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Opinion by Bill Scanlan
March 26, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. EDT
Bill Scanlan is president of the Woodside Civic Association.
The pandemic has changed many things about everyday life, such as the rise in the use of telemedicine and the number of people working from home. Both are likely to remain. But we all hope that in-person education, eating out, live music and sports, to name a few things, will return — and soon.
However, there is one trend that the pandemic has not changed: the demand for housing, especially more affordable housing.
In the Woodside section of Silver Spring, we are keenly aware of this trend as houses that go up for sale rarely stay on the market more than a couple of weeks and often sell in less time with multiple offers above asking price. And this happens regardless of what type of housing it is: single-family or missing middle housing. Missing middle housing is a range of house-scale buildings with multiple units — compatible in scale and form with detached single-family homes — located in a walkable neighborhood. Of the 311 homes in our well-defined neighborhood, slightly more than one-quarter, or 85, are townhouses that have been built in the past 30 years. Because we are close to public transportation, good schools, retail, restaurants and entertainment, the housing demand in our neighborhood is tremendous, and, therefore, prices continue to rise.
No amount of wishing will change the realities of a market economy. But that is what the Montgomery County Planning Board’s proposed changes to the downtown Silver Spring Sector Plan seem to be relying on: magical thinking. The proposal would take nearly one-third of our neighborhood and turn it over to developers to build more townhouses, duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, small apartment buildings or even “McMansions.” And though this may result in denser housing, it will not result in more affordable housing, thanks to the realities of market pricing. Under the plan, no housing will be built that would be affordable for first-time home buyers. The planning board acknowledges this, as staff estimates that the least expensive townhouses would be $712,000. By no definition is this affordable housing. In Woodside, almost half the houses are valued at less than this amount. To make money, developers would have to buy the lots valued well under $712,000, eliminating our least expensive housing.
The planning board’s proposed changes would also strip the neighborhood from having input into the type of housing being built. Currently, if a developer wants to build something other than a single-family home, they need a zoning change, which means working with the neighborhood. It was under these rules that four townhouse developments in our neighborhood were built. The Woodside Civic Association worked with the developers to create a plan that we all supported. On the last project, this meant a reduction in the number of townhouses by three, saving a historic home from demolition and getting sidewalks built, making the neighborhood safer for pedestrians. But the units, despite coming on the market in the wake of the 2008-2009 recession, were priced starting at $550,000. They sold quickly.
Today these townhouses sell for almost $800,000. This increased neighborhood density, but it did not lead to more affordable housing. Why do the planning board and some on the Montgomery County Council think rezoning will create affordable housing? The opposite is true. By making it easier for developers to build in our neighborhood, they will give them an opportunity to squeeze even more profit out of the units, regardless of housing type.
But there is a way to build affordable housing in Woodside if only the planning board and County Council would get behind it. The county owns a sizable lot within the targeted area for developer-friendly zoning changes. Bordered by Georgia Avenue, Woodside Urban Park and First and Ballard streets, the site is walking distance to Metro and downtown Silver Spring. Plans already call for the site to be developed residential with 30 percent reserved for affordable housing. Why not move up the timetable and designate all of it for affordable housing? Because Montgomery County owns the land — and land is what makes development costly — the county could build duplexes or triplexes and set the sale or rental prices to make them affordable.
Woodside has a decades-long history of supporting missing middle housing in our neighborhood. We’ve fought for and supported the Purple Line and Capital Crescent Trail when other neighborhoods fought against them and even sued. We fought for the development of the downtown plan for Silver Spring. We care about Silver Spring, our neighborhood and, most important, our neighbors.
Don’t shut citizens out of the process of neighborhood development.
We want real affordable housing. Not developer-priced housing.
