March 20, 2024 (updated 4/17/2024) Hon. Tom Dernoga, ChairPHED CommitteePrince George’s County Council Wayne Curry Administration Building1301 McCormick Drive, Largo MD Dear Chair Dernoga and members of the Committee: Please accept this testimony on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG), the leading organization advocating for walkable, bikeable, inclusive, transit-oriented

Gov. Moore’s Housing Expansion and Affordability Act proposes easing restrictions on new affordable, mixed income housing near transit and on government and non-profit lands. But newly proposed amendments in the House of Delegates Committee on Environment and Transportation would weaken the impact of this important bill. The vote on these amendments will take place Thursday afternoon.

Email your delegates today to tell them that we should use public funds to implement effective, targeted strategies like those identified by the workgroup to make the planning process more equitable and accessible—not to fund another potential obstacle to affordable housing.

The main objectives of this ZTA in our view are: 1) to meet our county’s housing need by providing an additional, affordability-focused pathway to build more housing; and 2) to reduce the existing barriers to qualifying institutions who seek to build housing. With that in mind, we believe the ZTA could even more successfully achieve these goals if projects were approved through the site plan approval process rather than the conditional use approval process. 

SB 484 would open up more opportunities to build needed housing, overcoming impediments for both market-rate and affordable home construction. We support this bill but suggest two amendments to strengthen it.