Thrive Montgomery 2050—What is it?

Missed the Event? Watch the recording.

If you are like many of us, you may never have heard of this initiative. Surprise—it will shape Montgomery County for the next 30 years. Thrive Montgomery 2050 is a general plan for the county with a 30-year horizon.  It focuses on topics such as where growth should occur, what type of housing is needed, what new communities should look like, how to grow arts and culture countywide, what the transportation networks should be, and the future of county parks. It has already been drawn up and is before the County council and the County executive for their review.

Tune in to this special zoom and hear Partap Verma, one of the members of the Montgomery County Planning Board, tell us about Thrive Montgomery and how it affects our North Chevy Chase area. We will learn about the role of the planning board in this initiative, and you can ask other questions.

Verma, who was recently named vice-chair of the planning board, has served as one of its five commissioners since July 2019. He has worked on the Thrive Montgomery 2050 General Plan update, the County Growth Policy, the Silver Spring Downtown and Adjacent Communities Plan areas, Pedestrian Master Plan, Forest Glen/Montgomery Hills Sector Plan, and the Interstate 495 and Interstate 270 Managed Lanes Study. Previously, he was land use chair of the county’s Mid-County Citizens Advisory Board where he represented Forest Glen issues. He is a former member of the executive board of Sierra Club Montgomery. He also served as a mediator and panel attorney for the Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs’ Commission on Common Ownership Communities. He founded the nonprofit Friends of Forest Glen and Montgomery Hills and began the blog “Finding Forest Glen.”  Currently, he works at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and has previously worked at the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of State. He holds a B.A. degree from the University of Maryland and a J.D. degree from Pennsylvania State University School of Law.