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Council hears competing views on proposed grandfathering fix for landscape contractors
Summary
A zoning text amendment (ZTA 25-08) would clarify measurement of landscape-contractor on-site operations and allow one opportunity to restore grandfathered status; Planning Board and industry representatives testified in support.
Montgomery County Council heard testimony July 15 on Zoning Text Amendment 25-08, which would revise legacy exemption language for landscape contractors in the Rural Cluster (RC) zone.
Benjamin Burbert, representing the Montgomery County Planning Board, told the council the amendment clarifies that on-site operations must be measured as square footage and would allow a site that inadvertently expanded after Oct. 30, 2014, one opportunity to restore its operational footprint to the approved square footage and retain grandfather status. Burbert said the Planning Board supported the change because the current approach can strip legacy protections immediately after any enlargement, even accidental ones, and force expensive conditional-use reviews.
Attorney Casey Cerner, representing Woods Blaster LLC doing business as Silver Spring Landscaping, and business owner Don Thurber urged the council to adopt ZTA 25-08. Cerner said the change aligns enforcement with the way landscaping businesses operate and provides a limited, reasonable pathway to correct inadvertent expansions without a full conditional-use process. Thurber told the council he supported the amendment and thanked Councilmember Albornoz for sponsoring the ZTA.
Planning staff said a climate assessment found minimal overall impacts but noted both potential environmental benefits from site restoration and small negatives tied to removal of existing impervious surfaces.
Council staff announced a Planning, Housing and Parks Committee work session on July 28, 2025; those wishing to submit materials were asked to do so by July 21, 2025. The public hearing was closed at the session.
No formal vote was taken at the hearing; the ZTA will proceed through committee review and subsequent council action.
