How the Montgomery County Council plans to accelerate sidewalk construction

Aiming to reduce collisions between people and vehicles, all 11 members of the Montgomery County Council are backing a bill to accelerate sidewalk construction.

Introduced this week by council member Evan Glass, the legislation, co-sponsored by all other council members, would make it easier to waive a public hearing on a proposed sidewalk project.

A majority of property owners on a proposed route currently have to sign a petition to waive a hearing. If the bill becomes law, that threshold would drop to 25%.

“The current regulations allow for half of the neighborhood to veto a sidewalk proposal,” Glass said on Thursday. “I don’t think that half a community should dictate the safety of the other half.”

The bill would also waive the public hearing requirement if the county determines that a proposed project would not impair access to or require the acquisition or use of private property.

Pedestrian-involved crashes in the county are up 10% from last year, Glass noted. And state data shows that there were 14 pedestrian deaths involving motor vehicles in Montgomery County in 2025. This year to date, 15 pedestrians have died.

Sidewalk boosters, such as D. Reed of Silver Spring, the Maryland policy director for the Greater Greater Washington civic organization, said the sidewalk bill is overdue.

“It really should not be a question on most streets whether there should be a safe comfortable place to walk,” they said.

But sidewalk construction often pits neighbors against one another.

Sometimes people worry sidewalk construction will hurt trees in front of their homes or bring more people to their neighborhood, Reed said.

“It might change the way their street looks or feels,” they continued. “I hear all of those things and I can understand why in the past officials have been reluctant to contend with that in deciding whether or not to build a sidewalk.”

A particularly contentious sidewalk debate last year roiled a neighborhood near Parkwood Elementary School in Kensington. The father of a son with a disability filed an application for a sidewalk, unaware that the county had been studying the idea. Then bright yellow “no sidewalks” signs began popping up and some neighbors stopped greeting one another.

“The quality of life on this street is perfect as it is,” resident Liz Brennan said at the time. Other neighbors supported the father, who eventually withdrew his application.

“There’s very few sidewalk projects that aren’t contentious,” said Wade Holland, the county’s coordinator of Vision Zero, a program to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries.

Montgomery County boasts that in 2016 it became one of the first county governments in the nation to adopt a Vision Zero plan.

Though his office has not yet evaluated Glass’ bill, Holland said sidewalk construction in general boosts safety by putting space between people and vehicles. With a sidewalk, he said, “it’s clear where you need to be as a pedestrian.”

But sidewalks can also encourage people to get around under their own steam, he added, “maybe taking more trips walking or biking rather than just getting in the car to drive somewhere.”

The council will hold a public hearing on the bill on Nov. 10.