Gaithersburg City Zoning Code

(A)

Purpose and intent. It is the purpose and intent of this article to:

(1)

Implement the authority granted to the city pursuant to the land use article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, § 4-202.

(2)

Control and manage growth in an orderly, efficient, cohesive, and safe manner consistent with the economic and land use planning policies of the city and for the health, safety and welfare of its inhabitants.

(3)

Provide a mechanism and standards to evaluate and ensure that the public facilities hereafter specified are adequate or will be adequate to serve the needs generated by land use development in the development approval process.

(4)

Provide for the phasing or staging of development, conditional approvals including, but not limited to, requiring provision of public facilities and/or traffic mitigation to ensure the adequacy of public facilities.

(5)

Ensure that premature development does not occur and to require that development approvals are not rendered by an approving authority without a determination of the adequacy of public facilities or that such facilities will be made adequate within the reasonable foreseeable future.

(Ord. No. O-5-24, 7-15-24)

(A)

Exempted types of approvals. This article shall not apply to any development that has received, prior to January 2, 2007:

(1)

Schematic development plan approval;

(2)

Preliminary site plan approval; or

(3)

Final site plan approval.

(B)

Exempted provisions for annexations. When a property is subject to an annexation agreement, any provision of this article that is contrary to the annexation agreement shall not be applicable.

(Ord. No. O-5-24, 7-15-24)

Applicable traffic impact study standards. Applications for development approvals shall be subject to the requirements set forth in the Gaithersburg Traffic Impact Study Standards, to be adopted by regulation pursuant to section 2-10 of the Gaithersburg City Code. No application for development approval shall be approved unless it complies with the requirements of Gaithersburg Traffic Impact Study Standards, or the applicant has obtained a determination from staff that the standards are not applicable to the applicant's proposed development.

(Ord. No. O-5-24, 7-15-24)

(A)

Approval criteria. With the exception of dwelling units restricted to persons age fifty-five (55) years old and older, schematic development plans or preliminary site plans for residential development shall not be approved if the subject property is within the attendance area of a Montgomery County Public School that is projected to have a student population that exceeds one hundred fifty (150) percent of the county public schools program capacity five (5) years in the future subject to the following:

(1)

The program capacity for each school attended by city residents is determined annually by the superintendent of the county public schools and reported to the board of education in the educational facilities master plan and capital improvements program.

(2)

Capacity shall be reviewed individually for each elementary school, middle school, and high school. Sharing of capacity between schools shall not be permitted.

(3)

Upon review of the current educational facilities master plan and capital improvements program, the city manager or designee shall determine on the first business day of August whether or not each public school attended by city residents is projected to exceed one hundred fifty (150) percent of program capacity five (5) years in the future.

(4)

In addition to the county school impact tax, the city shall collect, as of March 1, 2022, a Gaithersburg MCPS utilization premium payment fee (also referred to as "fee") on all development projects that include new dwelling units within the attendance area of a Montgomery County Public School where any school serving the development is projected to have a student population that five (5) years in the future exceeds the county public schools program utilization and seat deficit standards provided in table 24-14.4-1, MCPS Utilization Fee Tiers, or as amended by the county.

Table 24-14.4-1. MCPS Utilization Fee Tiers

(5)

The rates imposed by the Gaithersburg MCPS utilization premium payment fee shall be the same amount as the county schools' utilization premium payment set by the county government as determined by the calculations specified in table 24-14.4-2, Fee Tier Calculations, or as amended by the county.

(6)

The fee is determined using the calculations provided in table 24-14.4-2, Fee Tier Calculations, or as the table and calculations are amended by the county, by applying the appropriate tiers' individual school level factor that is determined by the school service area adequacy status using table 24-14.4-1, MCPS Utilization Fee Tiers, above, to the undiscounted county impact tax rate applicable to a residential dwelling unit. If the estimated number of students exceeds an adequacy ceiling, the FEE factor of different tiers are applied based on the number of students the development generates at each tier school level.

Table 24-14.4-2. Fee Tier Calculations

(B)

Exemptions from MCPS utilization premium payment fee. The following types of development are exempt from the Gaithersburg MCPS utilization premium payment fee:

(1)

Moderately priced dwelling units (MPDU) regulated under the city's affordable housing program and other dwelling units defined under section 52-59 of the Montgomery County Code.

(2)

Residential development projects' dwelling units that have final site plan approval before March 1, 2022.

(C)

Refunding of collected fees. The revenue from the Gaithersburg MCPS utilization premium payment fee must be used to address capital needs for schools serving city residents which have been impacted by the development, and if the revenue is not so encumbered or planned for such use within eight (8) years after collection, the fees must be refunded to the owner of the property at the time of the refund.

(D)

Implementation of MCPS utilization premium payment fee. Other standards and implementation of the MCPS utilization premium payment fee shall be subject to any additional requirements set forth in the MCPS utilization premium payment fee regulations, to be adopted by regulation pursuant to section 2-10 of the Gaithersburg City Code.

(E)

Findings to waive or modify approval criteria. The city council, at its sole discretion, may consider waiving the collection of the MCPS utilization premium payment fee and/or allow a residential development within the attendance area of a Montgomery County public school that is forecasted to have a student population that exceeds one hundred fifty (150) percent of the county public schools program capacity five (5) years in the future, subject to the development satisfying at least one of the following three (3) minimum conditions and its associated findings:

(1)

The property is identified in the annual strategic plan or through another process establishing council policy as a priority area for development or redevelopment and meets the following findings:

(a)

The projected students generated by the development would not result in an increase in tier fees for any school level;

(b)

No more than one associated school level, elementary, middle, or high, has a "tier 3" fee status;

(c)

The project is not exempted from the payment of the county school impact tax;

(d)

No more than one school level is greater than or equal to one hundred fifty percent (150) percent of program capacity; and

(e)

For a school equal to or exceeding one hundred fifty (150) percent of program capacity, the projected students generated by the development would not further increase capacity by more than two (2) percent for an elementary school, one percent for a middle school, or one percent for a high school based upon the planned capacity five (5) years in the future.

(2)

The development is a non-rental residential development that proposes thirty (30) percent or greater of the total fee-simple dwelling units be sold as affordable housing with a minimum of fifteen (15) percent moderately priced dwelling units and fifteen (15) percent workforce housing in accordance with article 13, Affordable Housing Requirements, and is in a U.S. Census Tract in which the median value of owner-occupied housing units is above fifty (50) percent of the median value of owner-occupied housing for the city and meets the following findings:

(a)

The projected students generated by the development would not result in an increase in tier fees for any school level;

(b)

No more than one associated school level, elementary, middle, or high, has a "tier 3" fee status;

(c)

The project is not exempted from the payment of the county school impact tax;

(d)

No more than one school level is greater than or equal to one hundred fifty (150) percent of program capacity; and

(e)

For a school equal to or exceeding one hundred fifty (150) percent of program capacity, the projected students generated by the development would not exceed two (2) percent of program capacity for an elementary school, one percent of program capacity for a middle school, or one percent of program capacity for a high school, based upon the planned program capacity five (5) years in the future.

(3)

The development is a residential development that provides land at no cost for, funding of, or construction of a public or charter school benefitting the city and meets the following findings:

(a)

That the individual value of the land dedicated, or the monetary amount contributed to funding, or the projected construction costs would not be less than the total estimated amount generated at preliminary subdivision by the collection of the fee;

(b)

The land dedicated alone or in combination with adjacent lands could accommodate the full construction of a school, subject to a future recorded agreement or conveyance obligating all lands;

(c)

No more than one associated school level, elementary, middle, or high, has a "tier 3" fee status; and

(d)

No more than one school level is greater than or equal to one hundred fifty (115) percent of program capacity.

(Ord. No. O-5-24, 7-15-24)

(A)

Water supply. Development that would create a total water demand that would exceed available supply less an adequate reserve for fire-flow shall not be approved. A minimum of one thousand (1,000) gallons per minute shall be deemed adequate fire-flow for the purposes of this section. Final water supply adequacy shall be confirmed by the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) prior to the issuance of development approvals.

(B)

Sewer service. Development that would cause the city to exceed transmission capacity available at Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant, Seneca Wastewater Treatment Plant, or other facilities as determined by WSSC shall not be approved. Final sewer transmission capacity shall be confirmed by WSSC prior to the issuance of development approvals.

(Ord. No. O-5-24, 7-15-24)

Fire and emergency response. A ten-minute full response availability shall be provided for all proposed development. A full response time is defined as the time required for receiving, processing, and traveling to the site of an emergency call from at least two (2) stations. Fire and rescue stations included and receiving funding in the Montgomery County Capital Improvements Program (CIP) shall be counted towards this requirement.

(Ord. No. O-5-24, 7-15-24)