Pittman administration aggressively pushes workforce housing, again

On Monday, the Anne Arundel

County Council will hear public testimony on Bill 65-20, entitled

“An Ordinance concerning Zoning – Mixed Use Districts – Workforce Housing.” This bill brings the number of Zoning/ Workforce Housing bills introduced during County Executive Steuart Pittman’s administration to a total of five, including those that aren’t specifically titledworkforce housing.

Pittman was voted into office as a mandate fromthe citizens of Anne Arundel County who were sick and tired of the overdevelopment. Traffic congestion, school overcrowding and impact on our environmentwas finally toomuch, and “the people” said, “No more!”

In Severna Park, we have experienced this and have been vocal about the ills of cluster zoning, lack of oversight by the county for inspection enforcement, and approvals by Planning and Zoning that adversely impact our communities.

The boardmembers and delegates of the Greater Severna Park Council, of which I am the vice president of public affairs, have been kept very busy watching the legislation, testifying on legislation and coordinating with other local organizations such as Arnold Preservation Council, Broadneck Council of Communities, Magothy River Association and Growth Action Network in an effort to maintain the appropriate density in these history-rich areas, and to protect the environment to avoid further damage to our ecosystems.

Unfortunately, what the Pittman administration is aggressively pushing on the middle, western and northern areas of the county is workforce housing, by introducing one bill at a time that makes way for zoning changes where high-density housing is permitted in areas that previously would be lowtomedium density neighborhoods.

Insomecases— as inBill 65-20— there is no height restriction to the buildings, and the zoning is changed so that a “MixedUse” zoned area can be100% workforce housing, instead of mixed office, commercial and residential.

As was already approved in Bill 12-20, a workforcehousing communitymay be built even if the schools are “closed” due to capacity. Bill 64-20 thatwas passed on Sept. 8, for the Glen Burnie town center, allows a project to move forward without consideration for school capacity or adequacy of roads.

Bill 65-20 will also exempt the school’s enrollment in approving a project if it is workforce housing. Currently, the Plan 2040 online map shows the Severna Park shopping center area land use on Ritchie Highway as “Mixed Use” even though it is currently zoned Commercial.

Begs the question of “What does this mean?”

Across the county, citizens are keenly interested in their communities and as part of that interest they participate actively in the zoning and development processes. I believe the provisions that allow ad hoc plan changes for workforce housing to be absolutely abhorrent and a cynical attempt to circumvent the letter and spirit of the zoning process, thevery bedrock of land use planning.

As a member of the Citizen’s Advisory Committee for the General Development Plan, I find the county executive’s staff’s aggressive introduction and passing of these bills in direct conflict with the mandated purpose of long-range planning per the county council’s adoption of the General Development Plan and Comprehensive Rezoning.

Anyone wishing to comment either in person — live via Zoom — or in writing on Bill 65-20 may do so by registering on the county council website: aacounty.org. The new meeting start time is 6 p.m.

The only area of the county that is protected from the Pittman administration’s rapid approval of passing highdensity workforce housing is his own back yard, south county.

This begs the question, why shouldn’t those in need of affordable housing not be afforded this benefit in south county? Why must those who need affordable housing be forced to live in areas already overcrowded and have schools that may already be at capacity?

Are we not in fact discriminating against the lower-income residents by not permitting workforce housing in all areas? Pittman’s slogan, “Anne Arundel County – The Best Place For All” should in fact, apply to the whole county.