Category: Maryland

Learn about Prince George’s Transit Vision Plan

Learn about Prince George’s Transit Vision Plan

Image by Prince George's County Department of Public Works and Transportation

On May 22, 2025, RISE Prince George’s and CSG hosted a discussion on the county draft Transit Vision Plan (TVP), which seeks to create a more vibrant and connected county for all. The Transit Vision Plan is a five-year strategic framework for improving the county’s public transportation, developed through extensive public input. The county is seeking input from the public – go to an upcoming public meeting and check out the website.

Event materials – click here to view the presentation and video recording.

Transit Vision Plan video recording on CSG YouTube channel

Transit Vision Plan website

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.

Take action: Support passage of MD transportation reforms!

Take action: Support passage of MD transportation reforms!

Thanks to you and other advocates, we have advanced a set of transportation reform bills through the Maryland House of Delegates. Now we need to do a final push to win adoption in the Maryland Senate so Governor Moore can sign them into law! 

This legislation to guide Maryland’s transportation priorities is especially important if the state adds new revenues and spending. Key bills in the Senate Budget & Taxation Committee that CSG supports are:

Transit-Oriented Development (HB 80) – MDOT’s amended bill relieves parking mandates and allows mixed use development in proximity to Metrorail, Purple Line, and most MARC stations. It also removes potential obstacles to transit-oriented development plans on state-owned land. 

Transportation and Climate Alignment Act (HB 84) – MDOT is supporting this bill that would require the agency to evaluate its transportation projects to ensure they help Maryland meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets and provide alternatives to driving. 

Metro Funding Modification Act (HB 467) – Maryland, DC and Virginia came together in 2018 to successfully fund Metro’s capital needs. As a result, Metro service today is faster, more frequent, and more reliable. However, the $500M in annual funding was not indexed to inflation, risking future funding shortfalls and declining reliability and safety. This bill would index the funding to inflation. 

Work Group on Reorganization of MTA (HB 517) – Creates a study group to separate the MARC, Purple Line, and Commuter Bus systems from MTA’s local Baltimore transit focus. This would better ensure a focus on modernization and improved operations for MARC and a successful Purple Line service.

More transportation funding – The just released joint Senate/House budget proposal would increase transportation funding by $500 million per year using an increase in the state tax on capital gains and other measures.

Thanks for helping build a better Maryland!

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

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

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. 

CSG in the News: MoCo residents polarized over proposed workforce housing legislation

March 11, 2025 | Ginny Bixby | Bethesda Magazine

Supporters who spoke at the hearing in general praised the legislative package’s aim to increase the county’s housing supply and create realistic homeownership opportunities for more county residents.

“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. “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.”

Read the full story here.

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

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

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)

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