Council, residents clash on ‘missing middle’ proposal in Montgomery County

ROCKVILLE, Md. - On Tuesday, Montgomery County Council discussed unprecedented amounts of feedback from residents regarding a plan to change up zoning and allow more housing in communities.

The debate has been going on for months and has been heated, to say the least.

"The answer is not to say we don't have a problem, because we do. And I'm not going to deny that problem," said Dawn Luedtke, District 7 County Councilmember during the meeting. "But we have to be very methodical. There is not one omnibus bill, no one ZTA, no one action that fixes or addresses any of these things. We have to be strategic about also not creating a subsequent problem."

The proposal itself is called the 'Attainable Housing Strategies' initiative - also known as 'missing middle housing', where single-family zoning is changed to allow townhomes, duplexes, triplexes, and four-unit buildings.

It's been a work in progress for the last three years since the County Council went to the Planning Department and asked them to come up with recommendations to help alleviate the housing crisis residents face in Montgomery County.

The plan was presented in June and since then, there have been six listening sessions held in various communities and an online portal for feedback has been opened.

POTOMAC, MD-FEBRUARY 17:The Model at Townhomes at Cabin John Village on February 17, 2021 in Potomac Maryland. (Photo by Benjamin C Tankersley/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The County Council has heard from thousands of residents and Tuesday's council meeting was to respond to many of those questions and concerns - the top of which have been about parking, stressing infrastructure, preserving greenspace and overloading school capacities.

County Council President Andrew Friedson reiterated that there is no legislation currently in front of the council or a policy to debate, and they are just at the beginning of this process.

"I will say what I have said repeatedly, there is a lot of room between doing nothing and doing everything the planning board has put forward and recommended. They have put forward a lot for us to think through and consider, and we are grappling with that and weighing it," Friedson said.

The council meets two more times before the end of this calendar year before resuming in January, and there is no formal timeline during which zoning legislation will be proposed.

"We will continue to pursue ways to address a housing crisis that we have - that is too challenging for too many people to be able to afford to live here," Friedson said, adding that the average price for a detached single-family home in Montgomery County is about $970,000.

Featured

article

Missing middle housing debate continues in Arlington, Montgomery County

Communities across the D.C. region are facing a crisis in affordable housing, and Arlington residents have an opportunity to learn more about a housing proposal that could go into effect next year.

A Change.org petition called ‘Protect Single Family Zoning in Montgomery County’ has received more than 2,000 signatures recently.

And Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich has been vocal about his opposition to the proposed plan.

"I want residents to realize basically you're being conned. They've created an artificial argument, they've manipulated the information. They haven't told people that we actually have the capacity, which they were told. These are things that drive me crazy," Elrich said.

According to Elrich, the plan means 82 percent of the county would be unnecessarily upzoned, and if he could veto it, he would.

"If you follow your master plan, this stuff gets built. And you've got right now, on top of the master plans, you've got 30,000 units that have approvals that are not being built. Instead of asking why are they not being built, perhaps they're not being built because they are heavily reliant on high-rise apartments, for which there is not a lot of demand, and park and planning has zoned this county the wrong way, so developers aren't able to build what they need," Elrich added.

Friedson said he focuses more on what residents think, rather than the County Executive. Though, there will be a formal process during which he can weigh in.

"Unfortunately, the County Executive has really not been helpful to creating the level of public discourse that I would hope we would have. He has added fuel to the flames of discord and of fearmongering and not added thoughtfulness in bringing the temperature down," Friedson said. "I would call on him to be part of the solution and not part of the problem."

County leaders have clarified over and over again that this proposal doesn't provide affordable housing, but more attainable housing.