Elected leaders and other stakeholders from Montgomery County, Md. were in Arlington last week to tour examples of “missing middle” housing.
The tour did not include any construction projects started under Arlington’s Expanded Housing Options, which a judge overturned last month, putting the completion of such projects in doubt. Instead, it focused on the look, feel and impact of two other examples of housing densification in South Arlington.
Through visits to Axumite Village and Majestic Oak — developments involving clusters of townhouses near Columbia Pike — the visit aimed to help policymakers better understand a Missing Middle-style proposal in their own county.
Several Arlington leaders, including former County Board member Katie Cristol, also attended the event hosted by the advocacy group and online publication Greater Greater Washington.
“It was really powerful for me to see Montgomery County officials hearing from Arlington County former officials that, you know, all of the angst and opposition, frustration they’re hearing about Missing Middle in Montgomery County, is very similar to what happened in Arlington County,” said Dan Reed, regional policy director for Greater Greater Washington.
Arguments for and against Montgomery County’s proposed zoning changes, known as Attainable Housing Strategies, in many ways mirror ongoing controversies in Arlington.
Reed argued that allowing for by-right construction of multi-family homes in previously single-family areas is key to combating rising housing costs throughout the D.C. area.
“Honestly, I’m of the opinion that some kind of zoning reform across this region and across the country is inevitable,” they said. “We cannot continue with the status quo, where people cannot afford to find homes in the communities where they want to be because of exclusionary zoning.”
As in Arlington, however, opponents — including Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich — contend that an across-the-board zoning change could strain existing infrastructure without producing housing that most people can afford.
“There is no plan for the whole area,” Elrich said at a weekly press conference today (Wednesday). “There’s no idea where in the county any of this housing will be built, what the impact on schools will be, and what you’re going to have to do on different streets … in terms of dealing with stormwater — and there’s no way to know it.”
He added that Montgomery County, which is home to over a million people, has a significant amount of undeveloped land that he believes can support significant growth in coming decades.
“If we want to address future housing needs, we should do it through the master plans, and if our master plans aren’t going to generate what we need, we should change those master plans,” Elrich said.
The main goal of last week’s tour was to provide roughly 30 people — including Montgomery County Council members, county staff, and representatives from community organizations — with tangible examples of what zoning changes might cause.
“I am confident that when people see Missing Middle housing types, when they hear how it has given residents housing opportunities they couldn’t have found otherwise, that they will understand that having a diverse housing stock is a good thing,” Reed said.
The policy director pointed to the example of Axumite Village, which is a series of stacked townhomes at 1100 S. Highland Street completed in 2021.
Single-story, 900-square-foot homes start at $450,000, while townhouse style homes with 1900 to 2300 square feet start at $720,000, according to a Greater Greater Washington fact sheet.
Elrich countered those numbers with an example in Chevy Chase, Md. where a $1.6 million single-family home was redeveloped as a triplex. Each of the resulting units, he said, was listed for $3.6 million.
Reed said that most of the conversation during the tour focused on the challenges and possibilities of zoning changes, rather than on the recent circuit court ruling that halted the construction of all EHO housing in Arlington. The visit, they said, was scheduled before that happened.
Greater Greater Washington plans to host further walking tours in Montgomery County as officials there continue to mull potential changes.
“It is not always easy to understand … what diverse housing options look like,” Reed said. “That’s why we want to bring people to see them.”
Ali Henry, a resident here talks about her housing journey from a renter, to an owner in a stacked townhome/condo before moving here and how this medium scale can blend density and community well. Agreed! pic.twitter.com/9GtB3WhNMr
— Mike English (@MoCoMikeE) October 18, 2024
