December 1, 2011
By: Stuart R. Barr
Last year, the Montgomery County Council adopted the Commercial/Residential (CR) family of zones designed to encourage a combination of residential and non-residential uses, at varying densities and heights, particularly in areas of the county that are ripe for transit-oriented mixed-use redevelopment. The CR Zone must be recommended in the applicable master plan and has been applied recently in the White Flint Sector Plan and Great Seneca Science Corridor Master Plan. The CR Zone allows both a standard method of development and optional method of development, with the optional method allowing higher density in exchange for public benefit incentives such as proximity to transit, environmental design features, and affordable housing.
Recently the Council reviewed the CR Zone again. The Council approved changes to the original zone and created two new related zones using the same basic framework: the Commercial/Residential Town (CRT) Zone and the Commercial/Residential Neighborhood (CRN) Zone. The CRT and CRN Zones are zones with similar characteristics to the CR, but designed for smaller properties and at lower densities and heights. They are structured like the original CR Zone, with each zone establishing a maximum total floor area ratio (FAR), a maximum non-residential FAR, a maximum residential FAR, and a maximum building height. The CRN Zone is the most limited of the zones (for example, it does not allow the optional method of development). The county is targeting these new zones for lower density areas such as Kensington, Takoma/Langley and parts of Wheaton.
Stuart Barr is a land use attorney at Lerch, Early & Brewer in Bethesda, Maryland. For more information about the CR, CRT and CRN Zones, contact Stuart at (301) 961-6095 or srbarr@lerchearly.com.
