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Category: Affordable Housing
Big win in Montgomery County! Council allows more multi-family homes on county corridors
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
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 Faces Pushback On ‘Landmark’ Housing Package
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.”
CSG in the News: Controversial workforce housing bill up for council vote Tuesday
July 21, 2025 | Ginny Bixby | Bethesda Magazine
“It’s a plain and simple fact that our county needs more housing,” said Carrie Kisicki, Montgomery advocacy manager for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, a Washington, D.C. metro region nonprofit focused on housing affordability and transit access, at a public hearing on the legislation in March. “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.”
RELEASE: CSG strongly supports ZTA 25-02 and urges the Montgomery County Council to move forward with the amendment
As the Montgomery County Council prepares to hold a work session and probable vote on Tuesday, The Coalition for Smarter Growth is proud to voice our support for Zoning Text Amendment 25-02. By making it easier to build more duplexes, triplexes, and small apartments near transit and jobs, ZTA 25-02 is an important step toward more sustainable housing options in Montgomery County.
Letter to Montgomery County Council regarding ZTA 25-02
July 17, 2025
Montgomery County Council
100 Maryland Ave
Rockville, MD 20850
Re: Support for ZTA 25-02, Workforce Housing – Development Standards
Dear Council President Stewart and Councilmembers:
My name is Carrie Kisicki and I am the Montgomery Advocacy Manager for the Coalition for Smarter Growth. CSG 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.
I write to you to offer our support for ZTA 25-02, and raise a few final points (see next page) as the full Council prepares to hold a worksession on this measure.
In particular, I would like to thank lead sponsors, Councilmembers Fani-González and Friedson, and co-sponsors Councilmembers Stewart, Balcombe, Luedtke, and Sayles for their leadership on new housing solutions for Montgomery County.
This ZTA is a straightforward application of the principles identified in the county’s Thrive 2050 general plan. Our county needs more homes that are affordable to more people and located near transit, jobs, and amenities. 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.
I am extremely proud to call this county home at a time when there are many strong housing champions on the County Council—from those sponsoring this ZTA, to those who have supported historic levels of affordable housing funding and stepped up through legislation like Bill 7-24 and dedicated constituent services to ensure all tenants have a safe, healthy place to call home.
I am hopeful that this ZTA will enjoy broad support from the Council and look forward to your continued partnership on realizing housing solutions for all people in our community.
Please see the attached memo for additional recommendations on this ZTA and future efforts to expand access to affordable homes in Montgomery County.
Sincerely,
Carrie Kisicki
Montgomery County Advocacy Manager, Coalition for Smarter Growth
Re: ZTA 25-02 — Topics for Consideration
Parking Flexibility
At the PHP committee worksession on June 23, Planning staff shared an analysis showing that current parking requirements will sharply limit the number of homes it is possible to build on R-60 and R-90 lots. We are concerned that this effective cap is contrary to the spirit of providing more flexibility to build smaller, more affordable homes in transit-accessible locations.
As all new developments under this ZTA will necessarily be subject to Planning Board review, we ask that the Council provide greater discretion to the Planning Board to adjust parking requirements on a case-by-case basis for these homes where appropriate. These adjustments can also allow for more thoughtful site-specific stormwater management and tree canopy protection.
Corner Lots
Corner lots are currently excluded from this ZTA. However, these lots share the same benefits of location efficiency with regards to jobs, transit, and amenities as the other lots already included. Per Council staff, this would add 475 eligible lots to the approximately 2,470 currently included in the ZTA. Corner lots can also provide for greater flexibility to allow side or back vehicle access to homes on the corridor.
Service Roads
We ask the Council not to remove lots located on service roads from inclusion in this ZTA. These lots share the same benefits of location and access to transit and amenities as those not located on service roads. All developments proposed under this ZTA will be reviewed by the Planning Board at which time relevant factors specific to a given site, including location on a service road, will be considered and accommodated appropriately. Removing all lots on service roads from the ZTA would disqualify over one quarter of currently eligible lots.
Lot Consolidation
We ask that the Council not further limit lot consolidation. Any proposed lot consolidation would have to be properly assessed and approved through the subdivision process before moving forward, and would still have to meet all other criteria required to qualify for this ZTA. Where it is deemed appropriate through the subdivision process, lot consolidation can offer opportunities to more feasibly meet stormwater, tree coverage (including preservation of established trees), and parking standards. It would also allow for building a greater total number of homes more cost effectively than would be possible on each lot separately.
Expanding Eligibility in the Future and Reducing Barriers to New Homes
We look forward to seeing the results of this ZTA and the much-needed homes they will create in our communities. The housing need in our county is significant, and additional measures will be needed to build the homes we need in the places we need them. We hope the Council will consider further expanding the places in our county where it is possible to build transit-accessible, multifamily homes, and reduce the barriers to building these homes. This is essential to our County remaining an inclusive community with opportunities for all.
CSG in the News: ‘Missing middle’ housing plan in Montgomery County faces backlash
July 21, 2025 | Dana Munro | Washington Post
But that trend of people being priced out of Montgomery County is already happening, said Carrie Kisicki, a 26-year-old Silver Spring resident and Montgomery advocacy manager with the Coalition for Smarter Growth, who is in favor of the change.
More units, and especially units in larger complexes that will have the price restrictions under the zoning change, will help increase inventory and the variety of homes affordable to younger and middle-income residents, she said.
“The zoning status quo isn’t working, either for affordability or for the environment,” Kisicki said. “We need to be looking at both the subsidized affordable housing investments but also thinking more expansively about what affordability means when so many people in our communities are experiencing struggles with housing affordability that don’t always fall into the traditional categories we think about.”
Testimony: Support for Z.C. Case No. 13-14E, modification to Parcels 2 and 4 (Reservoir District formerly known as McMillan) (DC)
July 17, 2025
Mr. Anthony Hood
Chairman, Zoning Commission of the District of Columbia
441 4th Street, NW, Suite 210S
Washington, DC 20001
RE: Support for Z.C. Case No. 13-14E, modification to Parcels 2 and 4 (Reservoir District formerly known as McMillan)
Dear Chairman Hood:
Please accept this testimony 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 Washington, DC region to grow and provide opportunities for all.
We wish to express our support for the proposed modifications to this PUD (13-14E) for the Reservoir District to allow for greater flexibility given changing conditions over the decade that this proposal has been waiting to move forward. The changes also include increased affordable housing, and more housing overall. These modifications will help ensure this long sought after project will be able to be completed and fulfill the promise of this major development.
We are pleased to see that the proposal now includes 30% MFI affordable housing — something that we called for in our 2014 testimony. We ask that the affordable units be committed to in perpetuity, which is the standard for public land dispositions under law. I note that Inclusionary Zoning retains the affordable units for the life of the development. Thus either way, DC regulations set a permanent term as the standard for publicly-supported affordable housing.
The proposed senior units are 39 30% MFI, 86 50% MFI, and 16 60% MFI. We are also pleased to see an increase in affordable senior homes at the site. We remain hopeful that the project will also receive a HANTA program tax abatement to include more 80% MFI units (with a term of 40 years). This will be an important contribution to housing equity for the neighborhood and city.
We support the other modifications and flexibility to secure a grocery store. The proposed changes are within reasonable parameters. We recognize that the commitment of a full scale grocery store like Harris Teeter cannot be necessarily sustained for 10 years, and that the market economics have changed significantly in that time. We are hopeful that the developer can keep the current smaller format grocer commitment for the site. DC has several high quality smaller grocers like Streets that are essentially full service. These kinds of smaller grocery stores are great assets to their communities.
We hope the plan can continue to retain sufficient ground floor retail uses to animate the street and provide services to residents, along with visitors and workers at the nearby hospitals. The request for lodging makes sense given the world-class hospital and health services across the street. The retail, lodging and public spaces are a way to enhance the hospital district, which is a major center for private employment in DC.
We, of course, support the proposed reduction in parking — which is still far above what is required. Oversupply of parking is a cost burden. We support enhanced bus service to the site, along with better walk and bike access.
We note that the Reservoir District is rapidly becoming a reality with a major new park, recreation center, playground, and indoor swimming pool. This was first to deliver, and now the townhouses are coming on line. The preservation of historic structures and integration of these structures into the site and the recreation center stands out as a distinctive feature for the neighborhood. Providing the flexibility to secure the buildout of the hundreds of mixed income homes with ground floor retail, including a grocery store, is needed to realize the promise of this major new neighborhood district. We ask the Zoning Commission to approve this modification without delay.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Cort
Policy Director