Editor’s note: This story, originally published on Feb. 10, 2025, was updated at 1:27 p.m. on Feb. 27, 2025, to correct that the development soft cap of 30.4 million square feet was reached in Bethesda in September 2023, not the hard cap of 32.4 million square feet.
The Montgomery County Council will hold a public hearing later this month on the county Planning Board’s draft of the Bethesda Minor Master Plan Amendment, which updates the 2017 Bethesda Downtown Plan and includes a proposal to remove an existing cap on new development.
The public hearing will be held from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Bethesda Regional Services Center at 4805 Edgemoor Lane. The meeting will also be available via Zoom.
In June 2023, county planners began the process of amending the 2017 Bethesda Downtown Plan, a 20-year vision that includes a cap on “total development in the downtown area, including existing and approved new development,” according to the Montgomery Planning website.
The 2017 Bethesda Downtown Plan resulted from a four-year collaboration among residents, property owners, Montgomery Planning staff, the Planning Board and the council, according to the planning department. The plan encompasses the planners’ vision for affordable housing, new parks and open spaces as well as pedestrian and bicyclist safety improvements in the downtown Bethesda area.
The proposed minor master plan amendment provides an update of the existing downtown plan “with a more narrow focus, either in terms of geography or the topics to be covered,” the website says.
According to Montgomery Planning, the development cap was nearly reached in September 2023 – six years into the 2017 plan – when the Planning Board approved a downtown Bethesda project that increased total development above a soft cap of 30.4 million square feet. The 2017 downtown plan requires that once total development approval reaches 30.4 million square feet, the “County Council may require certain actions before additional development is permitted,” according to the planning department. This checkpoint led Montgomery Planning staffers to begin the process of amending the 2017 plan due to the uncertainty surrounding approvals of future projects in the downtown area.
County planners argued for the removal of the cap because the 2017 downtown plan’s “vision of affordable housing near jobs and community amenities will not be realized” without “private development and the public investment it funds,” according to a Montgomery Planning overview of the recommendations.
The upcoming public hearing is the next step in the process of updating the nearly 8-year-old plan.
On Dec. 20 the Planning Board unanimously voted to send its draft of the Bethesda Minor Master Plan Amendment, which includes the proposed removal of the development cap, to the council. In late January, the board unanimously approved to transmit a draft Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) to the council that would amend the Bethesda Overlay Zone in the county’s zoning code to implement the board’s recommendations included in the amendment.
The Bethesda Overlay Zone sets the development cap and other development standards including density and heights in the downtown Bethesda area.
In addition to removing the development cap, the ZTA would add incentives for developers to help the county build a new recreation center in Bethesda and provide more “family sized and deeply affordable” moderately priced dwelling units (MPDUs), according to planning documents.
The amendment would allow developers to receive benefits for providing more units with three or more bedrooms than is required by county code, or for providing MPDUs “more deeply affordable than required,” documents state.
The amendment also calls for continuing to “require transportation-related improvements” in development projects and increasing the Park Impact Payment (PIP) that developers of projects in downtown Bethesda pay to Montgomery Parks to help fund the construction of public parks and amenities in the area.
Feedback from residents
At a December Planning Board hearing, several Bethesda-area residents raised concerns about the proposed removal of the development cap and the pace of growth in Bethesda.
“I hope that you will rethink this amendment with more balance,” resident David Barnes told board members and planners at the hearing. “And then, if you still think the 32.4 million-square-foot cap is insufficient, set a new cap. Don’t remove it. Clearly explain what that higher cap is and why it’s needed and what it might mean. And then please, require regular monitoring to track the results.”
Barnes spoke on behalf of the Edgemoor Citizens Association, which represents a neighborhood adjacent to Bethesda’s central business district.
“Sure, more development means more PIPs and fees to pay [for] amenities. But packing Bethesda with more development is a double-edged sword,” Barnes said.
Chevy Chase Mayor Irene Lane also shared her concern about the proposed removal of the development cap during the hearing.
“We believe a holistic review process for Bethesda as an activity center should be established before the Planning Board considers removing” the development cap, Lane said. “Such a process would enhance future decision-making on density and development as the underlying plan ages.”
Lane noted that without the “holistic reviews,” removing a cap on development in the area “risks undermining the plan’s goals and leaves no assurance that transportation metrics will be assessed nor that promised amenities will be delivered.”
Those who support the cap’s removal include the Bethesda Downtown Implementation Advisory Committee, an advisory group that coordinates and monitors the progress of development and the implementation of the Bethesda Downtown Sector Plan. Committee Co-Chair Jack Alexander said during the hearing the committee believes the development cap should “go away.”
“And the big reason is to provide certainty for developers and investors and the people that want to come to develop in Bethesda,” Alexander said. “If you start on it in one year, it could take four or five years to get a building built and to have the rug pulled out from under you because of the cap just doesn’t make sense.”
Park Impact Payment
County planners also are recommending the base PIP rate be increased to $15.57 per square foot of proposed development. Initially, the 2017 Downtown Bethesda Plan set the PIP rate at $10 per square foot adjusted for inflation every other year, according to planning documents. In 2023, the Planning Board increased the PIP to its current rate of $12.49 per square foot.
According to planning documents, the amendment proposes for developers to pay the PIP in two payments to help “development applications move forward” due to the rate increase and construction costs. The first half of the payment would be due when an initial building permit is issued and the second half would be due at approval of an initial use and occupancy permit.
The amendment proposes allowing “greater flexibility” for reducing the PIP if developers include privately owned but publicly accessible open space in their projects.
New Recreation Center
Planners also recommended new incentives to encourage construction of a recreation center in downtown Bethesda, including reducing the PIP for developers who pursue construction of the center. The 2017 plan recommends building a recreation center but does not provide incentives for the construction.
According to planning documents, construction options include a center built entirely by the county; one built by a private developer that turns ownership over to the county; or a facility constructed through a public-private partnership.
Potential issues include a limited number of downtown Bethesda sites large enough to accommodate a center, plus the high cost of land acquisition and construction, and ongoing operating costs, planning documents state.
What’s next?
Those who wish to testify about the Bethesda Minor Master Plan Amendment on Feb. 26 must sign up to speak in-person or virtually before the deadline at 5 p.m. Feb. 25. The council agenda for the hearing has not yet been posted but an announcement of the hearing can be found here.
Following the late February public hearing, the council’s Planning, Housing and Parks Committee will hold work sessions on the plan and ZTA, according to planning documents.
After the council approves a final version, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission will adopt the amendment.
An exact timeline for approval by the Planning Board and the council hasn’t been determined, though the planning department estimates the council will take up the amendment in early 2025.
