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Barring high levels of development from occurring in Germantown until there is adequate infrastructure will stifle growth in the community's underdeveloped business corridor, but the practice may be beneficial in heavily developed areas such as Gaithersburg West and White Flint, County Councilmembers said.

The Council voted 8-0 against including a staging plan in the draft Germantown Employment Corridor Sector Plan at its final worksession on July 28. The staging plan proposed by the Planning Board required infrastructure improvements such as roads and a parking garage at the Germantown MARC train station to be in place before intense development could occur. Staging would also encourage the Germantown Town Center, the plan's focal point, to be developed to its full potential ahead of other districts in the corridor, according to the plan.

But some councilmembers said the proposed staging requirements did not relate strongly enough to the properties they would have impacted and that infrastructure is better regulated through the county's biannual growth policy.

Implementing a staging plan in Germantown could cause businesses to locate in more established commercial areas downcounty or less costly places such as Frederick County, Councilman Michael J. Knapp said. Growth in Germantown's employment corridor would help raise the profile of upcounty transportation projects critical to the plan's success such as the proposed Corridor Cities Transitway, which would connect the Shady Grove Metro station to Clarksburg via light rail or rapid bus, he said.

"We're essentially stifling growth in the core of Germantown," said Knapp (D-Dist. 2) of Germantown, adding the development is needed in the entire sector plan area, not just the Town Center. "…If we actually get three or four large employers to locate in Germantown, guess what? Now there's a compelling reason for us to think about a Corridor Cities Transitway and you can politically bring some pressure to bear in a way that you can't right now."

Staging plans could be effective in the upcoming Gaithersburg West and White Flint master plans because they have already proved successful in attracting employers, Knapp said.

Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson disagreed, saying that since properties in Germantown are owned by multiple parties instead of a single large entity like in Montgomery Villages, it is difficult for the county to get the private sector make infrastructure improvements in areas where they are building.

"Getting a ‘there' there requires not just development. It requires the infrastructure that serves that development, and [infrastructure] could help stimulate the development and redevelopment of the area," Hanson said. "We think that including lumps of infrastructure along with lumps of development is a very helpful way to think about the development of an area."

The County Council will vote on a resolution outlining its changes to the Planning Board's draft of the sector plan in September. For more information, visit www.montgomeryplanning.org/

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