Sustainability in Montgomery County, Maryland

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Sustainability in Montgomery County, Maryland
Growth Policy Definition Sustainable
Development meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs. It
recognizes the fundamental inextricable
interdependence between the economy, the
environment, and social equity, and works to
promote each to the benefit of all.
Environmental Challenges to New Urbanist
development Solutions arising from Research
Beatley and Vancouver Applied to Twinbrook
Sector Plan
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Environmental Sustainability Initiatives
Going Green at Home Program Green Building
Law Green Infrastructure Plan Clean Energy
Rewards Program Rainscapes Program Forest
Conservation Program Legacy Open Space
Program Growth Management Policy Countywide
Stream Protection Strategy Recycling
Program Wetlands Program
Master and Sector Plans
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Montgomery County growth
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Sustainability in Sector Plans Twinbrook and
White Flint
Water Quality
County Imperviousness
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Challenges to new urbanist and transit oriented
models

• Increased imperviousness
• Dense development saves resources in outlying
  areas
• forever wild, urban growth boundaries,
  agricultural reserve
• Dense development brings automobiles
• urban heat island effect
• Street grids rigidly imposed threaten stream
  valleys
• Short street grids create stop and go
  increasing greenhouse gas emissions
• shortage of green areas and tree planting

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Sustainable Green Urban Communities

• Dr. Timothy Beatley advocates strategic
  gradualism in six ways
• compact land use
• transportation mobility
• nature in the city
• solar cities
• circular metabolism
• food production

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Visit to Vancouver, British Columbia
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Transportation mobility
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Reduced automobile presence
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Green mobility connections
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Green Public Use Spaces
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Connected Green Public Use Spaces and Mobility
Systems
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Connected green spaces
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Green building walls
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Green layers on streets
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Green building layers
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Green Messages
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Downtown Vancouver
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Downtown Vancouver
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Downtown Bethesda
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Downtown Bethesda
How can we redistribute land cover to make 80
impervious, more pervious?
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Practical measures for urban sustainability

• Transportation mobility
• reduce automobile presence
• Increase modal split
• Increase bicycle and pedestrian systems
• Nature in the City
• Provide more and greener public use space
• Provide green pedestrian systems
• Connect green spaces with pedestrian and
  bicycle circulation patterns
• Green building layers
• Food Production
• Provide farmers markets
• Provide community gardens

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Twinbrook Sector Plan Existing conditions
Fragmented green space
Metro
78 impervious 25.5 buildings 42 parking
lots 10.5 roads 22 green
One-third acre forest remaining
Industrial land diminishing, but greatly needed
in downcounty
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Twinbrook Sector Plan
Reduce automobile presence Provide green clean
alternative transportationProvide visible and
functional green
Green buildings

• Create neighborhoods with limited surface
  parking.

Provide more and greener public use space
Increase modal split with shuttles
Increase building FAR
Provide parking garages on edge of neighborhood.
76.5 Impervious 34.5 buildings 28.5
parking lots 13.5 roads 23.5 green
Make more and greener bicycle and pedestrian
systems
Place stormwater management in right of way
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Making it happen
Place Concepts in Twinbrook and White Flint
sector plans Place requirement for public
green spaces in New Zoning Districts 85
pervious of 20 required public use space in 1-2
FAR Incorporate right-of-way stormwater
management in new road code
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How can we love all children of all species for
all time? Build our buildings like trees and
our cities like forests. William
McDonough
Marion Clark Montgomery County Department of
Planning, M-NCPPPC Countywide Planning Division,
Environmental 301.495.1328 Marion.Clark_at_mncppc-mc.
org