In the last couple of years we have seen Montgomery County renewing its focus on transit and transit-oriented development (TOD) -- first and foremost with the Purple Line, as well as the White Flint plan, CR Zone and now the Rapid Transit proposal in the list of important county initiatives.

We strongly support the zoning text amendment proposal to revise and similify the requirements for permitting accessory dwellings. We commend the Planning Board for addressing some of the key problems within the current rules which are discouraging the creation of accessory apartments that are perfectly compatible with existing neighborhoods. We also commend the Board for recognizing the potential of accessory units as a key opportunity to address the county's tremendous affordable housing shortfall.

Of course Montgomery County had begun many years before to implement smart growth policies, earning a national reputation for its early planning initiatives including: wedges/corridors, Agricultural Reserve, TDR's, downtown Bethesda, Kentlands/King Farm, and of course, MPDU's

On January 26, 2012, leaders gathered with the Coalition for Smarter Growth and Envision Prince George's Community Action Team for Transit-Oriented Development to discuss where and how Prince George's County should grow.

Having been contacted by local community members, the Coalition for Smarter Growth has reviewed the proposed scenarios, the Land Use Market Analysis, and the Comprehensive Plan Scenario Evaluations. To summarize, we share the concern about the comparative evaluation of the two scenarios and believe that the scoring of a number of the factors fails to account for countervailing research and potential benefits that would support Scenario 1.