Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1952-05-22
History Of Planning Reviewed
by Planning Commission

TI1IsISIlssssssSsIsSSIIsI SSSIiIIIiIssnSISlsBSuI
(The following is the fourth of a
series of short monthly articles by
the staff of the Upper Montgomery
County Planning Commission, the
purpose of the series being to de-
velop the history and value of plan
ming as a function of government
At the end of the preceding arti-
Gle of this series we mentioned that
this installment would undertake
to give the reader an understand
ing of the content of comprehen-
sive planning program. The main
elements OF such will - assuming a
qualified staff, understanding and
encouragement on the part of the
members of the planning commits
sion, the legislative and admins
trative heads of the government
and the citizens of the community
- remain generally constant. How
ever, application of the various
features of the program must of
necessity vary with each commu-,
nifty, inasmuch as no two are ex-
actly alike in their origins, COM
position, problems and other fea-
lures of their existence. For this
reason it would appear more useful
if we were to relate this discussion
to the comprehensive planning pro-
gram that we are engaged in carry4
ing out in Upper Montgomery
County.
After careful study and delibera-
ton it was concluded that, in it's
broadest aspect, our planning pro-
gram should consist ESSENTIALLY of
three phases. In chronological or
der, these would be: (a) protec-
tive legislation; (b) master plan
ming; and (c) effectuation of the
master plan. Each would contain
separate and distinct elements; and
while it might be desirable that
each phase be concluded before en-
barking on the next, there would
be some overlapping at times.
In an area less dynamic than
the Washington Region there might
not be any need for program of
protective legislation. However, the
great increase in population with
the accompanying construction of
new schools, roads, homes, g S
stations, billboards, and so forth,
convinced the Upper Montgomery
County Planning Commission of
t h e necessity for the. enactment
without delay of two legislative
tools to help guide any development
h a t would take place while a
master plan was being prepared.
These tools are subdivision regu-
lations n d temporary coming
ordinance.
The former will guide the man
ner in which land is laid out for
development. Such regulation will
be effective throughout the second,
or master planning, phase and also
will be continued on into the third
phase.
On the other hand the temporary
coming ordinance will be effective
for a period not to exceed two years
- or until the enactment of a
comprehensive coming law, which
ever is the lesser period. This is
roughly the time considered to be
necessary to prepare master plan
for the upper county. By COMPARE
son with a comprehensive coming
law, the usual temporary coming
ordinance is an uncomplicated me-
chanism. Its object is simply to
channel any changes that a k e
place during the two year period
into generally accepted and desir-
able new land uses. Due to the
fact that a temporary coming or
dinance is usually prepared with
out any intensive survey of exist
ing land uses and is usually not
accompanied by a zoning map, it
is sometimes found to be rather
arbitrary. This will be ameliorated
in the ordinance that will cover the
up county area, however, by the
fact that: u the Planning Com
mission will collaborate with the
District Advisory COMMITTEES in it's
preparation, (2) the temporary
coming ordinance will only be in
effect for two years, and 81 pro-
vision will be made in the ordi-
nance for relief of hardship cases.
The master planning phase con-
sists of the carrying out of num-
Der of detailed studies relating to
the past, present and future of the
area being planned. The results of
these studies will provide the COM
mission with an intimate, faetual
knowledge of the community and
it's relation to he Washington
Region. They will make possible
the preparation of long-r n e
plans for the community's future
based on this knowledge. No at
tempt will be made to list all the
! vario11c marta that will ha sc,.,,tiy,