Montgomery County's new zoning code aims to modernize, simplify, and clarify regulations by consolidating uses and zones, making it easier to navigate, and enhancing development standards. The revised code introduces new zoning districts, adjusts existing uses, and emphasizes public benefits in development processes while maintaining legal protections for existing developments. Key changes include the incorporation of a one-use table and associated standards, as well as modifications to residential, commercial, and employment zones.

1. Rewrite for the Future:
Montgomery County’s New
Zoning Code
Lerch, Early & Brewer, Chtd.
www.lerchearly.com October 12, 2012

2. Presentation from Montgomery
County Planning Department

3. Chapter 59: Zoning Code
Zoning Code Rewrite
Fall 2012

4. Topics
• Introduction
• Schedule
• The Big Picture & How It All Fits Together
• What’s New

5. Introduction
Goals and Objectives:
• Modernize
– Consolidation of uses and zones
– Update single-use commercial areas; limited residential development
• Simplify
– Make the zoning code easier to use
– One use table
– Diagrams
– Separate articles on Euclidean zones, floating zones, standard and
optional method
• Clarify
– Review process determined by intensity of use and proximity to
residential development
– Inclusion of public benefits, recreational facilities and landscaping
amenities
– Protections for legal nonconforming development and existing
approvals

6. Introduction
Organization:
• 59-1 General Provisions
– Purpose
– Applicability
– Use of the Code
– Definitions
• 59-2 Zoning Districts
– Zones Established
– Euclidean and Floating Zone Intent Statements
– Zoning Map
• 59-3 Uses & Use Standards
– Use Table
– Use Categories – Agricultural, Residential, Civic, Commercial, Industrial, Miscellaneous
• 59-4 Euclidean Zoning Regulations
– Rules for all zones
– Standard method development regulations
– Overlay zones

7. Introduction
Organization:
• 59-5 Floating Zone Regulations
– Applicability
– Purposes
– Land Uses and Building Types
– Development Standards
• 59-6 Optional Method Regulations
– MPDU and Cluster
– TDR
– C/R and Employment zones
– Public Benefits
• 59-7 General Development Regulations
– Site Access, Parking, Queuing, and Loading
– Open Space
– Recreation Facilities
– Landscaping and Outdoor Lighting, Storage & Display
– Signs
• 59-8 Administration & Procedures
– Organized by type of approval

8. The Big Picture
Interconnections between regulations. Options and
alternatives
Development subject to regulations
should produce the desired patterns.
Land uses &
Use standards
Intensity &
Impact
Interconnections
Basic
regulations
Process &
Transparency

9. Uses
The Big Picture
• More Flexible
Elliot’s example of 10 • Mixed-use Middle
“Better Ways to Zone” • Attainable Housing
Existing development
• Mature Areas Standards
• Living with Nonconformities
Impacts
• Dynamic Development Standards
• Negotiated Large Developments
Public Interface
• Depoliticized Final Approvals
• Better Webbing
• Scheduled Maintenance

10. The Big Picture Euclidean vs
Floating
Balance & proportional ‘reaction’.
Standards vs.
Standard vs
Waivers &
Optional
Variances
Balance
General
Permitted vs
Regulations
Limited vs
vs Alternative
Conditional
Compliance
Permit vs Site
Plan vs Sketch
Plan/FZMA

11. Basic Zoning Families
The Big Picture Agricultural
Basic zoning districts to implement Rural Residential
area plans and policies
Residential –
Detached, Townhouse, Apart
ment
Commercial/Residential –
Neighborhood, Town, and
Regional
Employment – Office, Life
Sciences, General
Retail, Neighborhood Retail
Industrial – Light & Heavy

12. Floating Zones
The Big Picture • Residential – Detached,
Floating zones for interim Town, Apartment
opportunities with public input
between master plan revisions
• C/R – Neighborhood,
Town, and Regional
• Employment – Office, Life
Sciences, General Retail,
Neighborhood Retail

13. Overlay Zones
The Big Picture • SPAs – limits on impervious
Overlay zones for unique area
circumstances
• NP – neighborhood
protection
• TDR – receiving areas

14. Development Methods
The Big Picture
Basic standards vs negotiated options
• Standard
– Established building types
– Set development standards
– Limited process
• Optional
– Flexible building types
– Increased density and/or flexible development
standards
– Public benefits and amenities
• Rural/Residential: environmental and affordable housing
• C/R & Employment: various
– Additional process

15. How the Pieces Fit Together
Subdivision
Zoning is one aspect of regulations used to
Staging
implement policy.
Road
Zoning
Various agencies and all property owners and Code, Building
Requirements
citizens use the zoning ordinance to Code, etc.
design, review, and implement development.
Buildable
Subdivision project Master Plans &
Regulations Guidelines
Affordable Forest
Housing Conservation &
Requirements SWM Regulations

16. Standard
How the Pieces Fit Together Development
Method
Optional
A toolkit must be complete: we have a wide
variety of land uses from highly urbanized mixed (Rezoning)
use to rural agricultural
Permitted
Tools within the toolkit must complement each
other to get the job done
Use Limited
Thresholds based on intensity: non-discretionary
approvals versus process-oriented discretionary Conditional
Subject Zone
approvals
Units
Intensity Bulk
Height
Low/Medium
Density
Adjacency
Medium/High
Density

17. How the Pieces Fit Together Buffering
• Options
Basic rules for compatibility built in
• Plantings/Fencing/Berms
• Based on Building Type & Adjacent Zone
Parking
• Lighting Restrictions
• Buffering & Planting
Neighborhood Compatibility
• Angular Plan Restriction
• Based on Adjacent Zoning Standards

18. Findings for
approvals
How the Pieces Fit Together connect the
ordinance to
Master plans master plans
Staging
Development has
Adequate Public Facilities
public facility and
Findings master plan staging
restrictions
The full range of
use, density, and form must
be available for the 40+
master plans
Master plans recommend zoning to
implement land use policy

19. How the Pieces Fit Together
Again: balance Submittal
Requirements
•Application
•Ownership
•Site Information
•Justification
Statement
•Plans

20. What’s New?
Building Type Descriptions
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21. What’s new??
Building Types Allowed
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22. What’s New?
Uses and Uses Standards
• One use table
• Use Categories (ag, residential, civic, commercial, industrial, misc)
• Use Groups (farming, home occupation, parking)
• Individual Uses (crop farming, livestock farming)
• Each use group or individual use:
– Defined with examples;
– Some use groups have standards
– All individual uses have standards where L or C
New Uses
– Access to Local Food Production
– Flexible Housing Options
– Zone Consolidation
– Use Modernization/Clarification

23. What’s New?
Agricultural, Rural Residential, and Residential Zones
Very few changes proposed for these zones, some modifications include:
• Propose changing the name of the RDT zone to Agricultural Reserve (AR)
• Consolidation of several uses into Residential Care facility – 3 categories proposed based on
size:
– Residential Care Facility (up to 8 persons)
– Residential Care Facility (9 – 16 persons)
– Residential Care Facility (over 16 persons)
• Proposed removal of the use “Parking of motor vehicles, other than heavy commercial vehicles,
off-street in connection with commercial uses” , currently a special exception in the R-60 and R-
40 zones. (Retained use in historic districts only)
• Addition of building types to the code means a general building in the ag, rural and residential
zones has development standards that differ from the standards for a detached house. The
general building is not a use – it is a building type provided to accommodate allowed uses in
these zones, such as a Cultural Institution or Day Care Facility.

24. What’s New?
C/R and Employment Zones
C/R has been modified during the rewrite process:
• revising the allowable uses due to consolidation of the use table and zones,
• revising the Limited use,
• creating development requirements for standard method development, and
• adjusting the public benefit point allocations
Employment zones:
• modeled on the C/R family of zones
• dimensional requirements for standard method development
• optional method of development requires public benefit points
• fewer total points, from fewer categories, are needed

25. What’s New?
Floating Zones
New families of floating zones proposed:
Residential Floating zones
C/R Floating Zones, and
Employment Floating Zones
Article on Floating zones contains:
– Zones
– Applicability
– Purposes
– Land Uses
– Building Types
– Development Standards
• Maximum density restricted by pre-existing zone & lot size
• Height restrictions based on angular plane

26. What’s New?
Optional Method
Rural Residential, and Residential Zones –
– No changes to density or building types.
– Modest changes to development standards ; slightly reduced lot sizes to allow for greater
land preservation.
– Useable area redefined to be less ambiguous
C/R and Employment Zones -
– Public Benefits
• Major Public Facilities;
• Transit Proximity;
• Connectivity & Mobility;
• Diversity of Uses & Activities;
• Quality Building & Site Design;
• Protection & Enhancement of the Natural Environment (incorporated retained
buildings);
– General Considerations: no change;
– Implementation Guidelines: no change.

27. What’s New?
General Development Regulations:
Updated parking numbers
– Integrated with new Chapter 60
– Bike spaces based on use (not parking)
Open space standards
Recreation facility point system
Buffering & screening requirements
Signs & outdoor storage largely unchanged

28. What’s New?
Administration and Procedures:
• Separate sections on approvals by review authority, each section includes:
– Applicability
– Application Requirements
– Review and Recommendation
– Approval Criteria
– Decision
– Subsequent Applications
– Scope of Approval
– Recording Procedures
– Amendments
• Noticing Standards
• Existing Approvals
• Nonconformities
• Violations, Penalties and Enforcement
• Special Provisions

29. Tools
Comparison charts for uses ^= Use has 1 or more footnotes attached CRN CRT CR EGR ENR ELS EOF
TOMX-
CBD-1
CBD-2
CBD-3
CBD-
CBD-
CBD-
New Use/ Use
Fact Sheets
RMX-2C
RMX-3C
O.5
2.0
R1
R2
RMX-1
RMX-2
RMX-3
Current Use Current Category
MXTC
CR-N
Group
R&D
CR-T
TMX
C-O
LSC
C-1
C-4
C-1
C-2
C-4
C-2
C-1
CR
(S) (O) (S) (O) (S) (O) (S) (O) (S) (O) (S) (O) (S) (O)
Video AGRICULTURAL
Community Garden New Use L L L L L L L
Farm building supply Commercial
and construction P^ P^ P^
Farm Supply, Machinery Farm implements, Commercial
P P
Sales, Storage, Service storage and sales
Feed and grain, storage Commercial
P P
and sales
P
Farming
Farm, limited to crops, Agricultural
P P P
Urban Farming vegetables, herbs and
ornamental plants L L L L L L L
http://vimeo.com/montgomeryplanning/what-is-zoning

30. Tools
Conversion Chart and Master Plan Analysis Packets

31. Tools
Conversion Chart and Master Plan Analysis Packets
Current Zone Proposed Zone
Symbol Name Symbol Name
Agricultural and Rural Residential
RDT Rural Density Transfer AR Agricultural Reserve
R Rural R Rural
RC Rural Cluster RC Rural Cluster
LDRC Low Density Rural Cluster None Zoned; Not Retained
RNC Rural Neighborhood Cluster RNC Rural Neighborhood Cluster
Residential, Detached
RE-2 Residential Estate - 2 RE-2 Residential Estate - 2
RE-2C Residential Estate - 2C RE-2C Residential Estate - 2C
RE-1 Residential Estate -1 RE-1 Residential Estate - 1
R-200 Residential - 20,000 sf lot Commercial Zones
R-200 Residential- 20,000 sf lot
R-150 Residential - 20,000 sf lot CRN Commercial/Residential - Neighborhood
R-90 Residential - 9,000 sf lot R-90 Residential - 9,000 sf lot C-1 Convenience Commercial CRT Commercial/Residential - Town
R-60 Residential - 6,000 sf lot R-60 Residential - 6,000 sf lot ENR Employment, Neighborhood Retail
R-40 Residential - 6,000 sf lot R-40 Residential - 6,000 sf lot CRT Commercial/Residential - Town
C-2 General Commercial
Residential, Multi-Unit EGR Employment, General Retail
R-4plex Residential 4-plex None Zoned; Not Retained CRN Commercial/Residential - Neighborhood
C-4 Limited Commercial
R-30 Multi-Family, Low Density R-30 Multi-Unit, Low Density CR Commercial/Residential
R-20 Multi-Family, Medium Density R-20 Multi-Unit, Medium Density C-5 Low Density Office None Zoned; Not Retained
R-10 Multi-Family, High Density R-10 Multi-Unit, High Density C-6 Low Density Regional Commercial All C-6 is in White Oak Science Gateway Master Plan; under study
Industrial Zones C-Inn Country Inn * Revert to former zone
I-1 Light Industrial Office Zones
IL Industrial, Light
I-4 Light Industrial C-O Commercial Office Building EOF Employment, Office
I-2 Heavy Industrial IH Industrial, Heavy R&D Research & Development ELS Employment, Life Sciences
MRR Mineral Resource Recovery None Zoned; Not Retained LSC Life Sciences Center ELS Employment, Life Sciences
Central Business District Zones
CBD-0.5 Central Business District - 0.5
CBD-1 Central Business District - 1
CBD-R1 CBD, Residential - 1
CR Commercial/Residential
CBD-2 Central Business District - 2
CBD-R2 CBD, Residential - 2
CBD-3 Central Business District - 3
Mixed-Use Zones
CR Commercial/Residential CR Commercial/Residential
CRT Commercial/Residential- Town CRT Commercial/Residential- Town
CRN Commercial/Residential - Neighborhood CRN Commercial/Residential - Neighborhood
RMX-1 Residential, Mixed-Use Development
RMX-2 Residential, Mixed-Use Development
RMX-2C Residential, Mixed-Use Development CRT Commercial/Residential - Town
RMX-3 Residential, Mixed-Use Development
RMX-3C Residential, Mixed-Use Development
MXTC Mixed-Use Town Center CRT Commercial/Residential - Town
TOMX-2 Transit-Oriented, Mixed-Use CRT Commercial/Residential - Town
TMX-2 Transit Mixed-Use CR Commercial/Residential

32. Tools
Companion document to the Consolidated Draft
Redline version to accompany each report
Code text disposition

33. Planning Board Review Process
• Introduction, Format, Organization
• Creating a Toolkit: policies, goals, the big picture
Sept 10 - 13
• Organization & Process: approach, outreach
• Commercial/Residential & Employment Zoning Districts
• Intent, Uses
Sept 20 – Oct 11
• Development Standards, Optional Method
• Agricultural, Rural, and Residential Zoning Districts
• Intent, Uses
Oct 15- 29
• Development Standards, Optional Method
• Overlay &Floating Zoning Districts
• Intent/Purpose, Applicability, Uses
Nov 1- 13
• Development Standards
• General Development Regulations and Administration & Procedures
• Applicability and Requirements
Nov 15-Dec 6
• Map Amendments, Text Amendments, Regulatory Applications

34. www.zoningmontgomery.org

35. For more information
Lerch, Early & Brewer, Chtd.
3 Bethesda Metro Center, Suite 460
Bethesda, MD 20814
(301) 986-1300
www.lerchearly.com
Thank you for your participation
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