Rockville Redevelopment facing major opposition and city may get left behind (Cumberland: to live, zoning)

[MDAllstar]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

Demand is what drives up housing prices, not development. You are putting the cart before the horse. I would also not be so sure Rockville will become the dumping ground for people looking for cheaper housing. If the community is already mostly single family homes, those homes will probably go up in value as they become rarer and rarer in close proximity to D.C.

I know you love highrises and "progess" but not everyone does. A lot of people don't want to live in an condo/apartment, they don't want to rely on mass transit, or have mass transit connecting their neighorhoods to others. Some people want to drive, they want to park and shop and big box realtors. None of this demand is going to go away just because Gaithersburg is deciding to go "urban." As I mentioned previously, an oasis of car-based suburbia 20 miles from DC may become a very expensive commidity if the rest of the inner metro areas trends toward urbanization.

I think you are forgetting how development is arranged in Montgomery County. There will always be tons of houses in the majority of Montgomery County. Places outside of the corridor cities will remain having huge expensive houses. These area's include Potomac, Poolesville, North Potomac, Montgomery Village, Derwood, Redland, Burtonsville, Olney, Laytonsville, Clarksburg, and Damascus just to name a few.

[westsideboy]

Gaithersburg's expansion isn't going to cause Potomac's housing prices to fall because of how close it is to D.C. Nor should Poolesville's as all future growth is limited by zoning to be rural/exurban. I don't agree that Rockville will be the town to suffer just because they don't have the same planning vision as Gaithersburg, because of the city's proximity and access to D.C. According to the stat's Rockville is doing just fine in terms of the wealth of its citizens and its commercial sector. I can see why the residents don't want to rock the boat and ramp up development.

Rockville, Maryland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[btsilver]

Yeah but some of those places are further from DC than Rockville is. The other's are already way too expensive for most people to live anyway.

[MDAllstar]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

Gaithersburg's expansion isn't going to cause Potomac's housing prices to fall because of how close it is to D.C. Nor should Poolesville's as all future growth is limited by zoning to be rural/exurban. I don't agree that Rockville will be the town to suffer just because they don't have the same planning vision as Gaithersburg, because of the city's proximity and access to D.C. According to the stat's Rockville is doing just fine in terms of the wealth of its citizens and its commercial sector. I can see why the residents don't want to rock the boat and ramp up development.

Rockville, Maryland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I never said the housing prices will drop in those area's. I said those area's are always going to have single family houses in response to you saying people will want to live in single family homes. Single family homes will always out number urban residences because 75% of the county will always be spread out single family homes. Only the corridor cities will be developed in the future. That is the law. Everything in Montgomery County has to be infill development in the future. That means higher densities around transit.

The housing needed for the expected 200,000-300,000 people in growth for Montgomery County by 2030 will be added in the corridor cities. The is the law because the county is maxed out in development. Bethesda, Silver Spring, Wheaton, White Flint, Rockville, Gaithersburg, Germantown, and Clarksburg are the only places the county can build now. The plans are the preparation for the population influx.

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by MDAllstar

I never said the housing prices will drop in those area's. I said those area's are always going to have single family houses in response to you saying people will want to live in single family homes. Single family homes will always out number urban residences because 75% of the county will always be spread out single family homes. Only the corridor cities will be developed in the future. That is the law. Everything in Montgomery County has to be infill development in the future. That means higher densities around transit.

The housing needed for the expected 200,000-300,000 people in growth for Montgomery County by 2030 will be added in the corridor cities. The is the law because the county is maxed out in development. Bethesda, Silver Spring, Wheaton, White Flint, Rockville, Gaithersburg, Germantown, and Clarksburg are the only places the county can build now. The plans are the preparation for the population influx.

I follow you so far, but why does Rockville's decision to not partake in their part of the new dense urban coorridor bode so negatively on the city's future in your view?

Yes, the cities with more population and commerce will draw in more taxes, but those cities will also have to spend more to provide municipal services and upkeep on the infrastructure for the new residents. 9-8=1 just like 5-4=1 if you catch my drift. Is the new tax money coming in going to be put to any use other than being spent to support the new growth? If not, what is the net gain for the communities that choose to become dense urban?

[MDAllstar]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

I follow you so far, but why does Rockville's decision to not partake in their part of the new dense urban coorridor bode so negatively on the city's future in your view?

Yes, the cities with more population and commerce will draw in more taxes, but those cities will also have to spend more to provide municipal services and upkeep on the infrastructure for the new residents. 9-8=1 just like 5-4=1 if you catch my drift. Is the new tax money coming in going to be put to any use other than being spent to support the new growth? If not, what is the net gain for the communities that choose to become dense urban?

From what I gather from the meeting the other day, Rockville's Mayor basically said they are on the verge of a major population surge and they need to plan ahead and be visionary. If they don't plan ahead for the inevitable growth coming to the region, they will suffer. Rockville will suffer from all the growth in White Flint and Gaithersburg whether they like it or not. Traffic will crawl in Rockville if they don't jump on the band wagon. Transit and smart growth is the only way to combat this. That is what the city council is trying to tell the community. To be honest, the city council will probably approve everything to be built anyway. They were almost arguing with some of the residents and businesses.

[westsideboy]

Thanks for the info. It sounds more like a loud NIMBY crowd showed up for the meeting, than it does the city of Rockville is trying to skirt around the new growth.

[MDAllstar]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

Thanks for the info. It sounds more like a loud NIMBY crowd showed up for the meeting, than it does the city of Rockville is trying to skirt around the new growth.

Yeah, that is what happened. The developers were out in full force though drooling over the possibilities at the meeting. To sum up this whole situation, it's important to realize Montgomery County for the past 100 years has always planned to have very dense urban cities up the middle of the county adopting the hub and spoke plan of Metro for the entire region. That is also why the CCT light rail project (corridor cities transit way) was planned in the 1970's for the county. That project is finally about to get built much like the planned ICC from 1960.

The growth in Montgomery County because of zoning laws is up the middle of the county. People who want to live a suburban lifestyle have 75% of the county to do so. East and West of the corridor cites offer suburban lives. This is how Montgomery County planned it anyway. I believe people who want to live a suburban lifestyle will move further east and west over the years.

[$mk8795]

Originally Posted by tonyc

Northern MC doesn't need anymore development!!!

That is not your call and if they don't develop Northern, Eastern, and Western Montgomery County the Development and population Growth will be further pushed into Northern Virginia and from the way your talking you seem to want that to happen but unfortunately it will not be that way and Montgomery County will continue to Develop and Grow whether you like it or not.......

[tonyc]

^ Then we'll all have get use to driving in parking lot traffic....all the time...