North Four Corners News ♦ October 2025

County Council Considers University Boulevard Corridor Plan

By Sharon Canavan

The Montgomery County Council held two public hearings on the University Boulevard Corridor Plan (UBCP).  NFCCA testified before the Council on 10 September and a copy of the statement can be found at the link below.

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Since the North Four Corners News is only published five times yearly, it is important to stay up-to-date on the latest UBCP and other developments.  Planning Board documents and other critical information can be found on NFCCA’s website at the link titled “Montgomery County Planning” at the link below.  There is background and information, such as how to write a letter to the Council expressing your views, sample pro and con issues to raise in a letter, and contact information on where to email a letter.  Of course, we will also continue to use the nfcca@groups.io listserv as another source for sharing information and viewpoints.

MOCO PLANNING PAGE

The latest version of the UBCP being considered by the Council remains essentially unchanged from earlier versions drafted by the county planning agency and adopted in June by the Planning Board.  A copy of the UBCP Planning Board Draft Summer 2025 can be found at the link below.

UBCP PLANNING BOARD DRAFT

Housing in the single-family residential NFCCA neighborhood along University Boulevard and Colesville Road is being proposed by the UBCP Working Draft to be upzoned to Commercial Residential Neighborhood (CRN), which would permit private redevelopment of higher density housing on more than 200 properties in the NFCCA community.  Homeowners can redevelop their properties or sell to a developer; the County will not be involved in redeveloping properties.

CRN zoning allows housing redevelopment with higher density (duplex, triplex, quadplex, and small multifamily up to 19 units).  Even though lots in our neighborhood are smaller sized so will likely accommodate only duplex or triplex redevelopment, multiple contiguous lots can be assembled for higher density housing.  Commercial office or retail uses are not permissible in CRN zones, although home businesses and office use can continue.  Residential redevelopment can be taller than is currently permissible; CRN zones allow structures up to 50 feet high (the current R-60 single-family zoning restricts height to 35 to 40 feet (depending on roof style.)

Closer to the Four Corners intersection at University Boulevard and Colesville Road, the UBCP envisions even greater density with mixed-use redevelopment including commercial, retail, and housing.  In its last work session, the Planning Board increased the permissible CRT [Commercial Residential Town zone] height limits for mixed-use buildings from 60 to 70 feet in its earlier version to 75 to 100 feet high in the plan before the Council.

Transportation

The UBCP recommends developing University Boulevard as a “Cool Corridor” with tree canopy, shaded transit stops, stormwater management, and landscaped buffers.  To make the experience more pleasant for pedestrians and bicyclists, the UBCP Working Draft recommends widening sidewalks and adding a green “buffer” separating the sidewalk from traffic lanes.

The UBCP recommends changes to traffic flow by reducing and revising travel lanes on University Boulevard near the Four Corners intersection, but the UBCP lays out an “interim solution,” putting off consideration of the traffic flow until development of a future plan to revise the current confusing traffic pattern there.

To make space for the wider sidewalks and buffer zones and accommodate a bus lane, the UBCP recommends reducing the number of lanes on University Boulevard in Four Corners, calling for three lanes in each direction — one of which is a dedicated bus-only lane plus two vehicle travel lanes — and added sidepaths for pedestrians and bicyclists.

The UBCP also recommends relocating the Flash Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stations presently located in front of the Four Corners Pub and Montgomery Blair High School to a single, two-lane-wide station in the middle of the Four Corners intersection of University Boulevard and Colesville Road (between the church and 7-Eleven.)

Process Steps

The County Council will now begin a series of work sessions to evaluate, discuss, and potentially alter elements of the UBCP adopted by the Planning Board.  Three work sessions are presently scheduled by the Council’s Planning, Housing, and Parks Committee for 29 September, 20 October, and 3 November.  After those sessions, the UBCP will move to the full Council for its consideration and a final vote.   ■