DaytonDailyNews.com

Western Montgomery County will stop shrinking in population but will probably only grow by about 4 percent through 2030, according to a land use and transportation study adopted by the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission last week.

And because the area isn't growing rapidly, there's no need for a beltway similar to Interstate 675 that passes through southeast Montgomery County and western Greene County, the study found.

The study also concluded that the municipalities in western Montgomery County have set aside about 13 times as much land for development than is likely to be needed. The study recommends that governments in the area adjust their zoning and land use plans to avoid sprawl and preserve agricultural land and green space.

MVRPC staff planner Ami Parikh said the regional commission began studying land use and transportation needs in western Montgomery in 2005 in conjunction with planning for a new intersection between I-75 and Austin Pike slated for construction next year.

Parikh said at one time, local officials considered building the "892 corridor," a beltway through western Montgomery County to connect I-75 to I-70. She said that idea was dropped from the area's proposed list of highway projects in 2003, and the current study found no need to reinstate it.

The western Montgomery County study area includes 245 square miles, about half the land in the county. Much of the area is rural, though, and it contains only about 18 percent of the county's population.

Western Montgomery County lost population between 1990 and 2000, and the study projected that the most urbanized sections of the area will continue to shrink.

The study concluded, however, that the area's small towns such as Brookville and Germantown have potential to grow by attracting workers from nearby employment centers who want to live in a place with small town amenities. The growth will be slow, though, with only about 4,000 residents added to the area in the next 25 years.

Towns, townships, villages and cities mentioned in the study are members of MVRPC. The study was accepted by the organization without objection.

The plan urged area leaders to coordinate their land use plans and to limit development to within existing municipal limits. Only 1,320 acres will be needed to accommodate expected growth but 18,000 acres have been slated for development, the study said.