The Montgomery County Planning Board on Thursday unanimously passed its Attainable Housing Strategies plan, which would allow duplexes, triplexes and small apartment buildings to be constructed within a wide swath of single-family-zoned areas across the county.
The plan applies to four residential zoning types that cover much of the southern and central part of the county that planners envision as growth areas. Some residential zones in more rural, northern parts of the county would remain single-family-only.
A similar policy passed last year in the nearby suburb of Arlington, Virginia, which was one of the first jurisdictions on the East Coast to end single-family-only zoning across the county.
Montgomery County’s plan still needs to pass the county council before becoming law, and it plans to hold a series of public forums before voting.
“The time has come for Montgomery County to break free from outdated zoning that has constrained the housing supply, led to skyrocketing real estate prices, and has forced more of the county’s middle-income population to search elsewhere for housing,” Planning Board Chair Artie Harris said in a statement.
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