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.
Author: Carrie Kisicki
CSG in the News: In raucous session, County Council votes 8-3 to approve controversial housing zoning change
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.
Testimony: Remove M-83 from County Plans (MoCo Council, July 2025)
We urge you to adopt the recommendations of the Planning Board and remove the unbuilt northern portion of M-83 from the Master Plan of Highways and Transitways.
M-83 is not the right path forward to provide better transportation options upcounty. The ways of thinking that informed plans for this road decades ago are fundamentally out of step with what we know today about best practices to address transportation needs, and about the vital connections between environmental health, climate resilience, and human health.
TAKE ACTION: The last, most important step to defeat Mid-County Highway Extended (M-83) is here
Mid-County Highway Extended (M-83) wouldn’t relieve traffic upcounty long-term—but it would cut a divide through existing communities and destroy farmlands, forests, and sensitive wetlands in its path.
The County Council is finally considering removing M-83 from county plans this month, and we need you to weigh in.
CSG in the News: Montgomery County makes bus rides free, an idea that is gaining traction
June 28, 2025 | Dana Munro and Rachel Weiner | Washington Post
Also featuring Montgomery for All Steering Committee Mike Larkin!
One major concern of the free buses, Larkin said, is that the lack of revenue coming in could justify the county disinvesting in the system, especially as Montgomery County deals with the economic impacts of the Trump administration’s massive federal spending cuts and job cuts.
Carrie Kisicki, Montgomery advocacy manager with the Coalition for Smarter Growth, a group that advocates for more accessible communities around the D.C. region, agreed.
Residents and lawmakers “might see other problems going on in the community that are more visible to them or maybe more part of their everyday experience and wonder ‘should transit be a priority or not’ and it absolutely needs to be,” she said.
Read the full story here.
CSG in the News: Montgomery County’s Flash BRT on 355 will reduce travel times, if and when it is completed
June 27, 2025 | Ethan Goffman | Greater Greater Washington
“This is a plan that has been on the books a long time, and they’re taking lots of steps to finally build this network out,” said Carrie Kisicki, Montgomery Advocacy Manager at the Coalition for Smarter Growth. […]
Kisicki also emphasized the need for better pedestrian comfort and safety: “It’s already a very wide road, it’s already a harrowing place for pedestrians, it’s very much built as a suburban arterial, not considering the experience of people outside of cars.” Planned expansion of the right of way for a buffer and shared-use path will be welcome, she said, and will work in tandem with improved transit. “This is a huge investment,” she emphasized. “This is our shot to do it right.”
Event Materials: More Housing NOW Presentation to MoCo Young Democrats
View slides from CSG’s presentation to the Montgomery County Young Democrats on May 20, 2025.
CSG in the News: Elrich vows to push back on approved More Housing N.O.W. legislation
“Every new home helps, but the Council must also adopt the other tools in the package to meet our county’s great housing need. Most important is the approach reflected by [the ZTA] —making it much easier to build duplexes, triplexes, and small apartments near transit and jobs,” Carrie Kisicki, Montgomery advocacy manager for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, wrote in an email statement to Bethesda Today.
Written Recommendations: MoCo’s More Housing N.O.W. Package
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.
Take action! Contact your representatives to support the Maryland Housing for Jobs Act
The Housing for Jobs Act (HB 503/SB 430) would set regional housing targets based on the number of jobs in a given set of counties grouped by their area of the state. It would set clear standards for approving and denying new housing when counties haven’t met their housing to jobs ration, giving extra credit to localities who create housing near transit and to those who create affordable housing.