Developers looking to build in Germantown will soon have guidance from the county on what kind of trees to plant and creating visually interesting rooftops.

The guidelines, being discussed by county planners for Germantown's employment corridor, Gaithersburg West and White Flint, are a first for county master plans.

"We're not trying to undermine the master plans in any way — this is to fill in the gaps," urban designer John Marcolin of the county Planning Department said at a Planning Board meeting last week. "...We're going to transform the [Interstate 270] corridor pretty soon with all these master plans and hopefully these guidelines will help do that."

The design guidelines, which go to a public hearing before the Planning Board on Dec. 3, outline specific design recommendations for streets, open spaces and buildings to help steer the look of Germantown and will be adopted separately from the sector plan. Proposed area-wide guidelines include integrating transit stations with development; creating buildings with visually interesting rooftops; providing parking in mid-block locations behind buildings; requiring a wind analysis for buildings taller than 150 feet for comfort of pedestrians walking against the wind; and clustering retail, restaurants and entertainment uses along certain streets.

"We hope to get a lot of comments because these design guidelines are the way we hope to take Germantown to the future and turn it from a suburban place of the 70s and 80s into a more urban place," project planner and urban designer Karen Kumm said.

There are also specific recommendations for the seven districts created in the Germantown sector plan. Recommendations for the Town Center area include locating residential buildings with ground-floor retail along Century Boulevard; developing the proposed Crystal Rock Drive Promenade with wide sidewalks, public seating, moveable tables and chairs and special pavement with artwork; and programming events at planned parks and urban plazas.

The Germantown Employment Corridor Sector Plan is expected to be approved by the Planning Board and County Council by February.

To read the proposed design guidelines, visit www.montgomeryplanning.org/community/germantown/GermantownForward.shtm.