Germantown Master Plan (1989)
Approved and Adopted
Overview
Challenges & vision
The
Germantown Master Plan recommends the development
of a cohesive new town with a balance among
single-family detached, attached, and multi-family
housing units. Retail, employment, recreational
and educational opportunities are to be in
easily accessible locations so that residents
can live, work, shop, and recreate in Germantown.
The Plan intends to protect sensitive environmental
features through the proper location and intensity
of land use, conservation easements, and stringent
mitigration measures. Guidelines directing
the scale and physcial appearance of new development
are to be used to achieve a greater sense
of community identity.
The 1996 Germantown-Clopper Road Amendment
deleted the Master Plan recommendation for
a grade-separated interchange at MD 117 and
Great Seneca Highway.
Master Plan concepts
There
are several Master Plan concepts around which
the Plan is organized:
The Town Center is to be the principal activity center for Germantown with a mix of public, private, and civic uses.
The employment corridor is to be a planned employment center with offices, multi-family residential, and a limited amount of retail development.
Achieve community character and a sense of place through the development of six villages. Each village center is to be developed under the Planned Development Zone with attention to its visual appearance.
Shift the housing mix to correct the imbalance of town-houses, so that the resulting housing stock in Germantown is 27 percent single-family detached, 37 percent single-family attached, and 36 percent multi-family units.
Surround Germantown with a greenbelt of public access parks and open space providing a visual and physical border and protecting water quality.
