Category: Montgomery County

RELEASE: CSG and Montgomery Open Streets Coalition Ask SHA for 19 Miles of Shared Streets

Posted on by Jane Lyons

July 1, 2020

Mr. Greg Slater

Maryland Secretary of Transportation

7201 Corporate Center Drive

Hanover, MD 21076

Mr. Tim Smith, Administrator

Maryland State Highway Administration

707 North Calvert Street

Baltimore, MD 21202

RE: Shared Streets Treatments on Maryland State Roads in Montgomery County

To:  Tim Smith MD SHA Administrator

Dear Secretary Slater and Mr. Smith,

On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we would like to offer a list of State Highways that would benefit greatly from a “Shared Streets” approach as is being used by Montgomery County Department of Transportation. Recently, SHA itself coordinated with MCDOT and Councilmember Tom Hucker’s office in the closing of the right northbound lane on MD-97 in downtown Silver Spring to facilitate outdoor dining.

We are proposing a similar treatment of longer stretches of some State roads to promote greater connectivity for bicyclists and pedestrians and make it safer for those who do not want to drive or do not have access to a car to make trips throughout Montgomery County walking or by bicycle. These could be commuting to work trips, or shorter ones to go buy groceries, visit the doctor, connect with trails or do other errands. It is vital to provide alternatives to cars that are safe, affordable and are useful in getting people between different parts of the County or even within a short radius of where people live.

The list below amounts to almost 19 miles of state roads. We understand that SHA may want to pilot this concept of partial closures to cars and suggest that the stretch on University Boulevard is a good place to start as it would connect the Wheaton CBD with Sligo Creek Parkway and neighborhoods east of the Parkway as well.

We look forward to your response and hope that you can work with MCDOT and members of the Maryland House and Senate and the Montgomery County Council.

Here is the list of roads we propose as candidates for a Shared Streets approach:

  1. University Blvd/MD-193 from Colesville Road/MD-29 to Viers Mill Road/Md-586 (3.0 mi) (Connects from Four Corners neighborhood to Sligo Creek Parkway and Trail to Wheaton CBD)
  2. Viers Mill Road/MD-586 from MD-193 to Matthew Henson Trail (works best in pairing with no. 1 above (2.7 mi) (Connects Wheaton CBD to Matthew Henson Trail)
  3. Frederick Road/MD-355 from Germantown Road/Md-118 to MIddlebrook Road (.8 mi) (Connects Montgomery College/Germantown Campus and Holy Cross Hospital/Germantown)
  4. Piney Branch Road/MD-320 from Sligo Creek Pkwy to New Hampshire Ave/MD-650 (1.4 mi) (Connects Sligo Creek Parkway and Trail, New Hampshire Elementary School, Flower Ave and Northwest Branch Trails)
  5. Old Georgetown Road/MD-187 from I-495 to Executive Blvd (2.6 mi) (Connects Bethesda Trolley Trail, Ratner Museum, Wildwood Shopping Center, Josiah Henson Museum and White Flint)
  6. Georgia Ave/MD-97 from Norbeck Road/MD-28 to OlneySandy Spring Road/MD-108  (3.5 mi) (Connects Leisure World, ICC Trail and Olney CBD)
  7. Georgia Avenue/MD-97 & 16th Street/MD-390 from I-495 Overpass to Colesville Road (1.5 mi) (Connects Forest Glen Metro and Montgomery Hills Shopping Center)
  8. East-West Highway/MD-410 from Georgia Ave/MD-97 to Connecticut Ave/MD-185  (3.2 mi) (Connects Silver Spring CBD, Rock Creek Trail, and Chevy Chase) 

Paul Goldman, President, Action Committee for Transit

Jane Lyons, Maryland Advocacy Manager, Coalition for Smarter Growth

Alison Gillespie, President, Forest Estates Community Association

Kristy Daphnis, Chair, Pedestrian Bicycle Traffic Safety Advisory Committee

Peter Gray, Vice President, Board of Directors, Washington Area Bicyclist Association

cc: Montgomery County State Delegates and Senators, Montgomery County Council, Director MCDOT

Accessory dwelling units are part of Montgomery County’s housing solution. Support them today!

Posted on by Alex Baca


Tell the County Council that we need rules that make accessory dwellings feasible in Montgomery County!

It’s no secret that Montgomery residents face daunting housing challenges. Prices are high, and the right home can be hard to find, especially for an aging parent, returning adult child, or young family just starting out. One solution that can help is accessory dwelling units, or ADUs. But the County’s current rules are too onerous, and prevent many homeowners from creating an accessory unit on their property.

Accessory dwelling units offer a range of benefits, they help adult children have a place to stay close to parents, and they enable aging parents to live close to family members. They offer an aging-in-place solution for retirees, and help make housing more affordable for young families.

Tell the Montgomery County Council that you support flexible solutions like accessory dwelling units, and the zoning amendment to set more reasonable rules for homeowners.

Communities across the country are embracing accessory dwelling units as an innovative way to give homeowners and renters more housing choices, especially where housing prices are high.

Montgomery County has made steps to reform its highly restrictive rules that permit a homeowner to build an accessory apartment but many rules still discourage homeowners from reaching for this solution. Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) 19-01 is legislation that will address some of the most onerous, and unnecessary restrictions. By enacting these bold reforms, the county can offer many more homeowners the opportunity to take advantage of underutilized space to house a family member, or age in place.

Specifically, the bill would:

  • Allow detached ADUs in small lot single family zones and removes the 1 acre minimum lot size limit (think garage apartment or tiny house)
  • Allows ADUs in basements (think English basements)
  • Remove prohibition on ADUs in houses less than 5 years old
  • Remove minimum distance restrictions from other ADUs.
  • Requires 2 off-street parking spaces rather than 3, or provides a waiver process.
  • Keeps own-occupancy requirement
  • Keeps the restriction that no more than 2 unrelated individuals can reside in the ADU
  • Maintains all residential construction requirements like setbacks and lot coverage.
  • Permits only one ADU per property.
  • Maintains ban on short term rentals (AirBnB) for ADUs

Let the county council know that you support these reforms and want to see the county as a leader in innovative housing solutions.

Want more information? Check out this helpful fact sheet by At-Large County Councilmember Hans Riemer, and read this Greater Greater Washington post by Tracy Loh.

Don’t want to use our form? You can email County.Council@montgomerycountymd.gov.

RELEASE: Transit Supporters Petition for Bus Improvements

Posted on by Claire Jaffe

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 10, 2016

CONTACT
Pete Tomao, Montgomery County Advocacy Manager
(516) 318-0605
pete@smartergrowth.net

Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director
(703) 599-6437
stewart@smartergrowth.net

With Metrorail Shutdowns Looming, Transit Supporters Petition for Bus Improvements

Montgomery County, MD — On Monday, transit advocates at the Coalition for Smarter Growth submitted a 1000-signature “Better Bus Petition” to the Montgomery County Council and County Executive.  The petition calls for dedicated bus lanes and frequent, reliable service. With thousands of citizens impacted by the future Metro closures, transit supporters say it’s more important than ever to make major bus system improvements.

“With Metrorail disruption imminent, thousands of Montgomery residents will have their commutes impacted. If we don’t want hundreds of new cars on our roadways we need to invest in a faster, more frequent, and more reliable bus network. There has never been a better time to do it than now,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

“Volunteers and Coalition for Smarter Growth staff spent hours collecting hundreds of signatures in every part of Montgomery County, from Shady Grove to Silver Spring, between August and October 2015. With the impending Metrorail shutdowns, there seemed no better time to present the petition to officials,” said Pete Tomao, Montgomery County Advocacy Manager for the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

“Riders everywhere told us the same thing. We need more reliable bus service, including dedicated lanes. Clearly the demand exists for better service, and that demand will only increase with the Metrorail disruptions,” said Tomao.

“Wherever WMATA has introduced express bus service in Montgomery County, it has been successful. Ridership on the K9 along New Hampshire Avenue has increased 79% since 2011, and the J4 from Bethesda to Silver Spring is up 34% since 2012: when you offer riders frequent, reliable service, they use it. With dedicated lanes, the speed, frequency, and reliability of buses would be even better. With 20 extra WMATA buses sitting at the White Flint Bus Depot, we have the opportunity to put them to work in express corridors,” Tomao continued.

“A single lane of auto-traffic can carry about 1200 people per hour, versus the 3700 a dedicated bus lane in Pittsburgh is now carrying. Dedicated space allows us to make the most of our roadways.”

“We’ve been encouraged by recent steps that the County Executive and Council have taken to improve service and advance bus rapid transit on Route 29, Route 355, and Veirs Mill Road. With this petition and with the impending Metrorail shutdowns, we hope that the county will accelerate investments in dedicated lanes and more frequent service on key corridors throughout the county,” said Tomao.

“They say to never waste a crisis. The challenges presented by Metrorail disruptions present an opportunity to improve our regional bus service and to implement the dedicated bus lanes we’ve needed for some time. Our conversations with transit riders show the demand for improved bus service and we urge regional officials to seize the opportunity.” concluded Schwartz.

60 cars V 60 Buses

About the Coalition for Smarter Growth

The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.

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RELEASE: Reaction to County Executive Leggett BRT Annoucement

Posted on by Claire Jaffe

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 2, 2016

CONTACT
Pete Tomao, Coalition for Smarter Growth
516-318-0605
pete@smartergrowth.net

Montgomery County – Earlier today, County Executive Ike Leggett released an update to his proposed transportation budget, adding funding to make near term improvements to bus service and continue Bus Rapid Transit studies.

“When the County Executive’s first proposal came out in January it didn’t have the funding needed to make important transit improvements, so we are very pleased to see the changes he and his staff have made,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “It’s not everything we had hoped for – it depends on state funding to complete the Route 355 BRT study and to add priority bus service on Veirs Mill Road for example, but the County Executive has certainly responded positively to our requests, and those of the Council, to keep moving forward on Bus Rapid Transit, while also providing near term improvements.”

“I’ve ridden just about every route in Montgomery and it’s clear to me that the demand for better transit in the county is strong and we need to be making these investments,” said Pete Tomao, Montgomery County Transit Organizer for the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “Demand for transit crosses socio-economic boundaries, from new immigrants, to seniors, to millenials – including a young mother, Gretchen Goldman, whom I met during my outreach and regularly rides the bus with her young son, Thomas:

“One of the reasons my family and I chose to live here was for the county’s convenience to the city. We’re lucky to live along one of the county’s few express bus routes—the K9 on New Hampshire Ave. Thomas and I ride it regularly. For us, bus access is convenient and quick. It allows us to be a one car family, since we can quickly get to work and social activities in downtown DC or elsewhere in the county.

BRT is about access, it’s about freedom and it’s about equity. In Montgomery County, many do not ride the bus by choice, but by necessity. For them, BRT increases options and decreases burdens. It enhances quality of life and creates opportunities.

When I think about what I want for Thomas’ future, I have a new vision for Montgomery County. I want Thomas to live in a place where he has mobility and independence; where he doesn’t need a car to get around; and where he can have access to safe and affordable transportation options.”

The County Executive is proposing to the Council important investments along Route 355, US29, and Veirs Mill Road, the three primary corridors for the BRT, including:

  • Route 355: Instituting a new Ride On Plus priority service from the Lakeforest Transit Center to Medical Center Metrorail and adding $5 million to the planning budget for the Route 355 BRT proposal. If the state government matches that, it could ensure enough funding for the next phase of the Route 355 planning process.
  • US29: Adding $6.5 million to the planning budget for BRT along US29, with the goal of getting the route up and running within four years.
  • Veirs Mill Road: Requesting that the state prioritize $1.8 million in annual funding for rush hour express bus service along Veirs Mill Road – the busiest bus route in Maryland. The proposed Veirs Mill BRT route already has enough funding to complete planning.

“Looking ahead, our group will continue to work for the funding necessary to build the BRT to the standard necessary to support rapid, efficient and frequent service – service that will attract new workers and new companies and improve access to jobs,” concluded Tomao.

About the Coalition for Smarter Growth
The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.

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