Pam Morgan's Helpful Summary and Interpretation of Relevant Maryland Law:

The applicable Maryland law was in the handout distributed at the first full LUTF meeting.  It was Title 8, extracted from the "Regional District Act" officially entitled "Article 28 Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission" which governs 12 of the 19 municipalities in Montgomery County, including Garrett Park.   For convenience, I've attached the same Maryland law to this email (Word 2007 doc) (see pdf file).

 
In summary, by Maryland law, Garrett Park “may only regulate … structures on land zoned for single-family residential use as it relates to: 
 

(i) Fences, walls, hedges, and similar barriers;                    

(ii) Signs; 

(iii) Residential parking;

(iv) Residential storage; 

(v) The location of structures, including setback requirements; 

(vi) The dimensions of structures, including height, bulk, massing, and design; and

(vii) Lot coverage, including impervious surfaces. “
 
Anything else regulated by Alexandria or Washington Grove, for example, is not allowed for regulation by Garrett Park.  (In case you are wondering, Washington Grove is one of the 7 municipalities in Montgomery County that has local control over zoning and land use; Garrett Park is not one of the seven.)
 
Also, by the same Maryland law, Garrett Park may only tighten any one of these elements as set by Montgomery County.  We cannot create our own law relating to them.  So a necessary starting point is knowing what Montgomery County states in their existing authority over Garrett Park for zoning and land use.  Then we can look to other jurisdictions for examples of ways to tighten what Montgomery County already regulates in Garrett Park. 
 
Again, Garrett Park may only tighten, only the above elements.  That's the extent of Garrett Park's "local control" and therefore that's the limited scope of the LUTF.

 

Here is the full language (pdf)