Experts say Marlboro Pike road diet and pedestrian upgrades changed corridor since 2009

Two independent land‑use experts for the applicant told the zoning hearing examiner that Marlboro Pike has been reconfigured in ways that change how the corridor should be evaluated for residential density.

"These changes occurred in about 2022 with the county's, Marlboro Pike pedestrian safety project," testified Eddie Diaz Campbell, who described a road diet that reduced travel lanes, added bicycle facilities and widened sidewalks. Diaz Campbell and Mark Ferguson said those public investments, coupled with private reinvestment nearby, make a multimodal corridor more appropriate for denser multifamily development than the 2009 sector plan envisioned.

Opposing counsel questioned whether the paved median and curvature improvements cited by the experts amount to a ‘‘substantial’’ change in character, and he pressed whether permitted RMF‑48 theoretical maximums are likely to be reached given site constraints. Both experts acknowledged site limits — stream valleys, wetlands and slopes in the rear parcel — and said those practical constraints, plus subsequent design review processes, typically prevent a property from being developed to the zoning district’s absolute maximums.

Why it matters: The examiner must weigh whether physical and investment changes to a corridor since adoption of a sector plan justify modifying a zoning designation assigned under a prior planning framework.