Committee advances amended Clarksburg Gateway Sector Plan, sends package to full council

The Montgomery County Planning, Housing and Parks Committee on Feb. 23 completed the third work session on the Clarksburg Gateway Sector Plan, approving a set of neighborhood recommendations, zoning adjustments and implementation edits and voting in committee to forward the amended plan to the full council.

Staff summarized the plan’s neighborhood-level recommendations: the Gateway Center should retain employment-oriented uses with potential mixed-use redevelopment and a recommended zoning change from EOF to CR (increasing mixed-use capacity); the former Comsat Laboratories property ("Comsat") was recommended for CR zoning with 1.0 FAR for both commercial and residential uses and language encouraging integration with transit and potential major employers; Linthicum and Upper Coolbrook neighborhoods were described as primarily residential with adjusted CRT zoning guidance.

Planning staff read edits from an addendum posted the morning of the work session that clarified design guidance and implementation priorities. That edit included revised language for the Mixed Use Activity Center: "To create an active and attractive public realm within the Mixed Use Activity Center, new buildings should be placed close to the street with active storefronts and building entries, enhanced streetscapes, and varying building heights and densities," the staff memo said. The committee also agreed that surface parking should be placed away from public view or designed as an interim condition to allow for future infill.

Members debated whether the plan should include specific economic-development implementation steps — such as targeted land-use and permitting reforms, capital investments and financial tools to attract major employers — in the implementation chapter. Some members supported stronger language to signal the site’s strategic importance and encourage county agencies to act; others cautioned that highly prescriptive economic-development directives and consultant mandates feel out of place in a sector plan. The committee agreed to retain three suggested strategies but struck a fourth item that would explicitly call for a consultant-led blueprint.

Staff also proposed a technical clarification on green-cover accounting: dedicated areas created for new roadways and parks may count toward the plan’s 35% green-cover requirement, but the committee agreed to exempt the I-270 right-of-way dedication because it does not produce on-site green cover where residents and workers will live and work. The plan’s transportation edits included language recommending wildlife passage under or over I-270 where practicable and clarified that interim roadway designs should be constructed to allow future dedicated bus lanes.

Late in the session planning staff offered five illustrative renderings; Chair Friedson and several members opposed adding those images into the plan text because they were posted late and had not had sufficient public review. "I'm not personally comfortable with us including it here," the chair said; the committee decided not to include the renderings but allowed planning staff to share them separately.

Following the amendments, the committee voted in favor of sending the amended Clarksburg Gateway Sector Plan to the full council for final consideration and adoption. The committee vote was taken by hand; the chair said the intention is to forward the plan to full council prior to final budget actions.

Next steps: the Planning, Housing and Parks Committee’s amended plan will be considered by the full Montgomery County Council; final zoning and implementation decisions will require full-council approval and, where applicable, subsequent regulatory actions and capital budget decisions.