Montgomery County Councilmember Kristin Mink (D-Dist. 5) is joining Vice President Will Jawando (D-At-large) in opposing a proposed zoning change that would allow duplexes, triplexes and smaller apartment buildings to be built in single-family home neighborhoods.
“It’s quite clear that this is not where residents want us focusing our energy at this time, and it’s also not the best tool at our disposal,” Mink wrote in a press release Friday morning. “We should be prioritizing high-yield strategies that can earn the support of our communities.”
Mink’s statement followed Jawando’s statement released Tuesday, in which he urged the council to pause on moving forward with possible legislation based on the Montgomery County Planning Board’s Attainable Housing Strategies Initiative (AHSI).
Drafted by county planners, the Attainable Housing Strategies Initiative outlines recommendations to the council for zoning changes in some single-family home zones in targeted areas of the county. The changes, which the council would have to approve, aim to provide more housing options and opportunities, especially for middle-income residents, according to Planning Director Jason Sartori.
“Tackling the housing affordability crisis is necessary and urgent, but we have other, better tools available than the[AHSI’s] far-reaching and relatively low-yield recommendations,” Mink wrote. “I look forward to leaning into those other possibilities with colleagues and the community.”
The council began deliberating in November about whether it should tackle the proposal approved in June by the Planning Board. The proposal has sparked heated debate among public officials and community members, with hundreds attending the council’s series of listening sessions on the proposed changes in September and October.
Critics of the proposal have cited concerns ranging from the potential destruction of neighborhood character to the idea that the suggested housing types would not be considered affordable for many potential homeowners. Proponents of the strategy argue it would provide an effective way to increase homeownership opportunities for the middle class.
“At a time of significant transitions both locally and nationally—including the real potential of federal budget cuts that could shift more infrastructure costs onto our state and county—we should approach zoning reforms with deliberate caution,” Jawando said in his statement.
In her statement, Mink suggested the council make other investments in affordable housing, including “expanding areas for dense redevelopment through the traditional master planning process” and “establishing a modest new excise tax on residential tear-downs” that would support the county’s Housing Production Fund, which helps finance mixed-income projects.
The council has yet to introduce legislation inspired by the attainable housing proposal.
Mixed reaction to Jawando’s statement
Jawando’s statement incited a mix of praise and ire. County Executive Marc Elrich (D), a vocal critic of the zoning proposal, expressed his support for Jawando’s position in an interview with Bethesda Today on Tuesday afternoon.
“Finally, some common sense,” he said. “I think what the Planning Board has done is a disaster … this has nothing to do with community conversations and what people in their neighborhoods want.”
The Montgomery County Communities Coalition, an organization of residents, homeowners associations and civic associations opposed to the zoning proposal, praised the statement.
“We thank Council Vice President Jawando for his leadership in calling for the Council to pause consideration of AHSI,” coalition founder Jenny Sue Dunner wrote in a statement. “It is the principled response to the legitimate concerns of the County’s residents about the proposal, and we hope the other Council members follow his lead.”
But councilmember Natali Fani-González (D-Dist. 6), seemed to express disappointment with Jawando’s statement in a series of social media posts on Tuesday afternoon.
“For far too long our leaders have ignored our housing crisis. We must confront it NOW. I strongly believe that we need to create more housing for families at all income levels, and zoning reform is a key strategy to do so,” Fani-González wrote. “Calling for a pause on reform is detrimental to those who live here and just as importantly for those who want to live in MoCo. Our mandate as elected officials is to provide opportunities to all.”
The Coalition for Smarter Growth released a statement Tuesday afternoon saying the organization is “deeply disappointed” by Jawando’s comments. The nonprofit advocates for “walkable, bikeable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities” in the Washington, D.C. area, according to its website.
“Smaller, multi-family units like those proposed in the Attainable Housing Strategies recommendations can be built and sold more affordably than single-family detached homes,” the nonprofit wrote. “In recommending an indefinite pause on the AHSI recommendations, Councilmember Jawando would prevent these less expensive, more accessible types of homes from being built and leave in place decades-old restrictions that allow only our most expensive and exclusive housing type to be built in many neighborhoods.”
Greater Greater Washington, an organization which advocates for housing, transportation and land use policy in the Washington, D.C., region, has been at the forefront of the movement supporting the attainable housing proposal.
In an opinion piece published on the organization’s website Wednesday, regional policy director Dan Reed criticized Jawando’s decision to oppose the entire zoning proposal instead of introducing alternative legislation with a similar goal.
“By rejecting the entire proposal, Jawando makes it more likely that the council simply won’t do anything,” Reed wrote. “It’s a win for Marc [Elrich] and a small group of wealthy neighbors who wanted that outcome all along, and a huge loss for the county.”
The council will reconvene Tuesday. According to the meeting agenda, the attainable housing proposal will not be discussed and no related legislation is scheduled to be introduced that day.
