Housing officials are trying to improve Howard?s zoning rules to help pave the way for providing affordable housing.
“These alone don?t expand the pool of housing, but they make it easier for us to function,” said Stacy Spann, director of the Department of Housing and Community Development.
The changes would provide more “flexibility here and there, and allow us to kind of use some innovation,” Spann said.
The “fine-tuning effort,” county officials said, will be a part of a legislative package the Howard County Council will consider in September.
In the zoning regulation amendment, the three major tweaks are:
? Specifying which commercially zoned districts can include residential units and establishing regulations for those developments;
? Excluding assisted-living and nursing beds from the county?s calculations for moderate-income housing units;
? Moving the provision that gives county employees priority for moderate-income units from the zoning regulations to the housing codes.
The amendments “will expand the opportunities available to the Department of Housing and Community Development to establish affordable housing options throughout the county,” according to a report from the county?s planning and zoning staff, which recommended approval of the changes.
Officials also aim to increase the number of people who can take advantage of affordable housing.
“We also have the obligation of connecting people to these opportunities,” Spann said.
Sherman Howell, a member of the county?s affordable housing task force and the African-American Coalition of Howard County, agreed the zoning changes were “maintenance” and wouldn?t do much to boost the number of affordable houses in the county.
However, “if they clean up the process, there will be greater opportunities,” he said.
The need for zoning changes, including allowing housing on some commercial sites, was among several task force recommendations. The group also called for increased density.
