Montgomery County zoning: Council wants to change zoning throughout the county to multi-family

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a shed that borders my neighbor's property that is grandfathered in because it was built long ago. So I can convert it into an accessory dwelling pretty easily, and there's nothing my neighbor can do about it. What a mess.

Probably not, because the use is changing and you would need permits for the conversion.

Not a mess.

[Anonymous]

This is amazing!!!!

There is nothing bigger we can do to make MoCo more livable than change to multi-family zoning.



See the selfish NIMBYism below:

Anonymous wrote:Riemer wants to make it easy to build accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/development/council-looking-to-remove-red-tape-for-accessory-dwelling-units/

If you spend your hard earned money to purchase a home in MoCo, your next door neighbor can build another house in their backyard! Unbelievable.

Summary: The Council has before it a residential zoning amendment that will change single family zoning to multi-family dwelling zoning throughout the county to accommodate the building of Accessory Dwelling units (ADUs) in backyards of less than an acre. These changes will dramatically alter neighborhoods and add to traffic and parking congestion, overcrowding in neighborhoods and schools, and increase storm water runoff. These changes will NOT help alleviate the affordable housing crisis. Council President Navarro says the action is tied to their "racial equity and social justice" agenda that the Council has agreed to implement.

On ZTA 19-01.

Call the below and tell them you’re in favor of multi family zoning.

Yes In My Backyard. YIMBY!





See below for email addresses and phone numbers.

The next Council work session is scheduled for 9:30 am on Tuesday, July 9 in the Council office building, 100 Maryland Avenue, Rockville if you'd like to attend.

Montgomery County Council contact information:

Gabe Albornoz, D - At - Large, 240-777-7959, [e-mail] (Lives in Kensington)

Andrew Friedson, D - District 1, 240-777-7828, [e-mail] (Lives in Bethesda)

Evan Glass, At – Large, 240-777-7966, [e-mail] (Lives in Silver Spring)

Tom Hucker, D- District 5, 240-777-7960, [e-mail] (Lives in Silver Spring)

Will Jawando, D - At – Large, 240-777-7811, [e-mail] (Lives in Silver Spring)

Sidney Katz, D – District 3, 240-777-7906, [e-mail] (Lives in Gaithersburg)

Nancy Navarro, D – District 4, 240-777-7968, [e-mail] (Lives in Silver Spring)

Craig Rice, D – District 2, 240-777-7955, [e-mail] (Lives in Germantown)

Hans Riemer, D – At – Large, 240-777-7964, [e-mail] (Lives in Takoma Park)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:22:51 thank you for posting this.

No problem! Just passing along the info from our thoughtful neighborhood association which has some residents who have become experts in all things zoning!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is amazing!!!!

There is nothing bigger we can do to make MoCo more livable than change to multi-family zoning.



See the selfish NIMBYism below:

Anonymous wrote:Riemer wants to make it easy to build accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/development/council-looking-to-remove-red-tape-for-accessory-dwelling-units/

If you spend your hard earned money to purchase a home in MoCo, your next door neighbor can build another house in their backyard! Unbelievable.

Summary: The Council has before it a residential zoning amendment that will change single family zoning to multi-family dwelling zoning throughout the county to accommodate the building of Accessory Dwelling units (ADUs) in backyards of less than an acre. These changes will dramatically alter neighborhoods and add to traffic and parking congestion, overcrowding in neighborhoods and schools, and increase storm water runoff. These changes will NOT help alleviate the affordable housing crisis. Council President Navarro says the action is tied to their "racial equity and social justice" agenda that the Council has agreed to implement.

On ZTA 19-01.

Call the below and tell them you’re in favor of multi family zoning.

Yes In My Backyard. YIMBY!





See below for email addresses and phone numbers.

The next Council work session is scheduled for 9:30 am on Tuesday, July 9 in the Council office building, 100 Maryland Avenue, Rockville if you'd like to attend.

Montgomery County Council contact information:

Gabe Albornoz, D - At - Large, 240-777-7959, [e-mail] (Lives in Kensington)

Andrew Friedson, D - District 1, 240-777-7828, [e-mail] (Lives in Bethesda)

Evan Glass, At – Large, 240-777-7966, [e-mail] (Lives in Silver Spring)

Tom Hucker, D- District 5, 240-777-7960, [e-mail] (Lives in Silver Spring)

Will Jawando, D - At – Large, 240-777-7811, [e-mail] (Lives in Silver Spring)

Sidney Katz, D – District 3, 240-777-7906, [e-mail] (Lives in Gaithersburg)

Nancy Navarro, D – District 4, 240-777-7968, [e-mail] (Lives in Silver Spring)

Craig Rice, D – District 2, 240-777-7955, [e-mail] (Lives in Germantown)

Hans Riemer, D – At – Large, 240-777-7964, [e-mail] (Lives in Takoma Park)

Yeah, it's just swell if you don't bother to consider the impacts to traffic and the environment and privacy. Thank you real estate developer for your insights!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the note I received from our neighborhood association, which I thought was extremely useful.

On Monday, the County Council will hold a second work session on a change to the zoning code that would significantly alter the rules and requirements for accessory dwelling units (ADUs), also known as accessory apartments and granny flats. This is a complicated zoning change but here is a summary of what’s involved, as the Council has been working on it in terms of what it would mean to our neighborhood:

Where can detached ADUs (structures separate from the main house) be and how large can they be?
Currently a detached ADU cannot be built on a property of less than an acre, which effectively prohibits them from our neighborhood as none of our lots are that large. This zoning change would allow them everywhere, regardless of lot size. Proposed limits are the least of the following - 10% of lot size, 50% of the gross floor area of the principal residence, or 1200 square feet. Two amendments have so far been proposed - one that would change 50% of gross floor area to 50% of the footprint of the principal dwelling (example: if your house has a footprint of 1000 square feet but 3 floors, 50% of the footprint would be 500 square feet, but 50% of the gross floor area would be 1500 square feet); and one that would limit the maximum size of a detached ADU to 800 square feet rather than 1200 square feet.

How far away must they be from the property lot line?
This is a little complicated. New detached ADUs must have the same setbacks (distance from lot line) as the principal residence. In our neighborhood, that is usually 12’ in the rear and 8’ on each side or combined side of 18’.. Height is limited to 20 feet in our R-60 zone. An amendment will be offered requiring a 6’ fence for any newly constructed detached ADU in this zone and the next larger zone, R-90.

However, if you have an accessory structure - a shed or garage - that was legally constructed before May 31, 2012 (that is, it met the accessory structure setbacks required at the time it was built) it may be converted even if those setbacks would not be legal today, as long as the structure is not expanded up or out. Generally such setbacks are 5’ each rear and side, but sometimes they are less. I think we have a few of these. This may raise issues around privacy, sound, and light.

Another related concern is the setback standard for prefab detached ADUs. These can be as long as 32’. Current law is that any building longer than 24’ must have one additional foot of setback for each foot of length beyond 24’. The PHED committee recommends exempting ADUs up to 32’ from this requirement. For the normative rectangular R-60 lot, with frontage of 60’ and a depth of 100’, this would meet the current setback requirements for an accessory ADU - but in older neighborhoods like ours, there are many lots that have less than 60’ street frontage and at least a few that are smaller than 6000 square feet, grandfathered when the code was first adopted. This may be a problem for some properties and neighbors. In addition, as I understand it the larger prefabs need to be put in place by crane, which may be problematic for neighbors.

What about parking requirements? Right now all ADUs, internal or detached, are required to have one on-site parking space beyond those required for the principal residence, or adequate street parking within a radius of 300’. If the licensing agency, the Department of Housing and Community Affairs, determines that this cannot be met either way, the license for the ADU may be denied. The applicant has the right to apply for a waiver. Similarly, if a license is granted but neighbor(s) believe the on-street parking within that radius is not adequate, the neighbor(s) can appeal and object to the license. In either case, the dispute is heard by a hearing examiner and opinion usually rendered within three weeks. The loser can then pursue this through the courts, although to date there have not been many waiver requests and to my knowledge none moving to the judicial system.

The proposed change would eliminate both the parking and distance requirements in all neighborhoods within 1 mile of metro and purple line stations. That covers all of our neighborhood. There will be an amendment offered to reduce this to 1/2 mile, consistent with other situations involving “transit proximity.”

For most of our streets, the 1-mile walkshed would very likely cause problems. At one point there was consideration of an objective standard for eliminating the parking requirement and waiver process, using 36’ curb to curb as the standard. Most of our streets are 24’ wide or less, with parking on only one side and effectively 1.5 travel lanes. Available parking area is further reduced by driveways, fire hydrants, and intersections, and the mandated distance a vehicle must park from them. The half-mile proposal will reduce this somewhat, but we may still have affected streets.

What environmental issues are involved?
This can get somewhat complicated so I’ll keep it as simple as possible. ADUs will add to impervious surface, loss of tree canopy, and storm water management/sedimentation issues, especially if the changes in precipitation that we’ve experienced recently continue.. Some argue that this is true when additions are placed on existing houses, or when a house is torn down and a new larger house built. This is true, but additions and new houses are subject to more requirements around stormwater/sedimentation than ADUs, in particular detached ADUs, are. An ADU may be only 400 square feet, but a 1200 square foot ADU could easily be a 3-bedroom house. Many people following this believe this aspect needs a lot more attention.

Will ADUs provide affordable housing?
This is an argument often used, and ADUs can do this, but not if this proposal goes through as envisioned. There are no rent controls, no incentives for property owners to offer affordable rents, and no prohibition on converting an ADU after as little as one year to a short-term rental. This last point is important because short-term rentals (like Airbnb) are more lucrative than ADUs and therefore remove potential affordable housing from the market. They also potentially have a different effect on the neighborhood where they’re located, especially if provisions to control the number of ADUs are eliminated - that 300’ distance for parking is also the currently required distance between ADUs.

As I noted above, a 1200 square foot ADU can easily be a 3-bedroom house. ADUs are limited to 2 adults but no limit on children, which means there is the possibility that a significant increase in ADUs could affect school capacity - already an issue at our local elementary school, and a looming issue at BCC. A number of residents who have been involved in zoning and land use policy have proposed that the county adopt a regime similar to Portland, OR, where various required fees for new residences are waived if the ADU owner signs a covenant agreeing to charge affordable rent for 10 years; if the covenant is broken, the owner is liable for 150% of the waived fees. This grew directly from ADU conversions to short-term rentals. Under this proposal new ADUs would be subject to school and transportation impact fees, and possibly others, that could be avoided by agreeing to terms similar to Portland’s.

Why are these changes needed?
Proponents argue the proposal will increase affordable housing, provide housing for relatives/caregivers/disabled individuals, provide income streams for seniors and others who otherwise could not stay in their homes, and allow people who otherwise could not afford to live in a desirable area to do so. However, since 2012 the requirements and processes to build an ADU have been loosened considerably, yet the number of legal accessory units has fallen by half. At the same time county enforcement efforts on both illegal ADUs and illegal short-term rentals have, in many neighborhoods (not ours), been unsatisfactory. The county’s department of health and human services has 200 licensed short-term rentals on its roster; it hired an outside consultant to scrape Airbnb and other listings and found 1600 - that would include 1400 illegal ones.

These is a very simple summary. As you probably can tell, I believe there are some significant problems with this proposal, largely because it is not well thought out or cohesive but also because some aspects are problematic for older neighborhoods (as an aside - there are several municipalities that would be exempt from this, and all housing developments built from about 1980 on are required to have homeowners association, whose covenants may not allow ADUS). If you have an opinion, you might want to share it with the council by writing to [e-mail]. You need to note that you are writing about ZTA 19-01 and get your email in ASAP. If you are interested, send me your email address and I can provide you with the two letter sent by about 30 active residents from around the county, which have considerably more detail.

Wow

Thank you for posting. I hope people read this and consider what can and will happen.

You’re already supposed to put up a notice in my neighborhood if you are planning to build an accessory apartment but that rarely (I’d ever ) happens. And the County certainly doesn’t fine the landlord when this is violated.

Yup, this is an awesome post. Thanks 22:51.

[Anonymous]

The vote on this proposal is tentatively scheduled for July 15. So if you have an opinion, definitely write your councilperson

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The vote on this proposal is tentatively scheduled for July 15. So if you have an opinion, definitely write your councilperson

I hope people email with their opinions. At the very least so that the county knows that this is an issue people care about. Our neighborhood has been so frustrated by the lack of housing code enforcement regarding the already illegal apartments.

But ultimately I think this will go through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a shed that borders my neighbor's property that is grandfathered in because it was built long ago. So I can convert it into an accessory dwelling pretty easily, and there's nothing my neighbor can do about it. What a mess.

Probably not, because the use is changing and you would need permits for the conversion.

Not a mess.

Probably not?

Of course you can. The County rarely enforces the permit process as it is. This will just exacerbate that issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a shed that borders my neighbor's property that is grandfathered in because it was built long ago. So I can convert it into an accessory dwelling pretty easily, and there's nothing my neighbor can do about it. What a mess.

Sure you can, if "pretty easily" means:

1. providing an additional parking space (unless you're within 1 mile of a Metro station)
2. you don't mind having the same address as your tenant in the accessory dwelling
3. you add a window that can be easily opened to every room in your shed
4. the bedroom has at least 70 square feet of floor area, is at least 7 feet wide, and has a window you can use for emergency egress
5. the kitchen has a 30" wide stove (burners + oven) and a standard-sized refrigerator plus shelves and counter space
6. you add exterior lighting and a walkway (if there isn't already one)
7. you add a bathroom
8. you add at least 2 electrical outlets to each non-kitchen room, 3 to the kitchen on a separate 30-amp circuit, and GFIs to the bathroom outlets
9. you add a furnace and water heater

plus other miscellaneous requirements.

So that would have to be a big and expensive shed.

Also, why should your neighbor be able to do anything about it? Should your neighbor also be able to do something about the color you choose to paint your front door?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a shed that borders my neighbor's property that is grandfathered in because it was built long ago. So I can convert it into an accessory dwelling pretty easily, and there's nothing my neighbor can do about it. What a mess.

Sure you can, if "pretty easily" means:

1. providing an additional parking space (unless you're within 1 mile of a Metro station)
2. you don't mind having the same address as your tenant in the accessory dwelling
3. you add a window that can be easily opened to every room in your shed
4. the bedroom has at least 70 square feet of floor area, is at least 7 feet wide, and has a window you can use for emergency egress
5. the kitchen has a 30" wide stove (burners + oven) and a standard-sized refrigerator plus shelves and counter space
6. you add exterior lighting and a walkway (if there isn't already one)
7. you add a bathroom
8. you add at least 2 electrical outlets to each non-kitchen room, 3 to the kitchen on a separate 30-amp circuit, and GFIs to the bathroom outlets
9. you add a furnace and water heater

plus other miscellaneous requirements.

So that would have to be a big and expensive shed.

Also, why should your neighbor be able to do anything about it? Should your neighbor also be able to do something about the color you choose to paint your front door?

Do you know how many homes are within 1 mile of a metro station? Thousands and thousands. My home is and it certainly isn’t in a high density area so without a new parking space I can add an ADU. Most other jurisdictions who have encouraged ADUs just did it for within a half a mile, not one mile of a metro-type station. As for adding the cost of the unit, well, anyone who can afford a renovation an expects a return on their ADU can do this. And yes, my neighbor should care and have a right to say something. I have a shed that borders their property because when my house was built 100 years ago that was allowed-under today’s regulations it would not be, but my shed, which contains play equipment for my kid is grandfathered in. And so could be my ADU which could contain multiple people living there or even serve as an Air B n’ b

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of landlords who will keep their apartments empty. It’s not such a dumb thing to do.

This has been the issue at Rockville Town Center. The landlord kept raising rents so that they became unreasonably high and so many stores closed. Then the City swooped in and promised to subsidize Dawson’s. So the landlord ended up getting more money. And had the units stayed empty, they declare it a loss.

You're making several mistakes here.
First, you're conflating Dawsons Market, a super expensive whole foods like store, with apartment rents. Second, you're telling everyone that there are many unoccupied apartments in the town center without any evidence and based only on your word.

I won't even bother addressing your first mistake because the entire thread has nothing to do with businesses. As to the second, I went and looked and found very few available apartments. The Metropolitan at Rockville has only 6 available units: http://www.metrockville.com/floor-plans-result/
The Upton has only 9 units available and this building is much larger: https://www.uptonrockville.com/floor-plans/apartment?min_price=&max_price=&availability=&floor=

It seems to me that you see a "now leasing" sign advertising a handful of open units and you are making the assumption that buildings are mostly empty. That simply is not the case. I'm not arguing for accessory dwelling units here but it's clear that you're absolutely wrong about Rockville Town Square apartments being empty. They would not want to build more if there was no demand for rentals. Lastly, you're comparing the city of Rockville with the county. The city council dictates land usage inside the city limits and they have passed their own ADU rules in recent council meetings but the county council has no say on what happens in the city of Rockville for this.

[Anonymous]

So there’s no restrictions on the number of kids who can live in an ADU. Typical MoCo-the schools nearest to Metro and jobs, most of which are already way over capacity with no solution in sight, will suffer the increased enrollment from this plan which of course MoCo doesn’t bother to factor in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So there’s no restrictions on the number of kids who can live in an ADU. Typical MoCo-the schools nearest to Metro and jobs, most of which are already way over capacity with no solution in sight, will suffer the increased enrollment from this plan which of course MoCo doesn’t bother to factor in.

Well, no. Because that would be illegal discrimination and a violation of state and federal housing laws.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So there’s no restrictions on the number of kids who can live in an ADU. Typical MoCo-the schools nearest to Metro and jobs, most of which are already way over capacity with no solution in sight, will suffer the increased enrollment from this plan which of course MoCo doesn’t bother to factor in.

Well, no. Because that would be illegal discrimination and a violation of state and federal housing laws.

Well, they didn’t bother to consider increasing school capacity in high density areas that will be most impacted by this proposal. This is why so many schools are overcrowded in the first place. MoCo pushes through pro-developer policy and then kids suffer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Do you know how many homes are within 1 mile of a metro station? Thousands and thousands. My home is and it certainly isn’t in a high density area so without a new parking space I can add an ADU. Most other jurisdictions who have encouraged ADUs just did it for within a half a mile, not one mile of a metro-type station. As for adding the cost of the unit, well, anyone who can afford a renovation an expects a return on their ADU can do this. And yes, my neighbor should care and have a right to say something. I have a shed that borders their property because when my house was built 100 years ago that was allowed-under today’s regulations it would not be, but my shed, which contains play equipment for my kid is grandfathered in. And so could be my ADU which could contain multiple people living there or even serve as an Air B n’ b

Yes. That's the whole point.

WHY should your neighbor have a right to control your use of your property?

The proposed ADU regulation prohibits use as an AirBnB.

Also, that must be a really big shed.