Resubdivision Policy
Background
Medical offices are permitted in residential zones by special exception. Planners are asking the Board to reconsider a policy addressing how it regulates property owners wishing to locate or expand such uses.The Planning Board is charged with considering requests from property owners to resubdivide – to alter platted lots by dividing or assembling them. Under current policy, whenever a property proposed for resubdivision lies within a residential zone, the Board compares the character of each new lot to other existing lots in the neighborhood using the prescribed criteria.
In 1998, the Board considered the resubdivision policy and found that:
- the resubdivision criteria apply to assemblages of lots
- the resubdivision criteria apply to residentially zoned lots
Those interpretations make it difficult for property owners to locate or expand some allowed, non-residential uses permitted in residential zones, such as places of worship (permitted by right), medical offices, and day care centers (permitted by special exception).
In such cases, applicants usually must seek a waiver from the Subdivision Regulations, and such waivers may be difficult to justify. If the applicant’s request for a non-residential use is on a property that has not been platted, less restrictive criteria apply.
Read the transcript (pdf, 4MB) of the Planning Board's April 23, 1998 hearing on the subdivision criteria.
Resubdivision Policy Under Consideration
Planners, reviewing several applications for resubdivision – an existing nursing home in Kensington-Wheaton, a new day care center in Clarksburg, and a new church in Glenmont – are asking the Board to reconsider its 1998 decision and determine whether it correctly interpreted the Subdivision Regulations regarding the resubdivision of residential lots for allowed, non-residential uses.
Staff recommends that the Board only apply the resubdivision criteria to residential uses. Read the staff report (pdf, 600KB) for the February 18 hearing.
Getting Involved
At 1 p.m. February 18, the Planning Board will consider whether to change its policy and apply the resubdivision criteria only to lots being created for residential uses.
To assist the Board in reaching a decision, Chairman Royce Hanson is asking anyone interested to submit written comments by January 29, which will give the Board time to consider the proposed change and its impacts before the February 18 hearing.
Montgomery County Planning Department