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Council approves corrective map amendment for Piedmont Road property after planning staff cites mapping error
Summary
The council voted unanimously to approve CMA H-15112701 to change zoning for 12701 Piedmont Road from Agriculture Reserve to R-200, concluding planning staff found a historic mapping error and no pending development application; the formal resolution will be prepared for the next meeting.
Montgomery County Council voted Jan. 29 to approve a corrective map amendment (CMA H-15112701) for 12701 Piedmont Road in Clarksburg, resolving a decades-old split zoning error.
Planning staff told the council the 4.9-acre property had been split between Agriculture Reserve (AR) and R-200 zoning since the early 1980s, a condition that left existing single-family houses technically nonconforming. Katie Mencarini of the county planning department said review of the Damascus master plan maps shows a cartographic/mapping inconsistency around Stringtown Road that likely produced the split zoning. Planning staff concluded that the correct zoning for the property is R-200 and recommended that the planning board's CMA application be approved to bring the parcel into conformity with how it was developed.
An attorney for the property owner testified in support at the planning hearing; one adjacent neighbor opposed on the grounds that changing the zoning could enable future development that would affect his property. Planning staff and council staff responded that no development application is pending, any subsequent project would trigger further review and public notice, and the CMA is intended solely to correct a technical error.
During council consideration, staff reiterated that the correction affects only the subject parcel and would not open a broader rezoning of adjacent neighborhoods. The council took a roll-call vote and approved the correction; the president said the formal resolution and paperwork would be returned at the next council meeting for the official record.
Why it matters: The CMA resolves a technical nonconformity under the county's zoning code and restores the parcel to the zoning designation under which it was originally developed, reducing regulatory uncertainty for the property owner while preserving the normal procedural protections for neighbors if new development is later proposed.
Vote: The council recorded a unanimous roll-call approval; the resolution will be transmitted at the council's next meeting.
