Their rationale for this zoning text amendment (ZTA) is that it will provide housing for households with incomes between 70 and 120 percent of area median income (AMI) and provide housing to our first responders and other service providers in our community.

In typical County Council fashion, they are not good at math. Nor are they good at reading the room as the residents of the County are overwhelmingly against this change to their neighborhoods.

Please see this link for how this issue has played out in other parts of the country. www.instagram.com/reel/DLiGjyDxDBU/?igsh=MTF5ODc1MXppeWpoZw==

This change is yet another reframe of the Thrive 2050 plan that failed several years ago. Please see the Thrive-designated growth corridors, indicated in black, on the County maps:  https://mcatlas.org/viewer/  

There are just under 2,500 lots that are affected by this change. If 15% of the homes are reserved for local County service providers, that is ~ 375 units, assuming 100% of all the units are constructed. That is a trivial percentage of our service-provider workforce and provides less units than one high rise apartment building. This bill is a “nothing burger.”

The ZTA clearly states that areas where this option can be applied must be at least 100 feet wide and have three existing travel lanes. However, when you review Massachusetts Avenue, a designated “transportation corridor,” it does not meet the County’s stated criteria and should not be eligible for upzoning.

1. Massachusetts Avenue is currently only 68’ across. In order to meet the stated criteria, the road would have to be widened, which brings up the question of eminent domain where the County could take a homeowners property and give them a “fair price.”
2. This area is not within a mile of Metro on any part of Massachusetts Avenue in Montgomery County.
3. There is not a single commercially zoned property along the entire stretch of Massachusetts Avenue from Westmoreland Circle to Goldsboro Road. It is currently only single-family homes, so changing the zoning to higher density would completely alter the character of the neighborhood and betray the long term goals of the homeowners. People bought into this neighborhood and committed themselves to 30-year mortgages believing that is what they were getting. Imagine waking up with a 40 foot tall building looking into your bedroom.

Supporters like Marilyn Balcombe and Dawn Luedke have selfishly gas-lighted us stating that this change will not affect the upper county. However, the County’s own map shows the transportation corridor extending up-County. They also neglect to mention how the increased density down-County will affect up-County.

Other key arguments that the County Council neglected to include:

1. Strain on infrastructure: When ZTA 25-02 is utilized it will overburden existing infrastructure, including utilities, stormwater management systems, and public safety services, particularly in already congested areas. The cost and disruption to upgrade the utilities in the street will be astronomical.
2. Impact on community character and existing neighborhoods: This ZTA 25-02 could undermine the established character of communities, particularly with the potential for replacing single-family homes with duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, and small apartment buildings up to 40 feet tall in residential neighborhoods.
3. Affordability concerns: While the County Council claims the bill aims to increase affordable housing, opponents argue that it may not be effective in achieving this goal, ironically due to the high construction costs / regulations (i.e., BEPS) in the County. This will potentially lead to the demolition of existing affordable housing, that benefits developers rather than the community. Some argue that it is a giveaway to developers, however the net profit on a small scale project is minimal.
4. Process: Why the rush to do this now? This plan produced by the Council of Government (COG) in 2017 predicted over 100,000 new residents in the County. We know that this has not materialized and, in fact, the number of residents in the County has gone down. It does not appear that this ZTA has sufficient data to support it. This would suggest that a more deliberate process, including greater resident input and consideration of alternative approaches such as the Master Plan process, is necessary. 

Sign the petition against ZTA 25-02