The Howard County Council may still consider affordable housing legislation in the fall, despite the Planning Board delaying a vote on proposed zoning changes, housing officials said.
“It?s not necessarily the case this would not go in September,” Housing Director Stacy Spann said. “It certainly does not mean we wouldn?t move ahead with other pieces of the affordable housing legislation.”
The Planning Board asked county officials to make a few changes to the zoning proposals that aim to expand the opportunities for affordable housing. For example, the county removed a few commercial zoning areas from the proposal that already permitted residential construction, Spann said.
The board is scheduled to meet again Aug. 23 and will be making recommendations to the County Council, Spann said.
Residents? groups last week opposed the proposed zoning changes.
The Howard County Citizens Association raised concerns about the changes, particularly that affordable housing duties are split between the Department of Planning and Zoning and the Housing Department. Zoning regulates the percent of affordable units in one project, but Housing manages the Moderate Income Housing Unit Program.
“We strongly believe all affordable housing legislation should be in one piece of legislation and regulation, not piecemeal,” President Bridget Mugane said.
Housing officials also should have engaged community groups earlier in the process, before the zoning changes were finalized, Mugane said.
“We haven?t been involved,” she said.
The Friends of Font Hill, a neighborhood group which opposed a scrapped affordable housing project in Ellicott City, took issue with expanding the county?s ability to build residential units on commercial land.
“We strongly object to that. It?s inappropriate,” said member Patrick Crowe, referring to the decline in commercial land and that tax base.
However, the legislation was drafted in response to concerns raised about the Ellicott City proposal, Centennial Gardens, such as including setbacks and height limits to limit density, Spann said.
AT A GLANCE
The proposed zoning amendments include three major changes:
» 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.
Source: Howard County government
