Update

It has been a while.

But the Borough Council is proceeding with major zoning changes. It instructed the Planning Commission to draft changes to existing zoning for districts 4a and 5b.

We can now read the first of those drafts: a 10-page memo on 5b from the county’s planning staff, dated October 28 and prepared for the Commission’s November 2 meeting.

Nothing is adopted. The Commission expects to consider a 5b ordinance in November or December, and a 4a ordinance in April or May 2027. Council must hold a public hearing before it votes.¹

What Council asked for

The directives from Council for 5b to the Planning Commission were to:

• Allow 4 stories to be built by-right in Mixed-Use buildings up to the existing height limit of 45 feet.
• Allow housing on the ground floor of Mixed-Use buildings provided the first 12 feet of depth of the building facing Montgomery Avenue is used as commercial space.
• Allow Mixed-Use buildings that provide 10% middle-income housing and apply green building standards to receive a bonus of a maximum building height of 55 feet and a maximum of five stories.
  • Middle-income housing² needs to be defined – Planning Commission previously settled on 80% of AMI.
  • Allow an applicant to move the setback, at the approval of Council, so that is further away from single-family housing and shifted toward Montgomery Avenue.
  • Create stricter buffering and lighting standards, to create a visual buffer for these taller buildings when they adjoin single-family houses or two-family houses in another zoning district.

What the draft proposes

Ground floors

The Commission changed one thing. Council asked for 12 feet of commercial depth facing Montgomery Avenue. The Commission wants 20, “so as to ensure there is incentive to lease the space.” Behind that, housing could fill the ground floor. Dwelling units would be allowed on all floors.

Height

Mixed-use buildings could reach four stories by right within the 45-foot limit, with no housing or green condition attached.

A fifth story and 55 feet would be “granted by right” to a mixed-use building that meets four tests:

• Middle-income units. At least 10% of units, held under a recorded covenant for at least 40 years. The owner names a contact and reports occupancy to the borough and county each year.
• Green building. All the bonus criteria in §500-901-A³.
• Step-backs. Above 45 feet, the building steps back 10 feet from the front facade and stays 35 feet from any lot in the 3A, 3B and 4B, the adjacent districts. Council may let an applicant shrink the front step-back “proportionally” to gain distance at the rear. The text sets no minimum.
• Landscape buffer. A screen buffer along property lines shared with adjacent residential districts.

A four-story building that takes no bonus, faces neither the step-back nor this buffer.

What counts as middle income

The draft caps a household’s gross income at 80% of the Montgomery County median for its size, using the state housing agency’s published table. For a family of four, that is $98,160 this year.

It limits who may live in the unit, not what the unit costs. The draft sets no rent limit, and no size or bedroom rule for the reserved units.

Who the step-back protects

Council’s directive spoke of single- and two-family houses in another district. The draft names districts instead, and the 35-foot rule lists only 3A, 3B and 4B. The new lighting limit also names 3C and 4A. A 3C or 4A house backing onto a 5b lot would not get the 35 feet.

Lighting

Most of this reaches beyond 5b. The first three items sit under “General to All Zones”:

• Fixtures mounted no higher than 12 feet, down from 14.
• Light falling on a residential district capped at 0.1 footcandle, down from 0.2.
• A 3000K ceiling on color temperature for general site lighting.
• Wall and marquee sign lighting off when a business closes. Mixed-use parking lot lights off within half an hour of closing.
• A required lighting plan from applicants. The borough may also ask for a visual-impact plan, down to the light reaching a neighbor’s bedroom window.

Buffers

Each screen buffer must combine at least two of four options: evergreen trees, an opaque fence with plantings, a wing wall, or an evergreen hedge. Council may demand more where a building’s height warrants it. The borough may also ask for a cross-section showing sight lines from neighboring lots.

Everything else

• Visitor parking. The requirement of 0.1 spaces per unit goes. The draft does not change the base parking minimum.
• Building coverage. The definition reverts to the previous code. Decks, unenclosed porches and unenclosed carports would not count toward a building’s footprint. The memo calls this the most substantive definition change.
• Width. Six building-type tables swap “building width” for “frontage width”. The memo does not explain why.
• Other definitions. Buffer is added. Sun shade, open space, park, alley, structure and drive-through are revised.

What to do about it

Mind the words “by right”. Once this passes, a building that meets the four tests is entitled to its fifth story, so the time to argue over the tests is now.

Tell the Commission and Council what you think.