They were Montgomery County's answer to cookie-cutter subdivisions and isolated neighborhoods.
"Floating zones," as loosely defined by planners, are meant to free developers from the constraints of traditional suburban zoning. The results, at least on paper, are unique communities with diverse housing stock, amenities and retail space.
Since their inception in the late 1960s, the zones have been used to build new neighborhoods in Germantown. They also have served as a tool to revitalize older suburban town centers in Silver Spring and Bethesda and across the country.
But recent events in Clarksburg, where hundreds of homes were constructed in violation of building codes, also suggest that floating zones are much like they sound: vague, unpredictable and difficult to manage.
An estimated 80 percent of upcoming residential development in Montgomery will be done on the basis of floating, or "site plan" zones. The situation in Clarksburg, which is the subject of multiple state and local investigations, has county leaders scrambling to correct what they view as serious management shortcomings in the system.
"There was no conductor, and when you don't have a conductor, it's a recipe for bad things to happen," said County Council President Tom Perez (D-Silver Spring).
Traditional zoning laws establish specific rules for land use that usually can be changed only by lawmakers. Residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural zones all come with rigid standards for the type and amount of construction that can occur. The regulations leave little leeway for interpretation and require only casual oversight from planners.
Floating or site plan zones grant developers and county officials broad authority to negotiate the shape of a neighborhood. Although builders often push for greater density to maximize profits, planners tend to seek open space, retail and affordable housing. The result of the negotiations is a legally binding document called a site plan.
But the complexity of site plans creates a management challenge for county officials. Follow-up and enforcement can be time consuming.
"There is certainly a lot more work to review a project like that instead of one where everything is laid out specifically in ordinance," said Charlie Loehr, director of the county Department of Park and Planning.
There have been warnings about Montgomery's increasing reliance on floating zones. In 2003, a Denver consulting firm said the county's zoning ordinance was "one of the most difficult to use and understand" it had seen.
The report by Clarion Associates also said that "there is too much negotiated development with little guidance" and that "procedures and review processes routinely employed by staff are not reflected in ordinance."
