Montgomery Planning Feb. 2026 Newsletter re: Clarksburg
Hello Clarksburg,
The Montgomery County Council’s Planning, Housing, and Parks (PHP) Committee voted to forward the Clarksburg Gateway Sector Plan, with recommended amendments, to the full Council for review and final approval.
The PHP Committee held work sessions on February 2, 11, and 23 to consider testimony received by the County Council on the Montgomery County Planning Board’s recommended draft plan.
The County Council will hold a work session on March 3 to consider the PHP Committee’s recommended revisions and is expected to vote on the plan’s adoption at the Council meeting on March 24.
Summary of key plan recommendations
Following community engagement and analyses of the plan area’s current conditions and expected future trends, the following key recommendations align a new community vision for Clarksburg with adopted county plans, policies, and priorities. The full County Council may amend these recommendations during its upcoming review of the draft plan.
- To create opportunities for economic growth and to achieve the plan’s goals for the area, the plan does not recommend historic designation for the former COMSAT Laboratories building. Instead, the plan recommends acknowledging the building’s historic significance and supports mitigation measures for any proposed partial or full demolition.
- The plan would rezone the former COMSAT property to allow for a range of development types. The plan anticipates a portion of the property occupied primarily by residential uses, a portion occupied by a compact, mixed-use activity center with a variety of residential, retail, and recreational uses, and a portion occupied by one or more uses that are major employers in strategic industries, such as professional office, manufacturing, and life sciences.
- Retain a planned new highway interchange with I-270 at Little Seneca Parkway Extended to serve the southern portion of the plan area.
- Connect Observation Drive through the plan area in coordination with future development, shifting the previously planned roadway alignment away from sensitive environmental areas and residential neighborhoods.
- Rezone existing employment-oriented zones to commercial-residential zones to add greater development flexibility with modest increases to maximum allowable development density.
- Establish an expectation that all new residential developments should provide a minimum of 15% of their total units as Moderately Priced Dwelling Units.
- Preserve land along the stream valleys of Little Seneca Creek and its tributaries by private conservation easement or by establishing or expanding public parkland.
- Designate the Community of Faith United Methodist Church and the Clarksburg Heights subdivision as historic sites in the Master Plan for Historic Preservation.
Questions, comments?
Contact:
Clark Larson, AICP
Project Manager
301-495-1331
Clark.Larson@montgomeryplanning.org
About the Clarksburg Gateway Sector Plan
The Clarksburg Gateway Sector Plan is an update to the 1994 Clarksburg Master Plan and Hyattstown Special Area Study, which was last revised with the 2011 Clarksburg Master Plan and Hyattstown Special Study Area Limited Amendment and the 2014 Ten Mile Creek Area Limited Amendment. The plan area consists of approximately 969 acres and is generally bounded by I-270 to the west, West Old Baltimore Road and Little Seneca Greenway to the south, Clarksburg Road to the north, and Frederick Road (MD 355) to the east.
The plan area represents one of the last remaining districts of the 1994 Plan yet to be fully realized. Many circumstances have changed in the 30 years since the 1994 Plan’s adoption and the planning team believes that its vision for the Sector Plan area as a light industrial and employment-oriented district is no longer viable. The potential to contribute to the local community as a new mixed-use, transit-oriented activity center in Clarksburg is a guiding principle of the planning team’s approach to the plan update. The draft plan integrates policy guidance from countywide plans and initiatives, including Corridor Forward: The I-270 Transit Plan, the Pedestrian Master Plan, Complete Streets Design Guide, Thrive Montgomery 2050, the Climate Action Plan, and Vision Zero, as well as employs a robust outreach and engagement strategy to create a plan that advances racial equity and social justice.
The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission | 2425 Reedie Drive | Wheaton, MD 20902 US
This accident set off a chain of events that, for historic preservationists both local and regional, initiated a years-long effort to preserve a landmark that was pivotal to the establishment and growth of Silver Spring.
In 2006, MPI organized a four-day design charette with architects, planners, and neighbors to demonstrate that the owner’s plans for development could easily share the site with the COMSAT building. The charette included with a talk by Cesar Pelli on the impact of this building on his internationally renowned body of work and the work of other architects.