Census Numbers Validate 'Wedges And Corridors' Plans

When Montgomery County planners released the "Wedges and Corridors" plan, it was designed to shape development in county for the next 50 years.

"The projections made...40 or 50 years ago, with respect to population, are bang on," says Rollin Stanley, the current director of planning for Montgomery County. "We're only out 80,000 or 100,000 people for this time period, which is pretty accurate. And the places in which it forecast we would grow, the corridor cities -- Rockville, Clarksburg, and Germantown -- it's all come to fruition."

Clarksburg saw the biggest population increase percentage wise over the past decade, but Germantown saw the largest in terms of numbers, with almost 20,000 people moving there in the last 10 years.

As for the future, Stanley says look for population growth around transit centers, giving the planned facelift of the White Flint area of North Bethesda as an example of what the county and developers will be focusing on.

The redevelopment plan for that area calls for replacing the current maze of parking lots and strip malls near the Metrorail station with high rises that feature "mixed uses".

"Mixed use, you're generally looking at retail over one or two floors, some offices, and then residential uses, whether it be a purchased condos or a rental unit. That mix of uses attracts people because the know, one, they don't have to drive. Two, it's closer to transit. Three...they may have a job nearby," Stanley says.

He says the areas around transit centers like White Flint will see the biggest population growth over the next 50 years.

This post was updated at 12:35 p.m.