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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The county report suggests that one house could actually be converted into 8 units. They are potentially allowing a subdivision of a previously single family lot and then a quadplex for each new lot. IMO, this does not make sense. It needs to allow for more gradual infill denisty that will encourage efficient utilization of existing infrastructure. Allowing 4x to 8x density in large swaths of the county risks creating situation where population growth rapidly outpaces our ability to create capacity for government services. If we are going to do MM zoning, limit the proposal to duplex and triplex units and scrap the lot splitting provision. [/quote]

I disagree. “Large swaths” of the county will not instantaneously become 4x or 8x. It will take years to ramp up to any major level like that.[/quote]

Then we can all just wait to draw the short straw and have one built next door.[/quote]

It is really interesting to track the various arguments in opposition.  To be sure, there are some that have merit, such as ensuring appropriate infrastructure.

But then there are comments like this, which reveal that much of the opposition is not wanting something different "next door."  It is literally the definition of NIMBYism.[/quote]

…yes?

Some of it stems from [b]carefully planning where one lives and chooses to raise their family[/b], and that doesn’t include have an apartment building next door.  Of course. Are you slow?

“Something different.”

LMAO.  You act like they are building a larger than average mailbox.[/quote]

You can make plans all you like. Then stuff happens that is not under your control. If you want to control what happens on your neighbor's property, you need to get your neighbor to sell you the property.[/quote]

Or you can rely on the zoning of the area and adequate local input to public processes to change that zoning.

Or not, as has been the case in MoCo of late.[/quote]

That is literally what they are doing right now.[/quote]

Nope.  They are not doing this on a neighborhood basis or even a cluster of neighborhoods basis.  Totally top-down.  Inadequate local input, and underhanded to change the definition of the zoning categories, themselves, rather than go through the process that had been set up for changing the zoning of a property or group of properties.[/quote]

When you don't like the outcome, you complain about the process.[/quote]

Do you not see the irony in this?  This is exactly what the kooky YIMBYs are doing.  There is nothing short of the upzoning tantrum that will satisfy them, which means that we shouldn’t trust anything they do.[/quote]

No, the kooky YIMBYs are getting outcomes they favor. The kooky YIMBYs are actually getting stuff done! Meanwhile, you're complaining about the process.[/quote]

It’s funny how everyone the YIMBYs “get something done” housing gets more expensive. [/quote]

No, it's not funny, it's just a factually incorrect statement.[/quote]

You don’t seem familiar with housing policy, production, or prices in Montgomery County. [/quote]

I sure am familiar with housing policy, production, and prices in Montgomery County. Your statement is just wrong.[/quote]

Have prices have gone down in your world?[/quote]

Can you point to an example of "YIMBY policy" or upzoning that has been in effect long enough for significant housing to be built in Montgomery County that it could even potentially have an effect on housing policy?

[/quote]

How many years do you need?[/quote]

Four sounds right.  And I’d also need a way to isolate the impact of the “YIMBY policy” t I’m other factors that also impact housing (ex: supply chain and credit issues in the financial market)[/quote]

I love that you’ve pre-positioned your excuses and also claimed you can’t isolate your policy’s effects on housing markets. But you remain committed to it as the only way forward. No wonder we have a housing crisis.

Just look at the smart growth movement. That was championed by Doug Duncan in 1998(?) and it’s basically the same framework that produced thrive, the new master plans, and the numerous tax breaks and cash incentives that the county has given to developers. We closed vast swaths of land to housing (the ag reserve) in the interest of concentrating new housing in revitalized downtowns. The policy has been in place through loose credit and tight credit and then loose credit again (credit markets fluctuate over time and good policy accounts for that). It’s also weathered tight supply chains and loose supply chains (like credit markets, supplies of housing inputs fluctuate over time and good policy can survive that).

Smart growth succeeded in concentrating new development down county in dense developments around transit. It also promised to lower housing prices and improve the county’s revenue. It did neither of those things. Housing is more expensive than ever and the county had to raise taxes again last year. Not only that, but we’ve now found out that we need to subsidize smart growth through tax abatements.

TL;DR: You’re convinced your policy works, but you can’t prove it, and you continue to argue that it’s the only way even though it hasn’t delivered on its affordability or budget promises and is such a failure that we need to pay people to build housing according to the plan. [/quote]

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