More News

Tim Willard thought he heard a square peg trying to fit into a round hole Monday night.

The 15-year Kensington resident believes the county should not be as attractive to developers as it is, and is skeptical that a concept of walkable, dense, transit-oriented neighborhoods can work in an already suburban area. His stated belief is that "infinite growth is not possible."

But after attending a public forum on growth in Chevy Chase with 60 other residents, Willard's main concern about the direction of the county's development still lingered.

"We don't have to have to have an aggressive, pro-growth policy," he said.

The forum featured panelists who spoke on the future of the county's growth policy: Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson, former Planning Board commissioner Meredith Wellington; Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce representative Patricia Harris; and East Bethesda neighborhood representative Ilaya Hopkins.

They discussed the potential consequences of the new mixed-used Commercial Residential zone being used for White Flint, such as denser neighborhoods, among other issues.

The growth policy will guide development in the county from 2009-2011, and is renewed every two years. The County Council must adopt a growth policy by Nov. 15.

Adjustments to the policy seek to increase density on "underdeveloped" lots, particularly at surface parking areas and around transit stations. It also favors shorter street blocks containing more mixed-use development, such as the CR zone. But some are concerned that it encourages denser growth without accounting for transit and traffic problems.

Hanson defended the proposed changes to the policy, which was submitted by the Planning Board. The capabilities of transit in an affluent area like Montgomery County should not be underestimated, Hanson argued.

"Development is not the cause of all of our problems," he said.

But the extent to which transit could be relied on over arterial roads was uncertain, according to Wellington. She said while she supported redevelopment generally, money should be set aside to improve heavily-used intersections. She also questioned how well dense development would work around transit stations, since the area's Metro stations are not particularly close together.