Landscape Contractors Must Remain a Conditional Use in MoCo

Want to zoom in on this map (see the pdf here)  What zone are you in? Enter your address to the GIS map here and find out. 

Update 11/29: This ZTA was to have a public hearing among a packed agenda on the 30th but the ZTA sponsor Tom Hucker withdrew the ZTA. We want to thank the hundreds of folks who took action and the civic organizations who joined us in calling for a more collaborative process. 

Update: This issue had a hearing on 11/18 at the Planning Board (video is here - skip to 7:02:36). County staff did a good job of laying out the reasons that landscape contractor operations are currently a conditional use in Montgomery County and surrounding jurisdictions. Our own Caroline Taylor testified that a process to address the needs of landscapers with stakeholders would be a better solution than this ZTA which has broad unintended consequences. The Planning Board agreed to send the staff's recommendation for rejection of the ZTA along to the Council. County Executive Marc Elrich also send a letter asking that the ZTA be pulled - the public hearing is November 30th (make sure they hear from you before then - take two minutes to write in here. )

Issue:  Absent stakeholder input, a county council zoning text amendment was introduced by Council President Tom Hucker that will open multiple rural zones to by right commercial landscape contractors with scant conditions. Take Action

Why this matters:  

• Similar to concerns about siting large scale solar on farmland- the primary use of the Ag Reserve is farming. Landscape companies allowed by right in the Reserve will drive up prices for new farmers to access land in the zone set aside for Agriculture. The proposed ZTA identifies 2 acre parcels for these industrial uses - the same amount of land a new table crop producer is ideally looking for.
• Keeping this industry type as a conditional use allows a review of how an operation would fit into a specific area. All surrounding jurisdictions have stringent (sometimes more stringent) qualifiers on where landscapers can locate.  Changing to a limited use would allow these intensive uses to be sited much more broadly with few protections. Missing in a limited use approval are considerations for: Impervious surface and water quality, forest destruction, road width and condition and noise.

The Solution: table this zoning text amendment and convene a group of stakeholders to collaborate on an appropriate means of addressing the concerns of the landscaping industry. This solution is supported by the Planning staff recommendation to oppose this change. 
​"Staff is very concerned about the negative impacts Landscape Contractors often have on neighboring residential uses, which are directly related to their operations and can only be properly mitigated through detailed analysis and regulatory conditions imposed by the Conditional Use process."

Our Ask: please take two minutes to send a quick letter here. 

Also let us know if you are affiliated with a civic organization that would like to sign on to group correspondence. Email us at:
Info@mocoalliance.org
Public hearing on November 30, 2021  has been limited to only 5 speakers and is now full. So the council needs to hear from the public via emails and/or calls in advance of 11/30.

​The details:

Proposed change to zoning code (see the zones impacted on the map above):

See the full ZTA linked here.  
​Summary here. 

Currently commercial landscape contractors are provided the opportunity to locate their businesses in multiple zones (Ag Reserve, rural, rural residential) through conditional use approval. This process is utilized to ensure that the facilities will not pose undue non-inherent effects on the surrounding community. The conditional use process recognizes that these are not a one size fits all use in these zones and without proper evaluation could undermine master plan