Are you an experienced transportation planner with a passion for transit-oriented development, active transportation, and sustainable mobility infrastructure? If so, the Montgomery County Planning Department is where you want to be! We are currently seeking two motivated Planner III/Planner IV for our Mid-County Planning Division. This is an opportunity to have a broad impact on the built environment, advocate for excellence, and shape future communities that cover the urbanizing communities of Montgomery County.
Montgomery County Planning Department is part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC). For over 90 years, M-NCPPC has had a national reputation for design excellence in planning, and today serves a culturally diverse population of over one million people on the border of Washington, D.C. in Montgomery County. We provide county-wide planning functions including long range planning, as well as reviews of development applications in diverse built environments of downtown urban districts, suburban communities, and agricultural areas. We have pioneered nationally modeled programs in agricultural preservation, inclusionary housing, and transit-oriented design. To learn more about who we are and what we do, we encourage you to watch this brief video here and visit our website at www.montgomeryplanning.org.
Montgomery Planning believes that diversity in all dimensions of the organization support and bolster the innovative thinking essential to its success. We do not make hiring decisions on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, political affiliation, ideology, or status as a Veteran. We will do what we can to provide reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us at 301-495-4525 to request accommodation.
The Planner III position requires strong oral and written communication skills; the ability to interact directly with the public and elected officials on technical transportation planning issues; knowledge of sustainable transportation planning and traffic engineering procedures; the capacity to read and interpret roadway design and land use plans, and to analyze traffic studies.
The selected candidate must have strong technical writing skills and know intersection analysis procedures as well as transportation demand management best-practices. An understanding of development proposals in three dimensions and the ability to provide recommendations related to the design of streets, sidewalks, bicycle and parking facilities through comments, sketches, and precedents is required.
Annual salary range for Planner III: $65,328.00 - $117,832.00
The Planner IV performs the following major duties in addition to the responsibilities listed above for the Planner III position:
- Serves as a subject matter expert in one or more of the following areas: sustainable transportation planning and active transportation.
- Coordinates with all area teams within the planning department to track and monitor progress towards the transportation related goals established in the county’s recently adopted climate action plan.
- Provides expert counsel and expertise to senior management and department wide colleagues on sustainable transportation planning matters
- Provides timely, considered, and accurate reviews of the mobility components of complex development applications and negotiates with applicants for transportation related improvements.
- Assists in the training of staff on the master planning and development review teams with a focus on street and transit facility design that enhances walkability, cycling and transit use.
This position requires extensive experience in project leadership and the capability to work well with a team with diverse set of backgrounds and areas of expertise such as county residents, developers, planners, architects, engineers, attorneys, and public officials. Fieldwork and occasional evening meetings are required.
Annual salary range for Planner IV: $71,266.00 - $128, 550.00
- Examples of Important Duties
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- Collect data and monitor performance towards transportation related goals outlined in the county’s Climate Action Plan.
- Share and promote best practices for pedestrian/bicycle infrastructure policies, design and implementation and lead initiatives to implement specific pedestrian/bicycle recommendations and pilot projects.
- Research and keep apprised of available bicycle and pedestrian funding sources, determine work items that are eligible for grant funding and lead efforts to apply for grant programs, funding studies, projects, and programs geared toward bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit users.
- Coordinate and conduct transportation field observations, analyze data, and conduct research to develop transportation recommendations for master plans and planning studies with regards to active transportation and sustainable transportation design and infrastructure.
- Coordinate complex, transportation planning and development review functions in high profile development areas.
- Participate in or lead community meetings.
- Review traffic studies, transportation plans, and intersection analyses based on Critical Lane Volume (CLV) based analysis methodology and delay-based Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) guidelines and computational procedures.
- Serve as an internal expert on panels, committees, and task forces and propose planning and transportation policies and amendments to the Zoning Ordinance or Comprehensive Plan in response to a variety of complex transportation policy and land-use issues.
- Assess transportation related impacts for development review projects, including adequacy of transportation circulation and network, transit, pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular safety, and compliance with the County's Vision Zero goals.
- Develop transportation related conditions of approval for development projects.
- Prepare detailed reports, presentations and staff reports on complex transportation projects/initiatives, multimodal policies, among others.
- Represent the Department's positions at public hearings before the County Council and the Montgomery County Planning Board.
- Coordinate with incorporated cities, county and state transportation agencies, such as the Montgomery County Department of Transportation, the Maryland State Highway Administration, and the Maryland Transit Administration, and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
- Work with the County to draft Transportation Mitigation Agreements and collect data and monitor the performance of traffic demand management programs.
Planner III:
- Bachelor’s Degree in Planning, Geography, Architecture, Parks and Recreation, Transportation, Urban Design, Engineering, Environmental Science, Public Policy, Economics or any related field.
- Four (4) years of progressively responsible professional level planning experience related to specific area of assignment such as transportation planning, environmental planning or urban planning.
- An equivalent combination of education and experience may be substituted, which together total eight (8) years.
- Valid driver’s license (depending on area of assignment) in accordance with both State and Commission rules and regulations. Driver’s license must be unencumbered by restrictions, revocations, suspensions, or points that could limit the employee’s ability to drive Commission vehicles or perform driving duties required by the position of assignment.
Planner IV:
1. Bachelor’s Degree in Planning, Geography, Architecture, Parks and Recreation
2.Transportation, Urban Design, Engineering, Environmental Science, Public Policy, Economics or any related field.
3. Six (6) years of progressively responsible professional level planning experience that includes project consultation and coordination.
4. An equivalent combination of education and experience may be substituted, which together total ten (10) years.
5. Valid driver’s license (depending on area of assignment) in accordance with both State and Commission rules and regulations. Driver’s license must be unencumbered by restrictions, revocations, suspensions, or points that could limit the employee’s ability to drive Commission vehicles or perform driving duties required by the position of assignment.
Applicants called for an interview should provide a portfolio of their work, a writing sample, and be ready to discuss their experience with a regulatory entitlement process. M-NCPPC offers excellent benefits and competitive salaries. We are conveniently located in downtown Wheaton, MD and easily accessible to Wheaton Metro Station and several bus lines. Transit subsidies are available. Learn about our new LEED Platinum-rated headquarters building here!