Board also will
Consider Purple Line Planning Process
SILVER SPRING, MD – On Thursday, May 17 at approximately 3 p.m., the Montgomery County Planning Board will conclude five months of deliberations
and decide its comprehensive set of recommendations regarding the county’s 2007
growth policy. The Board will send those recommendations to the Montgomery
County Council for potential adoption.
Also
on Thursday, at approximately 10:30 a.m., the Board will decide whether
to authorize staff to begin the planning process for the proposed Purple Line,
a 14-mile proposed transit corridor that will link Bethesda with New Carrollton
with light rail or a rapid bus line. County planners propose forming a citizen
advisory group and a team of technical advisors to help analyze the proposed
Purple Line’s impacts on Montgomery County communities from Bethesda to
Takoma-Langley Crossroads.
Called
a functional master plan, the final Purple Line product would establish
alignment and station locations as well as address environmental issues,
resident concerns and conformance with other county plans. The master plan also
would provide a solid basis for the Board to react to the Maryland Mass Transit
Administration’s recommendations for the alignment of either light rail or
rapid bus transit, expected by next summer.
The
growth policy work session is part of a series of meetings to help the Planning
Board formulate its recommendations to the County Council on how the county
should grow, where growth should take place and what public officials can do to
sustain and build upon the county’s high quality of life.
The
Board’s recommendations will include ways to direct new development to areas in
the county where taxpayer-funded services – such as public transportation,
water/sewer, and police and fire services – are already in place. The
recommendations may include improving analysis of traffic patterns,
restructuring development impact taxes and encouraging more innovative
community design.
No public testimony on growth policy will be taken. View the
Planning Department’s growth policy recommendations at http://www.mcparkandplanning.org/development/agp/agp_study.shtm#staff_draft_07gp.
WHO:
Montgomery County Planning Board
Planning Department staff
WHAT:
Work session on growth policy recommendations
Purple Line Master Plan
WHEN:
Tuesday, May 15, 2007 – approximately 3 p.m.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007 – approximately 10:30 a.m.
WHERE:
Montgomery County Planning Board Auditorium, 8787 Georgia
Ave., Silver Spring, Md.