NFCCA
Official Website of the Northwood-Four Corners Civic Association in Silver Spring, Maryland
Official Website of the Northwood-Four Corners Civic Association in Silver Spring, Maryland
NFCCA prepared a PowerPoint presentation to visually highlight the recommendations in the University Boulevard Corridor Plan (UBCP) that affect our community.
NFCCA testified a number of times on the UBCP and related measures.
The Montgomery County District Council began its consideration of the UBCP as amended by the Council’s Planning, Housing, and Parks (PHP) Committee on 18 November 2025. (Note: the District Council rather than the County Council considers Master Plan measures.) On 2 December 2025, the Montgomery County District Council voted to approve the University Boulevard Corridor Plan (UBCP) as amended. A final vote on the UBCP and the implementing zoning changes is expected on 10 December 2025.
The UBCP plan area extends along University Boulevard from Amherst Avenue in Wheaton to the I-495 beltway outer loop exit on University boulevard east of Woodmoor. The UBCP amends the approved and adopted 1989 Master Plan for the Communities of Kensington-Wheaton, 1996 Four Corners Master Plan, 2001 Kemp Mill Master Plan, and 2012 Wheaton Central Business District and Vicinity Sector Plan.
The Montgomery County Planning Board finalized and adopted the University Boulevard Corridor Plan: Planning Board Draft Summer 2025 on 12 June 2025. In late September 2025, the Planning, Housing, and Parks Committee (PHP) of the Montgomery County Council began a series of Work Sessions to review and amend the Planning Board Draft Summer 2025
The PHP held four work sessions to discuss and make decisions on amendments to the draft of the UBCP proposed by the Montgomery County Planning Board. The PHP Committee agreed to a number of significant changes to the transportation and housing recommendations in the UBCP. The PHP significantly pared back the Planning Board’s proposed Commercial Residential Neighborhood (CRN) upzoning for single-family homes throughout the length of the UBCP corridor. CRN zoning allows higher density housing redevelopment (duplex, triplex, quadplex and small multifamily up to 19 units). By a 2-to-1 vote, the PHP adopted Chairman Friedson’s amendment to apply CRN rezoning in the NFCCA community only to approximately 45 single-family homes that directly front University Boulevard from Caddington to Lorain Avenue and 14 homes that front Colesville Road between Timberland and Lorain. This amendment also limits CRN-zoned buildings to a 45-foot height limit. The Montgomery County Planning Board had originally designated over 200 homes in our neighborhood as CRN.
Closer to the Four Corners District (University Boulevard intersection with Colesville Road), as well as near the Dennis Avenue intersection, and at religious institution properties along University Boulevard, the UBCP recommends Commercial Residential Town (CRT) zoning to allow redevelopment as mixed-use residential multifamily and commercial office/retail up to 60 to 75 feet high.
To make space for dedicated bus lanes and wider sidewalks with buffer zones, the UBCP makes transportation-related changes to reduce the number of lanes along University Boulevard (both east and west bound) to three lanes with a dedicated bus-only lane, two vehicle travel lanes, and sidepaths for pedestrians and bicyclists. To avoid further exacerbating traffic congestion at Four Corners, however, buses will travel on University Boulevard in mixed traffic between Lorain Avenue and Williamsburg Drive. In this stretch, however, one lane each way will be repurposed to install wider sidepaths to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety.
The Planning Board’s UBCP recommendation for dedicated lanes on Colesville Road for the Flash Bus Rapid Transit remains in the plan. Councilmember Mink, however, successfully offered an amendment to delete language in the UBCP that specifically described the configuration calling for dedicated BRT-only bus lanes at Four Corners, which would remove traffic lanes and restrict neighborhood access at Lorain Avenue.
Staff Reports and Addendum materials as well as video links can be found at:
As background Montgomery Thrive 2050, adopted in 2022, is the “framework” for current planning efforts. The goals of this countywide plan include increasing housing density (particularly along traffic corridors), making highway improvements, developing rapid public transportation solutions (i.e., Bus Rapid Transit), and enhancing safety for pedestrians and other multimodal users (bike, scooter, wheelchair, etc).
View articles and presentations below (most recent to oldest) on attainable/affordable housing and zoning changes that will affect folks living in NFCCA territory.