Planning department briefs council on University Boulevard corridor plan, prioritizes safety, BRT and zoning near transit

Planning staff and the Montgomery County Planning Board on Tuesday briefed the County Council on the draft University Boulevard corridor master plan, describing recommendations to improve transportation safety, expand housing options near transit stations and guide redevelopment with neighborhood-compatibility standards.

Artie Harris, chair of the Montgomery County Planning Board, and Jason Sartore, the county planning director, framed the plan as a 20-year vision guided by Thrive Montgomery 2050 and the county’s Vision Zero goals. The draft targets a “Greener Boulevard” with buffers, wider side paths, street trees and bus-priority lanes designed to keep pedestrians and transit riders separated from fast-moving traffic.

Planning staff emphasized safety: presentations said the corridor has experienced serious crashes in recent years. One staff summary stated, since 2015 “four people have been killed in traffic crashes on the corridor and 38 people have been severely injured.” The plan makes road-safety changes a top priority and recommends measures such as reducing uncontrolled left turns, adding leading pedestrian intervals and limiting right turns on red at selected signals — subject to the transportation director’s determination that restrictions would not “significantly impair public safety.”

The draft endorses bus-priority lanes and recommends extending the red-painted curbside bus lanes already piloted on portions of the corridor through the Four Corners intersection following coordination with the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT), the State Highway Administration and WMATA. Planning staff cited the pilot’s evaluation: 99% driver compliance, a 7% reduction in Metrobus travel time through the pilot corridor and a roughly 20-second increase in motor-vehicle travel time along the two-mile pilot segment.

Housing and zoning recommendations focus on increasing housing near transit while protecting adjacent single-family blocks. The plan proposes mixed-use or residential development along blocks facing the corridor, generally allowing building heights up to 50 feet between transit stations with a required transition to about 35 feet where those blocks meet single-family neighborhoods. For commercial nodes such as Four Corners, the plan supports a mix of uses and, in select parcels, greater height and density.

Planning staff recommended rezoning many single-family parcels to the commercial-residential neighborhood (CRN) zone and selected commercial parcels to commercial-residential-transit (CRT). The draft includes an overlay to limit lot coverage to 35% on smaller lots (most lots in the corridor), addressing community concerns about overly dense redevelopment. Staff also proposed a targeted approach to the Woodmoor/Campbell (Camp Veil) shopping-center area: an optional phased redevelopment strategy, incentives and language intended to preserve valued small retailers and cultural businesses while enabling new housing and mixed uses if property owners choose to redevelop.

Staff outlined right-of-way and infrastructure implications: the plan anticipates a 124-foot right-of-way to fully implement buffered sidewalks, bicycle paths and streetscape features. Because existing right-of-way varies and is generally narrower, the plan says additional right-of-way would be acquired through redevelopment dedications or targeted capital projects and that interim bus-priority improvements can be implemented without additional right-of-way.

Planners described extensive community engagement over three years: about 20 hosted meetings, another 20-plus public events, 1,000 door knocks, outreach in six languages, 10,000 mailed notices and interactive online tools that allow residents to check whether proposed zoning changes apply to their properties. Planning staff said the planning board modified recommendations after a public hearing and staff responses to community input.

Council President Kate Stewart noted the committee schedule and public input opportunities: the Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee will take up the plan in coming weeks, and the council has two public hearings scheduled — Sept. 10 at 7 p.m. at Montgomery Blair High School Auditorium and Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Council Office Building.

The council’s formal review and any zoning changes would follow the standard master-plan and regulatory process; staff emphasized that rezoning recommendations only take effect if property owners pursue redevelopment or apply for new approvals.