The Montgomery County Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve proposed zoning rule changes that aim to increase development density in downtown Bethesda and to increase the amount of affordable housing in the area considered part of the Bethesda Overlay Zone.
The changes were recommended by the county Planning Board, whose draft of the Bethesda Minor Master Plan Amendment updates the 2017 Bethesda Downtown Plan. That plan is a 20-year vision that had included a cap on “total development in the downtown area, including existing and approved new development,” according to the Montgomery Planning website. The Bethesda Overlay Zone rules set the development cap and other development standards including density and heights in downtown Bethesda.
In April, the council voted to remove the existing cap on development as part of the amended 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.
The amended minor master plan provides 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 planning department’s website.
Councilmember Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1), who represents Bethesda, said Tuesday that the zoning rule changes approved by the council “incentivize family-size and deeply affordable, moderately priced dwelling units by providing benefits such as additional building height.”
According to Friedson, the changes in the zoning ordinance will also make it easier to build facilities such as a long-awaited recreation center and other public spaces, in addition to housing.
“It encourages a new recreation center, which is something that I have been championing for many years, and I’m very excited about and has been a long-standing community interest,” Friedson said.
Friedson, along with fellow councilmembers Evan Glass (D-At-large) and Will Jawando (D-At-large), are running to replace County Executive Marc Elrich in the 2026 Democratic primary. Elrich is prohibited from running for a third term due to term limits.
Amending the plan
In June 2023, county planners began the process of amending the 2017 Bethesda Downtown Plan.
That 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 encompassed the planners’ vision for affordable housing, new parks and open spaces as well as pedestrian and bicyclist safety improvements in the downtown Bethesda area.
According to Montgomery Planning, the plan’s 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 urged the removal of the development 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.
“This [minor master] plan amendment creates the conditions for downtown Bethesda to remain Montgomery County’s crown jewel of economic vitality in the decades ahead and to meet growing demands for housing, jobs, and parks,” Planning Board Chair Artie Harris said in a statement in April.
