The Smart Growth Initiative

Our decisions and policies of today will have impacts on the County of tomorrow. As the County looks to its future -- we have important considerations:

• Quality high paying jobs
• Sufficient and affordable housing -- near mass transit
• Redevelopment and clean-up of old industrial sites
• Needed and overdue investments in County government facilities

How and where do we invest our valuable resources to:

1. Advance key economic priorities;
2. Implement new transit oriented development communities;
3. Meet our needs.

We will implement the Shady Grove Sector Plan

Thousands of new housing units will be created as an Urban Village near the Metro, turning an old industrial area into a “Smart Growth” area. Create higher paying jobs in a transit oriented bioscience enclave at the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center adjacent to higher education campuses where scientists can live, learn, work, collaborate and enjoy life. This will help keep our economy competitive at both a national and international level. Modernize important public facilities – To name a few -- the Public Safety Training Academy has severe space limitations and is in need of tens of millions of dollars in improvements; Police headquarters is old, over-crowded and wholly inadequate; the transportation maintenance depot at Shady Grove is too small and needs major renovation, and our liquor warehouse is undersized at its current location. Reduce the staggering $22 Million that we spend annually on rent payments.