The County Council’s Planning, Housing and Parks (PHP) committee discussed a proposed zoning bill Monday to address the lack of affordable housing in Montgomery County by expanding the list of housing options now permitted for construction.
The bill, titled Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) 02-25 Workforce Housing — Development Standards, would allow for the creation of duplexes, triplexes, townhouses and apartment buildings in several zone types, provided they are along a boulevard, downtown boulevard, downtown street, town center boulevard or a controlled major highway.
The ZTA was initially proposed on Feb. 4 by lead sponsors Councilmembers Andrew Friedson and Natali Fani-González.
“We have a housing crisis,” said Friedson, who is also chairman of the PHP council committee. “We have fewer housing options than what is needed in the community. We are losing people who otherwise should be moving here.
According to recalculations made by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG), 416,600 additional housing units are needed by 2040.
Duplex and triplex construction has faced obstacles in the past. Many neighborhoods and zoning policies restrict permitted construction to only single-family homes. But duplexes and triplexes offer a level of density single-family homes do not, allowing more housing units to be built on less land.
“I’d rather have a triplex or duplex than another McMansion in an area,” said Fani-González.
In terms of affordability, the ZTA says that 15% of the new units must meet the requirements for workforce housing. Those requirements are defined as at or below 120% average median income in the County Code.
A formal vote on the ZTA did not occur during the meeting. Additional information on the ZTA, as well as a full agenda of the meeting, can be viewed here.
