Hemmed in by its own conflicting policies and facing a growing affordable-housing crisis of its own making, the Montgomery County Council is now seriously considering a proposal to require single-family homeowners seeking permission to rent out “granny flats” in their basements to erect a sign in the front yard warning the neighbors. One can hardly imagine a better way to scare prospective buyers off the block.
Three decades ago, county planners established a 90,000-acre agricultural reserve — about a quarter of Montgomery’s total land area — to preserve hobby farms and combat urban sprawl. But by limiting the supply of houses in the reserve to one per 25 acres, they eliminated a logical escape valve for Montgomery’s growing population while the council’s sanctuary policies toward illegal immigrants increased the demand for affordable housing.
