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Zoning Text Amendment 11-01, Commercial Residential Zones

Testimony to Montgomery County Council, May 17, 2011

Good Evening. I appreciate the opportunity to testify at tonight’s Council meeting. My name is Christine Slater and I’m here representing the Action Committee for Transit (ACT). ACT was established in 1986 and its mission is to advocate for policies and practices that promote better communities and better transit in Montgomery County.

Right now our zoning ordinance is set up to separate uses, while transit-oriented development needs mixed uses. CR Zones will set up interactive streetscapes where people can live, work, shop and play within one neighborhood. The way zones are set up now, single family homes are in one location and shopping malls are in another, forcing people to get in their cars to get groceries, pick up dry cleaning, or attend a movie. If we can encourage a mix of residences near commercial areas, businesses will have more customers, people will be out on the street, walking or biking to nearby restaurants, stores and movies. We can spend less time driving in our automobiles. Further, the CR Zones are designed to encourage public benefits such as public open spaces and retaining small, neighborhood businesses.

We’d also like to express a general comment about development by right and site plan review.  If there are too many obstacles to develop a parcel of land, then only parties who are large enough to afford to pay expensive legal and consultant bills can build. And thus we end up with lots of franchises and chains, rather than small, local merchants. We believe that, except for the largest projects, development in CR Zones should be by right and without site plan review. We’d like to make it economically feasible for small landowners to engage in transit-oriented development. Small by-right developments by individual landowners should be entitled to at least the same FAR and height as larger projects using non-by-right approvals.  (Of course, there need to be controls to prevent large landowners from using this as a loophole.)

In conclusion, the key point is that the existing zoning ordinance is set up to separate uses. We need mixed-uses to achieve transit-oriented development. Mixed-uses should be the norm, not an exception. Land-use should be planned for all users – of all ages and abilities -- including bicyclists, transit riders and pedestrians. Land-use that de-emphasizes reliance on automobile travel has many benefits --- it reduces the need for expensive road investment, interchanges, parking areas, and it promotes air quality and lifestyles that include more physical activity.