The Montgomery County Maryland Planning Board recently established a development moratorium for three school clusters: Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Clarksburg and Seneca Valley.  After receiving the results of the annual school test - which compares projected student enrollment against projected classroom capacity - the Planning Board yesterday established the development moratorium.

The 2009 school test results show that number of students expected in 2014 in certain clusters would exceed a 120 percent cap specified in 2007. The moratorium limits residential subdivision approvals in overcrowded clusters in an effort to ensure that students generated by newly approved housing units do not exceed the remaining school capacity for students at any grade level. Starting July 1, the Board will not approve residential subdivisions in those three areas unless they are communities for retirees or subdivisions of three or fewer units.

The school test also forecasts overcrowding in 2014 by more than 105 percent in nine school clusters. For those clusters - Walter Johnson, Northwest, Northwood, Paint Branch, Quince Orchard, Rockville, Wheaton, Whitman and Richard Montgomery - developers wishing to get subdivision approval would be required to pay a school facility fee.

Given that the school test is conducted annually, the moratorium is likely to be in place for the next fiscal year. To move out of moratorium, the cluster would need to show a projected drop in enrollment or a projected increase in capacity. Enrollment figures come from school data and projected birth rates. Capacity can increase through the county's Capital Improvements Program (CIP), which funds public projects like school expansion.

Montgomery County planners approved a 457-unit apartment building in Woodmont Triangle days before a moratorium on residential development takes effect.  The 457 unit apartment building is being developed by the Donahue Development Company.

The project, Woodmont Central, was originally scheduled to go before the planning board in July, after the county's moratorium on residential developments started July 1.  The residential component of Donohoe's project is actually part of the second and third phases of development, so its construction would likely begin after the ban, if it is lifted next July. The first phase of the development is a 91,612-square-foot, six-story retail and office building.

The 18-story, 462,160-square-foot residential and retail component would follow. Sloan said the residential phase was not likely to deliver for another five to six years.

At the time the moratorium was set, Donohoe President Peter Gartland said his project would likely make it before the board in advance of the moratorium, adding that the county's 2009-2011 growth policy conflicted with the development ban.

"The future of the county is in its walkable, transit-oriented areas," Gartland said, echoing the growth policy's findings that Montgomery County should focus on infill and transit-oriented, mixed-use developments. "We have faith the county will solve this problem because urban areas like Bethesda are where new development should be channeled," he said.

 The board approved the project with a 3-2 vote but with several conditions. The project must achieve a Silver LEED rating and the developer must adjust height limitations, building setbacks, public space and retail frontage.