This week on the Spy Maryland Caucus podcast, Len Foxwell and Clayton Mitchell covered a wide range of topics shaping politics and policy in Maryland, beginning with a spirited discussion about two housing bills in Annapolis that could reshape local zoning authority.
Spy Summary
Len and Clayton debate Senate Bill 36 and House Bill 239, legislation intended to encourage denser residential development as the state tries to address a growing shortage of workforce housing. The issue has drawn concern from some smaller communities, including Oxford, where residents worry the bills would weaken local control over planning and zoning decisions.
Len argued strongly in favor of the legislation, saying Maryland faces a serious housing crisis that is increasingly affecting middle-class professionals and young families. According to him, the shortage of housing near employment centers is pushing workers out of the state and creating long-term economic consequences. While he acknowledged that smaller municipalities may resent losing some authority, he believes the state must step in when local decisions block broader housing and planning goals.
Clay agreed that housing affordability is a real problem but warned that the legislation represents an unnecessary shift of power from local communities to Annapolis. As a former land-use and zoning attorney, he argued that municipalities spend years developing comprehensive plans based on public input and that local leaders should retain control over how their communities grow. He also cautioned that statewide mandates could disrupt existing land-use tools such as transferable development rights programs that help preserve farmland while directing development.
The conversation also turned to several primary races worth watching this year, including the Howard County executive contest, the Harford County executive race, the challenge to Congressman Andy Harris in the First District, and the emerging field to replace longtime Congressman Steny Hoyer.
And, as always, Foxwell and Mitchell closed with their hotakes, touching on the excitement of the World Baseball Classic and the impact of recent decisions affecting oyster harvesting and rockfish management in the Chesapeake Bay.
This video is approximately 18 minutes in length.
2 Responses
While I support increasing the supply of affordable housing in Easton, I strongly oppose House Bill 239 (HB239). Mr. Foxwell did not address several important points in this discussion. First, is its impact on the state-mandated comprehensive planning process, which is the foundation for local land use planning and zoning. Easton held its kick-off for the latest revision to its comprehensive plan in November, 2021. Since it has conducted multiple surveys, ward meetings, focus groups, workshops, and multiple drafts to determine what the residents of Easton value and feel is best for future land use. Talbot County embarked on a similar path last year. While the need for affordable housing was noted, the overwhelming desire was to preserve the town’s small town, rural character. Design principles to preserve community character are preserved. The date for a vote for final approval is imminent. Easton also conducted a 2-year review of how to increase the supply of “affordable/attainable” housing. Debate on solutions is ongoing. As communities across the country have discovered, there is no easy answer. This is a complex issue that must be managed, trial and error. HB239 will ignore local expertise and input, send these processes back to square one and cripple local government’s ability to work the issue.
HB239 substitutes legislative fiat for real solutions, treating Easton and Talbot County no differently than Silver Spring and Montgomery County. Zoning by local government is the principal tool to ensure consistency with the comprehensive plan. HB239 severely limits the long-standing zoning authority of local governments to implement their plans. This decision will apply state-wide, without benefit of the local knowledge gained since 2021. Developers are granted significant freedom to develop “by right” without any corresponding obligation to add affordable housing. The denser development could as likely resemble the “mid-900s” townhouses approved for the Tides Point of Easton as the affordable houses the town has built on the Hill. Easton will simply have no say. Importantly, local governments will lose potential zoning incentives that they can use to get more affordable houses built. Finally, the town will be forbidden to use the design principles (architectural elements, etc.) it has had in place for decades to preserve Easton’s community character. Easton and Talbot County will lose their rural character and become “Anywhere, USA” just bland, homogenous slow spots on the drive to the beach.
The answer is to restrict HB239 to counties with over 100,000 residents and allow smaller counties and their local governments to apply their superior local knowledge to these issues.
I am so glad that the Spy raised this issue of legislation in Annapolis to undermine local control over neighborhood growth. I agree with Len that we have a shortage of workforce housing, but I respectfully disagree that the proposed legislation will accomplish that. There are no references in the bills to affordable or workforce housing. Talk to people in Talbot and everyone agrees on how much they like the rural/agricultural feel of life here. That’s the product of 50 years of comprehensive plans for the County and our towns. These two bills in Annapolis would put an end to that kind of planned growth in comprehensive plans. Why? Because anyone in a residential neighborhood could subdivide their plot into as much as 3 lots and build townhouses on them with no regulatory approval at all. That’s for starters. The devil is in the details of this proposed legislation and it’s not pretty.