September 2, 2026
Hon. Wala Blegay, Chair, PHED Committee
Prince George’s County County, Wayne K. Curry Administration Building, 1301 McCormick Drive, Largo, MD 20774
RE: Support CB 074-2026, allow Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)
Dear members of the Committee:
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 also support and work closely with RISE Prince George’s, a group of county residents and allies advocating for policies and practices that build shared, sustainable prosperity in Prince George’s County by creating safe, walkable, inclusive and transit-oriented communities.
CSG strongly supports CB 74, to permit accessory dwelling units (ADUs) as a matter of right on lots with single family detached homes. ADUs offer an innovative housing type that helps the county provide new options to meet its housing needs. While this bill is required to conform to state law, ADUs have been supported as a helpful housing type in many Prince George’s policies and documents. We are excited to finally be getting to implementation.
We urge the Committee to support this bill, without adding onerous restrictions that make it that much harder to build an accessory living unit. The high cost of building an ADU remains a challenge, even with the lowering of regulatory barriers. Thus adding costly and complicated requirements will have a major impact on the ability of a resident to build an ADU.
ADUs offer many benefits
ADUs offer many benefits to individual families and to the community. Over the years, we’ve heard from residents asking about the potential of building an ADU on their property. Since the zoning rewrite, Prince George’s zoning does not permit the creation of an accessory dwelling in any part of the county. ADUs help meet a variety of needs, and often help provide new types of housing close to in-demand locations like Metro stations and downtowns.
Benefits include providing smaller, less costly housing in an existing neighborhood already served by existing infrastructure. This creates more affordable housing options, while better utilizing existing public investments. These new, smaller homes help fulfill housing needs such as caregiver housing for an aging homeowner or for an adult child with a disability. I’ve met one family (in a nearby jurisdiction) where the retired parents moved into an ADU to be close to their adult daughter, and help care for their grandchildren. A separate living unit on the same lot with a single family home gives a family member independence while also simultaneously giving proximity. An ADU can also help a young family afford to have a larger home by allowing them to rent out the unit until they are ready to use the expanded living space for themselves.
Don’t overegulate ADUs
The bill provides a number of restrictions to ensure that an accessory unit is subordinate to the principal dwelling. These are reasonable restrictions. ADUs are still costly and challenging to build, even though they are smaller. Thus, each restriction must be considered carefully so as not render the right to build moot by restrictions that make it effectively impossible. Parking requirements and owner-occupancy requirements are leading restrictions that significantly depress the creation of new ADUs. We recommend against adding them to the bill’s proposed restrictions. Across the country, as local jurisdictions have reduced restrictions on ADUs, we’ve seen them built. However, other jurisdictions continue to impose too many requirements which are holding back the potential for these smaller homes, and all the benefits that come with them.
We urge the Committee to support this bill and refrain from adding additional restrictions. It’s hard enough to build an ADU, it might be impossible with costly, complicated restrictions.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Cort, DC and Prince George’s Policy Director