow Industrial Parks, and the Omega and
Monocacy Centers. North of this along MD85 is the
Westview Commercial Center with mixed use
development containing retail and office uses.
Within the study area itself is the Frederick Industrial
Center subdivision with a concentration of
commercial and business services. To the north of
the study area is the future East Street development
area in the City of Frederick, slated to be a mix of
housing, retail, and office uses, and the Frederick
Airport Industrial Area. Further north, MD85
terminates into other adjacent roads that lead to the
North Frederick commercial area and the Riverside
Technology Park.
In addition, MD85 is the most accessible road in the
Southeast Corridor in that it has two interchanges
with two different Interstates, I‐270 to the east, and
I‐70 to the north.
Opportunity: Capitalization of existing physical
features to provide design structure and
organization
The map on the facing page illustrates some of the
significant physical features of the Southeast
Corridor. These are discussed below in terms of how
these features influence the existing physical layout
of the Corridor, as well as it’s redevelopment.
It has been established, by Kevin Lynch and others,
that we cognitively process the physical environment
through the formation of mental images. The
aspects of the physical environment that compose
those images have been described as the following:
districts, paths, edges, nodes, and landmarks. It has
been shown that places are more legible when these
elements are clearly organized and that the design of
places can more likely be successful when these
elements are considered and accounted for.
Legible places can have practical benefits in terms of
way‐finding. But they are also places that can more
easily provide that fuzzy yet much sought after
aspect of place called identity. The Southeast
Corridor, beleaguered by the uniformity of the strip
center and an ad hoc overall character, is lacking in
this respect. If planning is done using the principles
of how we use mental images to structure our
perception and understanding of places, a place is
more likely to embody the fuzzy aspects that allow
us to endow a place with identity.
Districts: Districts are discrete and identifiable
divisions of a larger whole. In the Southeast
Corridor, there is little existing criteria by which to
define districts. Upon initial inspection, everything
seems to flow into the next, without obvious
physical division. However, closer examination
reveals that features of the topography, the location
of infrastructure, and the clustering of similar uses
establishes a rudimentary pattern of districts,
however inchoate. As planning for the corridor
precedes, the districts identified on the facing map
can serve a starting point.
Boundary Edges: Boundary edges are linear features
that act as breaks in the continuity of a defined
space. The berms along the LaFarge Quarry are a
notable edge, as is the tree line along the northern
edge of the Monocacy Battlefield. Other less
obvious edges are identified in the facing map, and
are typically places of significant and steep shift in
elevation.

36. 32
Figure 23: Physical Analysis

37. 33
Figure 24: Analysis of Potential Residential Enclaves
Exposure Edges: Exposure edges are boundaries
within the Corridor that are in plain view to a large
number of people. The type of development that
might occur along an exposure edge would be the
kind that would benefit from high visibility, such as
corporate office space. These areas can produce
development that capitalizes on the high degree of
exposure, but also acts as significant identifying
features of the Corridor to the outside world
Nodes: Two types of nodes exist in the Southeast
Corridor, junctions and activity centers. Junctions
are typically road intersections, and activity centers
are typically areas that attract significant
commercial activity.
The significant junctions identified at this time, at
least from a perceptual perspective, are the MD85/
MD355 intersection and the Guilford Drive/MD85
intersection. The MARC Train Station was also
identified as a significant junction, although this is
likely not a dominant aspect of the perception of
junctions in the corridor.
While the entire Southeast Corridor is essential a
commercial center, only the FSK Mall was identified
as an activity center. This is because most other
commercial development has a uniform quality.
Landmarks
Landmarks are external point references and
typically can be seen from a large area or are notable
by the degree of difference in character from the
surroundings. Two areas were identified a
landmarks. The Guilford Manor complex was noted
because it is on a promontory that dominates it’s
surrounding in terms of physical presence. The
storm water management basin in the Frederick
Industrial Center on Industry Lane is identified
because it is external in that it is not a park or center
for activity, and it is also in contrast to it’s context in
terms of physical presence.
Issue: Residential development in the
Southeast Corridor
In it’s current state, it is difficult to imagine how
residential uses would be compatible or appropriate
in the Southeast Corridor. Since the 1970’s it has
largely developed in a strip commercial manner,
which emphasizes the exposure of buildings to
public streets. The emphasis of retail centers for
high visibility seems at odds with the needs for
privacy and quiet that residential development
demands.
Opportunity: Residential Buffers and Enclaves
Cities have historically solved this problem in two
ways. The first is to provide a buffer from active and
noisy streets by elevating residential uses above
street level, locating it in the upper levels of multi‐
story buildings.
The other approach taken by many cities it to locate
housing in buffered enclaves. This occurs when
housing is located in residential pockets that are
surrounded on the perimeter by more intensive
commercial uses. Within the pocketed areas is
primarily residential land use, while commercial land
use occurs on the edges. This approach affords a
wider range of options in terms of housing types.
The diagram below is a cursory analysis in order to
identify and locate potential areas for residential
enclaves within the study area, and also illustrate
the concept. In the diagram, as the intensity of the
red color increases, so does the potential to provide
quiet, less active areas of the Corridor that would be
appropriate for housing.