Category: Zoning

DC Testimony Workshop: Preparing for Wisc. Ave. Rezoning

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

Date: Nov. 10 2025, 7 – 8:30 pm

AGENDA

Introductions – name, neighborhood, motive 

How to testify

  • Sign up & what to expect at virtual hearing 4pm, ~5pm proponents start 
  • Principles for testifying
    • Proponent with or without recommended improvements
    • What’s motivating you to be here
    • Tell your personal housing story, don’t worry about details, don’t be an expert
  • Dos/Donts – don’t oppose because it’s not good enough, instead support & urge to make it better; do make it personal rather than being an expert; only speak for allotted 3 minutes; always be polite & respectful of commissioners & all others – including opponents; don’t worry – Commissioners want to hear from you they are not are not out to get you
  • Sample testimony- below 

Peter Shapiro – How to have the most impact

How to testify – check in

  • Ask participants: What’s your main argument – why do you care about approving this upzoning? (one sentence)

3. Q & A – resource people

Resources

How to testify for Wisc. Av. 25-13Download
Wisc Av. rezoning – proposal briefingDownload
Support transit and inclusive housing options in the University Boulevard Corridor Plan

Support transit and inclusive housing options in the University Boulevard Corridor Plan

Posted on by Carrie Kisicki

The University Boulevard Corridor Plan envisions a community with safer streets, thriving local businesses, better public transit, and more housing choices to meet people’s needs at all ages and stages of life.

Visit our landing page at smartergrowth.net/ubc to take action and learn more about the plan.

Big win in Montgomery County! Council allows more multi-family homes on county corridors 

Big win in Montgomery County! Council allows more multi-family homes on county corridors 

Posted on by Carrie Kisicki

Yesterday, the Montgomery County Council voted 8-3 to pass Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) 25-02. The legislation will allow more housing types, like townhouses or small apartment buildings, along major corridors, creating more homes near jobs and amenities.

CSG in the News: In raucous session, County Council votes 8-3 to approve controversial housing zoning change

Posted on by Carrie Kisicki

July 23, 2025 | Ginny Bixby | Bethesda Today

The Coalition for Smarter Growth released a statement prior to Tuesday’s vote voicing support for the zoning change. The nonprofit advocates for “walkable, bikeable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities” in the Washington, D.C. area, according to its website.

“By making it easier to build more duplexes, triplexes, and small apartments near transit and jobs, [the] ZTA is an important step toward more sustainable housing options in Montgomery County,” the statement said. “Measures like this that take on the structural problems feeding our housing shortage are a necessary step to achieve our shared vision of a sustainable, inclusive county for all.”

Read the full story here.

CSG in the News: Montgomery County Council to vote on ‘missing middle’ housing plan

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

July 22, 2025 | Maureen Umeh | FOX 5 DC 

“Montgomery’s economy, the economy of Maryland, is in some trouble right now. If we cannot provide housing, that’s affordable to the workforce, they can’t come to the county and provide their talents and services to the county,” said Stewart Schwartz with the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “Companies will not come to the D.C. region and to Montgomery County if they don’t believe housing is affordable for their workers, they’ll go to places where it is more affordable.”

Read the full story here.

CSG in the News: Montgomery County Faces Pushback On ‘Landmark’ Housing Package

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

July 21, 2025 | Jon Banister| Bisnow

Carrie Kisicki, the Montgomery County advocacy manager for pro-housing group Coalition for Smarter Growth, said requiring property owners to go through an approval process would make these multifamily projects take more time and money to pursue. But she supports the overall proposal because it creates a pathway to building more housing on lots that have long been restricted to detached single-family homes. 

“We’re still living in that world where people who 10 or 20 years ago would’ve been able to buy a starter home, or young professionals who would’ve been able to buy an apartment in the county, started to not be able to do that because of how little we’ve been building the types of housing that people needed,” Kisicki said.

“So this is to me a landmark package because it shows we’re willing to go back and look at some of those things we’ve taken for granted about where we build homes or don’t build homes.”

Event: Zoning for Positive Change in DC

Event: Zoning for Positive Change in DC

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

How can plans and zoning regulations shape vibrant, mixed-use, walkable communities? On April 23, 2025 we hosted a discussion with Code Studio, one of the national leaders on using innovative form-based approaches to zoning to guide change and protect what’s best about our neighborhoods. 

Speakers: Colin Scarff and Rene Biberstein, Code Studio; Moderated by Ellen McCarthy, Ward3Vision

This event is part of our informational series as the District kicks off DC 2050 — the Comprehensive Plan rewrite in spring of 2025.

Review the recording on YouTube here.

Code Studio Presentation

cover slide
Code Studio

Co-sponsored by Coalition for Smarter Growth and Ward3Vision

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

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.