• In The Washington Post Business Section of November 25, 2007, columnist Elizabeth Razzi offers insights on housing fashions and obsolete features. To view her article, click here.

Infill Development Legislation: Councilman Roger Berliner has stated he plans to submit legislation in the spring of 2008 that will place limits on neighborhood or “infill” building. In recent years, neighborhood building activity has been higher in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and Kensington communities, as property owners have updated their properties; any new regulations, however, may affect the entire County.
In preparation for drafting legislation, Berliner formulated an Infill Task Force of 11 residents, with staff members of various County agencies providing technical input. The task force held a series of eight meeting between June 5 and December 10, 2007.

Councilman Berliner has indicated he will provide task force members a final report on the recommendations he has drawn from these meetings before submitting legislation, and task force members look forward to receiving this report. The legislation which will be proposed is expected to include:

• Restrictions on house size based on specific lot sizes, rather than existing zoning designations limits
• Reduction in building height in certain zones
• Creation of community design guidelines for specific communities
• Requirement that owners notify adjacent property owners prior to the start of any construction activity, and adhere to community design guidelines
• Mandated architectural features in specific communities, without regard to cost
• Revisions to existing building line zoning regulation
• Revision of existing zoning sloping lot regulations
• New “grandfathering” provisions

To review minutes of Infill Task Force meetings, click here.

Other task force groups and committees have been or are being formed or by Council members.  For information on specific task forces and committees, please contact your Council representative.

Renewing Montgomery encourages all County residents to participate in the legislative process by expressing their opinions and concerns to the County Council. An effective way to do this is to email Council members at county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov ; emails sent to this address go all Council members. It is particularly important to provide input on legislation that is pending, not yet approved, or in draft form.