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'It really has gotten quite extreme' | Montgomery County Planning Director pushes plan to unravel zoning restrictions

The proposal would increase housing options for 'missing middle' by eliminating mandates about single-family structures in residential zones

ROCKVILLE, Md. — The average home price in Montgomery County is skyrocketing. Last year the median price of a single family home was $970,000. In just the first four months of 2024, the median value has increased to over $1 million.  

County leaders are now proposing big changes to a third of the land area in Montgomery County. Roughly 33% of the county is zoned as 'residential'. The proposed plans would allow for a duplex, triplex or even a fourplex to be built in areas zoned as 'residential' that right now only allow a single-family structure. 

If this sounds familiar, it's because its the same type of plan leaders approved last year in both Alexandria and Arlington, Virginia. The goal is to provide more affordable housing options for the so-called 'missing middle'; middle income residents who increasingly find themselves locked out of the housing market. 

Montgomery County has lost 25,000 middle income residents over the last 20 years, according to the planning department. Now facing a California-level housing crisis, and an additional 200,000 people over the next 25 years, there is a desperate call for immediate action.

"We're not doing enough to be able to have enough housing for people who are working their way up. For first time home buyers," said Jason Sartori, Director of Montgomery County's Planning Department. "We're trying to provide more options where we can have more diversity in our housing market and ensure we can have growth at all levels."

Assuming this plan is approved Thursday by the Montgomery County Planning Commission, Sartori and others will present it to the County Council's Parks, Housing and Planning Committee later this month. It won't be until later in the fall that the full Council actually considers the plan for a vote and implimentation.

Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando is on that housing committee and has been one of the leading advocates of moving this conversation along pertaining to affordable housing. 

Jawando introduced a proposal in 2020 that included some of these zoning changes. He tells WUSA9 he is very much in favor of moving the county in a direction that diversifies the types of available housing and lowering the price point for entry.

You can read more about Montgomery County's Attainable Housing Strategies Initiative HERE. 

To see the area you live in Montgomery County and it's corresponding zoning information click HERE.

Thursday's vote will be livestreamed on YouTube. 

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