Category: Testimony & Letters

Written Recommendations: MoCo’s More Housing N.O.W. Package

Written Recommendations: MoCo’s More Housing N.O.W. Package

Posted on by Carrie Kisicki

March 11, 2025
Montgomery County Council
100 Maryland Ave
Rockville, MD 20850

More Housing N.O.W. Package
ZTA 25-02, Workforce Housing – Development Standards
ZTA 25-03, Expedited Approvals – Commercial to Residential Reconstruction
SRA 25-01, Administrative Subdivision – Expedited Approval Plan
Expedited Bill 2-25, Taxation – Payments in Lieu of Taxes – Affordable Housing Amendments

Thank you for the opportunity to share testimony on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. CSG advocates for building walkable, bikeable, transit-oriented communities with housing all people can afford is the most sustainable and inclusive way for the D.C. metro region to grow.

I am writing to offer our support for the More Housing N.O.W. package, and to thank the sponsors for stepping up and showing Montgomery County is ready to do what is needed to address our housing crisis.

We can’t afford to wait for housing action.

Montgomery County has a strong record of supporting subsidized affordable housing, including making historic commitments to funding for affordable housing these past few years. 

We have not been innovators in the same way in making sure our county has homes that are affordable to our middle class, young people, older adults looking to downsize, and others who do not qualify for affordable housing—yet are increasingly unable to find market-rate homes they can afford amongst our limited housing options.

Our current zoning policies have severely restricted the number and variety of homes available near jobs and transit across our county. As a consequence, we are losing people who would like to live and work in this county yet must turn to other places where they can find housing they can afford. 

  • This trend hurts our ability to attract and retain a strong workforce, and sustain the robust tax base needed to offer critical services and programs. 
  • It is making homeownership in Montgomery County an increasingly exclusive proposition. Home prices across the county have been rising faster than inflation for two decades, and only households earning $150k or more increased their rate of homeownership rates between 2010 and 2021 while rates of homeownership for all other income bands declined.
  • This trend also undercuts our climate goals by forcing people who work in Montgomery County to live farther from their jobs and from convenient transit options—leading to longer commutes, greater pollution from vehicle emissions, and increased demand for sprawl development in other jurisdictions to fill the housing demand that our county is failing to meet.

More Housing N.O.W. offers promising new approaches to create the housing our county needs.

The proposals in the More Housing N.O.W. package will help expand the supply and variety of housing types available near jobs and transit—giving more people with a wider range of household sizes and needs the opportunity to live in Montgomery County.

Allowing a Greater Variety of Housing Types

CSG strongly supports the approach of building a wider variety of housing types in sustainable locations with access to transit and jobs, as proposed by ZTA 25-02. 

  • Detached single-family homes remain the most expensive housing option in the county. As of February 2025, the median sale price for a detached single-family home in Montgomery County was $835,000, while the median sale price for a townhouse was $500,000, and $279,000 for condos/co-ops.
  • To make housing and homeownership affordable for more people, it follows that we need to offer more options that better align with people’s varied incomes and needs. 
  • We support expanding housing choices to allow for duplexes, triplexes, and other small multi-family buildings that can accommodate more people and meet a wider range of housing needs than detached single-family homes alone.
Office-to-Residential Conversions

We also support efforts to facilitate office-to-residential conversions when feasible, as provided for by ZTA 25-03, SRA 25-01, and Expedited Bill 2-25. 

  • As work trends and housing needs shift, our land use policies need to keep up. These bills will provide greater flexibility to ensure parcels with underused office space can be adapted to best serve community needs. 
  • Office-to-residential conversions are often uniquely complex and costly due to the challenges of converting a building or site not previously designed for residential use to meet residential standards. Offering support through a PILOT, as outlined in Expedited Bill 2-25, may help projects that are highly desirable and appropriate for a given site, yet may not otherwise be financially feasible, get across the finish line. 

Additional recommendations

CSG supports the measures in the More Housing N.O.W. package, and thank its sponsors for standing with a broad and diverse coalition of Montgomery County organizations and individuals who recognize that we need bold action and new approaches to create the housing our county needs.

We also offer the following recommendations to even better achieve our shared goal of creating more affordable homes for all people in sustainable locations in Montgomery County.

ZTA 25-02, Workforce Housing – Development Standards 
  • Include corner lots along included corridors: We support this ZTA’s intent of supporting corridor-focused growth, and note that some corner lots located on included corridors are currently excluded from this ZTA if their address is on a side street rather than on the corridor itself. For consistency, we recommend including these corner lots in the ZTA as well.
  • Support homes near transit: This ZTA will help create more homes with access to jobs and economic opportunity. This benefit can be amplified by allowing a wider variety of homes near rail stations as well as on major county corridors. 

    We ask the Council to consider expanding the coverage of this ZTA to also apply to  R-40, R-60, R-90, and R-200 lots in strategic locations near rail stations—particularly the Purple Line and MARC, excluding lots contained within the Agricultural Reserve.
Workforce Housing Opportunity Fund
  • We support this proposed fund, and ask that the Council hold firm in its commitment to allocating the $4 million in proposed funding for the program as new funding that is additive to the total funding in the HIF, not diverted from other HIF programs.
Further Recommendations and Areas for Analysis

We raise the following as potential areas for additional analysis to make sure the policies in this package achieve their intended goals as effectively as possible. We strongly encourage the Council to turn to affordable housing organizations and the Montgomery Housing Alliance as a resource in considering these matters.

  • Building height: In ZTA 25-02, are there sites where the 40 foot height limit may be more restrictive than what existing stepdown requirements addressing limits on building height would allow? Could modestly increasing this height limit to align with standards for existing examples of housing types like townhomes and small apartment buildings in the county allow for the production of additional homes?
  • Reducing costs to create workforce-level homes: The amount of cost and uncertainty associated with development approval processes and requirements can make or break the feasibility of building a new housing project—especially those with subsidized affordable homes.

    We recommend consulting with experienced affordable housing developers regarding the development review process and the targeting (both in terms of unit percentage and AMI) of income restrictions proposed in ZTA 25-02 in order to help identify the most strategic pathways to expeditiously producing workforce income-level homes.

Sincerely,

Carrie Kisicki
Montgomery County Advocacy Manager

CSG More Housing NOW Written testimonyDownload

Photo: Montgomery County Council

In-Person Testimony: MoCo More Housing N.O.W. Package

In-Person Testimony: MoCo More Housing N.O.W. Package

Posted on by Carrie Kisicki

It is a plain and simple fact that our county needs more housing. People want housing that they can afford, and they do not want to have to spend their lives sitting in traffic just to get to work. 

Nothing demonstrates the strong support for these simple ideas more than the broad, diverse coalition that showed up in support of the announcement of the More Housing N.O.W. package.

Testimony: Support for the Flats at Glenridge Station, DSP-23008 & DDS-24002 (Prince George’s)

Testimony: Support for the Flats at Glenridge Station, DSP-23008 & DDS-24002 (Prince George’s)

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

March 10, 2025

Mr. Peter Shapiro, Chair

Prince George’s County Planning Board, M-NCPPC

1616 McCormick Drive, Largo MD

Via: pgcpb@mncppc.org

RE: Support for the Flats at Glenridge Station, DSP-23008 & DDS-24002

Dear Chair Shapiro and members of the Board:

Please accept this testimony on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG). CSG advocates for walkable, bikeable, inclusive, transit-oriented communities as the most sustainable and equitable way for the Washington, DC region to grow and provide opportunities for all. We work extensively in suburban Maryland, focused on Prince George’s and Montgomery counties. 

We would like to express our support for the Flats at Glenridge, DSP-23008 & DDS-24002. The proposed 245-apartment building, with a small amount of office space, offers families affordable homes right next to the Glenridge Purple Line station, along with close proximity to retail, including a supermarket. The site is less than a quarter mile from the station and MD 450, and by direct connection would be about 300 feet from the station.

This proposal is the first major step towards implementing the vision for a walkable Glenridge Transit Village outlined in the Annapolis Road Sector Plan. The apartment building offers amenities like a playground and a plaza with landscaping. Most importantly, these 245 homes give moderate and low income families the opportunity to live next to a rail transit station, and local-serving retail. 

This affordable transit-oriented development helps more people rely on sustainable transportation options and reduce the need to drive or own a car. We appreciate the unit mix offering a variety of unit sizes, including many 3-bedroom apartments. 

The project provides important contributions to county and community goals, including:

  • Affordability – the proposal will provide homes affordable at and below 60% of median family income. These are quality, new 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom homes to address residents’ need for low-cost housing. Transit-accessible housing also reduces household transportation costs;
  • Environmentally-friendly location – allowing more families to live here in a compact, walkable environment reduces traffic, pollution and crashes by giving households options to walk and ride transit more, and drive less;
  • Better communities with transit-oriented development – more homes in this location, inside the Beltway and next to rail transit and existing retail, helps to transition this area to the envisioned Glendridge Transit Village where more homes and businesses can be focused in a walkable, transit-oriented environment. A vibrant, walkable Glenridge Transit Village will benefit nearby neighbors who can enjoy better retail options, a more human-scaled environment, and transportation choices.

We recognize that the site is currently wooded, but it is a fragment surrounded by development. Allowing more people to live here, steps away from frequent rail transit at this inside the Beltway location means less driving, traffic and pollution for households who otherwise might have to live elsewhere. Additionally, the project will fund offsite forest conservation to offset trees removed from the site, while providing modern stormwater management onsite to control runoff and water quality. 

We have two recommendations for improving this project:

  1. Securing a direct walk pathway from the building to the Purple Line station entrance. 
  2. Reducing parking and allocating that space and cost savings to other benefits for residents. The large amount of parking — 337 spaces for 245 units is a 1.37 ratio. Development standards reduce by half the required amount due to the site’s proximity to transit.

Conclusion

We urge the Planning Board to approve this application as a major step forward for the Glenridge Transit Village and the benefits it will provide to the larger community and county.

Thank you for your consideration. 

Sincerely,

Cheryl Cort

Policy Director

VA Testimony: Support for AT&T Oakton plan amendment by Fairfax Healthy Communities

Posted on by Cheryl Cort
Joint Comments on AT&T OaktonDownload

February 25, 2025 

Fairfax County Planning Commission

12000 Government Center Parkway

Fairfax, VA 22035

RE: Comments in Support of AT&T Oakton plan amendment – PA 2023-00009 (SSPA 2023-II-1F)

Chairman Niedzielski-Eichner and Commissioners,

The above nine organizations, as part of the Fairfax Healthy Communities Network, are

providing the comments below to express our strong support for the redevelopment of the AT&T Oakton site and ask that you vote in favor of Plan Amendment – PA 2023-00009 (SSPA 2023-II-1F).

Our organizations assess proposed development projects in accordance with our shared principles that they provide more homes for a mix of incomes, are accessible to transit with safe walking and biking options, and provide good environmental sustainability and design. 

Providing more housing for a mix of incomes in walkable, high amenity areas near transit and jobs is essential to ensuring an inclusive and economically prosperous Fairfax County where people are able to live near their work, reducing long commutes and our climate impact. 

The proposed redevelopment of the AT&T site is a great opportunity to do just that on 33 acres in the heart of Oakton, transforming acres of underutilized office space and parking lots into an inclusive, vibrant community. It offers new homes, including affordable units, with access to transit, improved bike/ped connections, enhanced stormwater management, parks, and tree preservation.The redevelopment provides the opportunity for much-needed placemaking within Oakton that will enhance residents’ sense of community. 

The proposed plan amendment is the first step in making way for this redevelopment proposal to become a reality. The plan calls for an appropriate increase in intensity and balanced mix of uses, including grocery and retail, that will support a walkable, vibrant community as the core of the Flint Hill Suburban Center. Appropriate transitions to existing neighborhoods support compatibility and integration with the surrounding area. It includes good urban design with a grid of streets, wide walkways, activated street level activity, parks and open spaces.  

Transportation

The AT&T site is in a prime location near transit services, including the Vienna Metro, local bus service, and express buses running in the I-66 High-Occupancy Toll lanes. It is also served by two major regional multi-use trails, the Gerry Connolly Cross County Trail and the 66 Parallel Trail. 

While the site benefits from proximity to these sustainable transportation options, the area today is not comfortable or inviting for people trying to get around without driving. The proposed redevelopment is an opportunity to help turn that around, improving safety and accessibility for residents and visitors of the site itself, and catalyzing, through the planned area transportation study, improvements for the surrounding community as well.  

We are grateful the draft language includes the needed transportation improvements that will help improve mobility in the area. The plan calls for optimizing transit and enhancing bus stop amenities, improving pedestrian and bicycle connections, adding safer crossing options, including a traffic signal for families to safely cross to Oakton Elementary School. 

The innovative approach to the Chain Bridge and Jermantown intersection will improve driver travel time and provide better infrastructure and safer crossings for people walking and biking without destructive widening with more lanes.  

Housing

More housing in the county is desperately needed. The shortage of homes and high prices mean more and more people cannot afford to live in Fairfax. The proposal to redevelop the AT&T site will deliver 850 new homes in multi-family buildings and townhomes. It includes 18 percent affordable and workplace units, an increase over the policy recommendation of 8 percent. This supports the county’s housing goal of providing 10,000 units by 2034. 

Environment & Parks

We are grateful the draft plan calls for open space, a well-designed and connected urban park, and the preservation of established trees along the perimeter of the property and new native plantings. This supports the redevelopment proposal that includes the addition of a 2-acre park complementing the existing Borge Street Park, a central green common, and a 1-mile shared use path that provides a linear park around the perimeter of the site. Redevelopment will provide updated and enhanced stormwater management, green infrastructure, and stream protection.  

In Summary

This plan amendment supports redevelopment of the AT&T Oakton site, which will provide much needed housing in a walkable community with access to transit and enhanced environmental design and open space. We ask that you approve the plan amendment.    

Thank you for your consideration of our comments. 

Ting Waymouth

Chesapeake Climate Action Network NoVA

Sonya Breehey

Coalition for Smarter Growth

Joy Faunce

Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling

Chris Topoleski

Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions

Chris French

Fairfax Families for Safe Streets

Renee Grebe

Nature Forward

Jill Norcross & Anika Rahman

Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance

Kevin O’Brien

Washington Area Bicyclist Association

Naveed Easton, Joshua Booth, Mostafa ElNahass & Evan Ramee

YIMBYs of NOVA

DC Testimony: DC Office of Planning and DC Office of Zoning Performance 2025 Oversight Hearing

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

February 25, 2025

Dear Chair Mendelson: 

Please accept these comments on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. CSG advocates for walkable, bikeable, inclusive, transit-oriented communities as the most sustainable and equitable way for the DC region to grow and provide opportunities for all. 

We wish to comment on the performance of DC Office of Planning and DC Office of Zoning over the past year. The efforts of these are helping to bring much needed dedicated affordable housing to sought-after locations, and to help make housing in general more available. We commend the Office of Planning, Office of Zoning and the Zoning Commission for their commitment to public engagement, and careful, deliberative process.

Chevy Chase Comp Plan amendments and Small Area Plan implementation

We have engaged in key planning and zoning efforts, including a focus on Ward 3 and the Chevy Chase Small Area Plan, and rezoning process to implement important recommendations and policies from the Small Area Plan (ZC 23-24). 

The zoning changes to the Chevy Chase area are modest, but important for opening up this exclusive neighborhood to low income residents, African American families, and other people of color who are greatly underrepresented in the Chevy Chase neighborhood. Discrimination has excluded people of color, both historically and systemically. 

The rezoning changes will help to expand housing capacity and diversify Chevy Chase main street, and utilize the public land of the library site. This public site will benefit the community and the city by creating modern public facilities and dedicated affordable homes. Dedicated affordable homes in this neighborhood and Ward 3 are an extreme rarity. Figure 1 (below) illustrates this: at 12% of DC’s affordable housing goal for Ward 3/Rock Creek West we are hardly where we should be. The Chevy Case rezoning, the library mixed use redevelopment and the future rezoning of Wisconsin Avenue, and Connecticut Avenue should accelerate this part of town’s move towards a more inclusive community. 

Figure 1

Source: DMPED 36,000 by 2025 Dashboard, emphasis added.

U Street Police & Fire Stations rezoning to implement Comp Plan

We have also engaged in the extensive Zoning Commission review process for the U Street Police Station (ZC 23-02 & ZC 23-25) to align the zoning of this site with the Comprehensive Plan amendments of 2021. This process took dozens of hours of public hearings. The resulting rezoning and future public land disposition offers the chance to build more than 100 dedicated affordable homes, along with market rate apartments, and new police and fire facilities in the highly sought-after U Street neighborhood. U Street has experienced a major decline in low income and African American residents, so this public land redevelopment contributes to reversing this trend. 

Looking ahead

This coming year, we look forward to engaging in the follow up zoning changes from  the Wisconsin Avenue Development Framework, Connecticut Avenue Development Guidelines, and launching of the Rhode Island Ave. corridor planning study. But the biggest planning activity is the Comp Plan rewrite. We are hopeful that this rewrite will take on the need to make it easier and less costly to build more housing in high demand locations, and fully utilize form based zoning as a critical tool to ensure great public spaces, and buildings scaled for people, and walkable neighborhoods. We ask the administration and Council to provide the resources needed to set up a successful process to address our housing and equitable development goals. 

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Sincerely,

Cheryl Cort

Policy Director

Testimony: Maryland Single-Staircase Building Study (HB489)

Posted on by Carrie Kisicki

Single-staircase buildings offer a potential solution to several of the housing challenges Maryland faces. Modern fire safety requirements and building materials make it possible to build single-staircase buildings safely, and this study will help us update our state’s housing policies to reflect these advances.

MD Testimony: HB38, School Zones and Adequate Public Facilities Ordinances

Posted on by Carrie Kisicki

Providing sufficient housing that people can afford is essential to ensure that Maryland is providing opportunities for all to live and thrive in our communities. For this reason, we ask you to support HB 38.

HB 38 will provide information that will help Maryland better understand where education investments are most needed, and will prevent school capacity from becoming an indefinite barrier to needed housing production.

MD Testimony: Local Transit Sustainability Act, SB 20/HB 432

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

Testimony on SB 20

Local Transit Sustainability Act

Senate Budget & Taxation Committee

Date: January 27, 2025

Position: SUPPORT

The Coalition for Smarter Growth supports SB 20. Our organization advocates for walkable, bikeable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities as the most sustainable and equitable way for the Washington, DC region to grow and provide opportunities for all. 

The Locally Operated Transit Systems – Mandatory Funding – Inflation Adjustment (Local Transit Sustainability Act) will provide greater reliability to services on which many Maryland workers and residents depend.

‬Maryland is one of the top states in per capita transit ridership. In the area where our organization works, locally operated transit systems are essential:

  • Montgomery County Ride On served 18.5 million passenger trips last year. This was a 20% ridership increase from the previous year, and the second highest growth among mid-sized transit systems nationwide.
  • Prince George’s County The Bus serves 10,000 miles of routes in the county and 10,000 riders per day.

Despite recovering ridership and fare revenue since the pandemic, Maryland’s Locally Operated Transit Systems – and their many riders – depend on regular state support. 

SB 20 would provide predictability for local agencies and communities with needed adjustments for inflation. 

We ask for a favorable report for SB 20 by the committee. Thank you.