The Montgomery County Council will vote to appoint a new member of the county’s Planning Board during Tuesday’s regular business meeting.
Councilmembers began interviewing candidates for the seat earlier this month. Among those vying for the seat is Mitra Pedoeem, who currently serves on the board and is finishing a partial term following the resignation of the entire board in 2022.
The council will also take a vote on amending the downtown Bethesda overlay zone and receive a report from the county’s Department of Health and Human Services on the progress of public health initiatives.
The council will meet at 9:15 a.m. in the Stella Werner Council Office Building in Rockville for its regular weekly business meeting. Here’s what to expect:
Planning Board member appointment
The council will take nominations and vote to appoint a new member to the county Planning Board to fill Pedoeem’s current seat for a four-year term. Pedoeem and two other candidates were chosen as finalists and were interviewed by the council at its June 10 meeting about housing, diversity and critical issues facing the board.
Pedoeem is seeking appointment to a full term. She has served since March 2023, and her background includes a stint as director of the county’s Department of Permitting Services and serving various roles in the county’s planning and parks departments since 2004, according to her resumé. Her current term expired June 13.
Pedoeem is being considered along with Brandice N. Elliott and John Schlichting for the seat on the five-member board.
Elliott is an urban planner with more than 20 years of experience, according to her resumé. She is the director of planning services at Holland & Knight LLP in Washington, D.C.
Schlichting was the director of planning and code administration for the city of Gaithersburg from 2012 to 2024, after working 27 years as a real estate developer in Washington, D.C.
The annual salary for the part-time post appointed by the council is $30,000.
Action on Bethesda overlay zone changes
The council will vote on proposed changes to zoning rules that aims to increase development density in downtown Bethesda and increase the amount of affordable housing in the area considered part of the Bethesda overlay zone.
The changes have been recommended by the county Planning Board, whose draft of the Bethesda Minor Master Plan Amendment updates the 2017 Bethesda Downtown Plan. The plan is 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 minor master plan amendments provide an update of the existing downtown plan “with a more narrow focus, either in terms of geography or the topics to be covered,” according to the county Planning Department’s website.
In April, the council voted to remove an existing cap on development as part of the minor master plan. The new development allowed under the amended plan is expected to generate approximately $39 million in annual tax revenue for the county, according to a council staff report.
Update from health department
County health officials will deliver a biannual report to the council focusing on public health and the progress of the Department of Health and Human Services’ program. This report has traditionally been used to inform councilmembers and guide decisions regarding public health-related legislation and spending by the county.
According to a council staff report, the presentation will focus on programming such as the recently launched mobile health clinic and the county’s Maternal Health Summit.
It will also address changes in the way the health department is addressing substance use and new challenges in regards to drugs, as well as analyze recent reports about county residents’ health and propose ways of addressing local health concerns.
