Land Use and Density

     Land use includes zoning, density, and "design guidelines," all of which affect the ability of a developer to use land. The Montgomery County Planning Board has a long tradition of providing specific zoning and development requirements for particular areas, leading to the current 119 different zoning schemes in use. The Planning Board intends to encourage "mixed-use" development, with both commercial/retail and residential uses. Here is the overall land use plan for the White Flint Sector:

Density and Heights:

     Density does not automatically translate to building heights. Density, as used in Montgomery County planning, is a combination of ways to use the land available for development. Thus a shorter, wider building can be very dense, while a narrow, tall building might not be. In addition, height decisions involve questions of sunlight and shadows on surrounding areas, aesthetics and design features, and proximity to surrounding neighborhoods.

    A common measure of density used in Montgomery County is Floor Area Ratio, abbreviated as FAR. The greater the FAR, the more development permitted on a property. FARs in the White Flint Plan range from 2.0 to 4.0, with the higher FARs being located closer to the Metro station. 

    The FAR, however, does not itself limit height; height limits are set separately. In the White Flint Plan, maximum heights range from 300 feet, close to the Metro, down to 50 feet near residential areas, such as in the southern part of the Sector.

    Here is the overall height and density within the Sector, with the greatest densities and the greatest heights centered on the Metro Station:

    Or, as seen on the 3-D map included in the Sector Plan:

Walkability and Density:

     One of the hottest topics in the White Flint Sector Plan is the use of walkability to limit density. The central concept of "new urbanism" is removing the car-centric nature of land use planning, and substituting a focus on public transit. For more on walkable communities, see our New Urbanism page. Thus, the White Flint plan permits higher buildings and greater density closer to the Metro station, and intends to reduce the height and density limits as the distance from the Metro station decreases (and the closer the development is to neighboring communities.

     The Planning staff proposed a circular pattern of rings of approximately 1/4 mile, expanding outward from the southern (existing) entrance to the Metro station, with heights and densities rapidly falling with each ring. An additional "corridor" would run along Rockville Pike under which additional density could be "transferred" between properties (for an additional 0.5 FAR in some places on the Pike).

     The private developer Collaborative instead proposed an elliptical pattern, centered along Rockville Pike. The difference is that the elliptical pattern spreads greater density further south along Rockville Pike than the staff's circular pattern. The elliptical pattern, says its proponents, better reflects the actual walking times which will result from the new, more robust street network proposed by consultant Glatting-Jackson.

     Some community organizations oppose the elliptical pattern, citing a need for a "central core" by the Metro station, and claim that the elliptical pattern will have an adverse impact on their communities by placing taller buildings along Rockville Pike than the circular pattern would permit. Other community representatives testified in favor of the elliptical pattern.

    This has led to a "walking contest," with differing groups walking various distances to gauge how long it takes to walk to the Metro station. The proposals that result from the walking tests differ in shape and distance. Here is the Planning staff's ten-minute walk test result from the proposed new road network in White Flint:

     The Planning staff, having walked these routes, contends that almost every major area within the White Flint Sector is within a ten minute walk from Metro station.

"CR" Zone:

     Recognizing the unique features of the type of "new urbanism" development planned for White Flint, the Planning Board is crafting yet another new zoning and density scheme. Currently called the "CR" (for "Commercial/Residential") zone, the proposed program would set a uniform "base" level of density in particular parts of the White Flint Sector, and then provide various types of "mix-and-match" incentives and bonuses, through which density could be increased to a set maximum. In addition, the CR zone would provide flexibility in mixing residential and commercial types in a particular project, with incentives to include mixed-uses on each property. 

    The CR Zone designates each covered property with a four-part zoning limit, with an overall FAR, a commercial development FAR, a residential FAR, and a height limit. Thus, a CR Zone designation might be: CR4.0, C3.0, R3.0, H250, meaning that total FAR of commercial and residential combined cannot exceed 4.0, FAR for a completely commercial development cannot exceed 3.0, FAR for a completely residential FAR cannot exceed 3.0, and total height cannot exceed 250'. Thus, the final CR Zone map for the White Flint Sector looks like this:

     The Montgomery County Planning Board adopted the CR Zone on July 16, 2009. More information and a copy of the latest version of the CR Zone is available on the main White Flint Planning Page.  

Design Guidelines:

     In addition, the Planning Board is also instituting a new program under which the Master Plan itself is accompanied by "design guidelines" which are intended to flesh out the broad descriptions in the White Flint Sector Plan. These guidelines would specify which types of features would be required or rewarded in particular development proposals.

    On April 23, 2009, the Planning Board began to make preliminary decisions on density, approving a proposal for the Conference Center block of 4.0 FAR (the highest available). During an extended discussion (which was live-blogged on the FLOG on that date, and which is available on video from the Planning Board's page), the Planning Board recognized the staff's walkability analysis.

     The Draft Design Guidelines, released May 4, 2009, are available here.